I was over at The Longstockings and Siobhan is talking about how she’s going to try a seat-of-her-pants approach to writing for a change. She’s always been a detailed outliner and she wants to try something new. If you’ve been hanging out here, you will know that I just tried outlining for the first time (without success) and am now back to free form writing (and happily so). At first, I thought I would blog today about some tips for anyone who wants to try this form, but while I was making my breakfast (the most amazing English rock cakes that are mostly butter) – oh! wait! I must interrupt with this notice that the mama and twin fawns just wandered through looking sooooo cute – okay, anyway, I’m digressing. While I was making breakfast and contemplating the kinds of tips I would put up here, it occurred to me that perhaps this whole flip-flop thing that writers do – exchanging one technique of writing for another – really has very little to do with getting that first draft down and actually is much more about looking for the magic solution to make writing easier.
I mean, really…I write by the seat of my pants. I have written numerous bottom drawer novels, and several that I hope to see as books someday, but the truth is, why did I want to switch to outlining? Because the guy who wrote the thing about how to do it said it would make writing easier! I’ve come to the conclusion that nothing makes writing easier. Some things make it more fun, like sitting outside and writing on a summer day, or cuddling up in front of a fire in the winter, but there’s really no magic solution. It all comes down to butt in the chair and a lot of hard work. Some find the hard work terrifying, difficult, and frustrating. Ninety-five percent of the time, I find it exhilarating, interesting, and fun, so I can’t see any reason to try changing techniques now. Do you outline? Write free-form? Have you ever switched from one to the other and found it works better for you?
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