Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Joshua's avatar

Your picture breaks and their captions are, as always, so ON POINT.

I remember, back in the day when I was trying to be a writer (and may someday return to it), how I felt paralyzed by these two sides of the same coin. I was afraid to pants it, because I was afraid my first draft, literally the first words onto the page, wouldn't be perfect. So I usually tried to plot it, but would get lost in trying to figure out all the details and make everything air-tight (again, perfectionism). It wasn't until i finally learned to let go and just let the first stuff onto the page be crap that I could actually get anything done. Pantsing is so great for exploration and discovery, for inventing ideas that would never have occurred to you had you not taken those first steps and walked through that door into the unknown beyond. But Plotting has always been where I get the most satisfaction, finding the broad-strokes path that guides the story to a satisfying completion. A story I wouldn't have were it not for that initial pantsing.

Love the term "gliding" in this context.

Expand full comment

No posts