Friday 8 April 2011

A new Term 'pantser'

Not sure the term 'pantser' quite describes the debate between those authors who write with out a detailed plan and those who write by the seat of their pants.  But a blog entry over here
at Teaching Authors site released me from apologies that I don't plan/plot/follow rules. 

Yes I've tried. I say to myself this time( when I start a new project) I'm going to work out scenes/ conflict/ a character chart etc, etc.  But I seem unable to toe the line, the project loses enthusiasm, I falter, flick to another writing project.

It was so liberating to read this post and validate the way I write- although when in a workshop, a teacher says 'and tell the class how you plan, draft etc etc'- ah have they discovered other ways of learning /writing?   I answer by saying do you really want to know the answer to that question- now I can explore a fuller more detailed explanation of how I write and know that many, many other authors have a 'pantser' approach also.

My friend Claire has a spider web on her blog entry today- here is a photo I took a few days ago- these orb weaver spiders have been absent from my big garden over the drought years now they have come back to trawl the airways.







 

6 comments:

Claire said...

Yep, think I'm a pantser too!

And man, that's a healthy looking spider. They are everywhere at present.

Dale said...

I'm definitely one who flies by the seat of my pants. Plan it all out and I've lost interest in writing it, simple as that.

Karen said...

Hi Loraine,
I used to be a Pantser. It look me 18 months to write Book 1 of my Super Space Kids series. For Book 2 I planned a few key scenes and after that 'pantsied" the rest. "Josh vs Lord Terra" only took 4 month to write. It was worth it for me :))

jen storer said...

LOL Well you know what I think about this, lorraine. Personally, I wear very sturdy Levis when writing just so I don't burn my bum. jx

Life's a poem said...

Ah, so pantsers are out in force!

Rochelle said...

I like that term! Wonder if you can use it in any other context? Parenting??