it's IWSG Day!
The brainchild of the Ninja Captain, Alex J Cavanaugh, this wonderful community now has it's very own website. Make sure you check it out for plenty of useful tips about all things writerly, as well as the sign-up list where you can check out everyone else's insecurities and join in with your own.
For the past few weeks I'm been contemplating the question we all must have asked ourselves at some point on our writing journey, should I plan or just go with the flow? It's not the first time I've had a worry about it either, and it's just possible it could have been a topic for a previous IWSG post.
There is a certain beauty about the thought of simply sitting down and letting the entire story flow through my fingers and out onto the page, the story unfolding itself before my eyes so it's as much of a surprise to me as to anyone else.
Unfortunately, I only get so far with this method. The initial enthusiasm I have for the idea soon begins to wane, I start floundering with where it could possibly go and then abandon the project altogether.
So, I'm going to have to try plotting, and given the kind of person I am I think this is probably the best approach for me anyway. I used to feel that perhaps this doesn't make me a 'proper' writer (whatever that means), that I should just produce everything from the heart in one wonderful stream, but I'm now beginning to realise this isn't quite how it works in the real world.
Writing isn't just the initial draft, the first labour of love. It's numerous edits and redrafting and polishing to get it right. And if I need some kind of plan, an outline and structure to keep me focused, then so be it. I shan't be shamed of that fact anymore.
How do you write? Plotting or not? If not, how do you keep your focus and strategy?
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