Wednesday Reading Meme

[snowynight]

Recently Finished

"Write Your Novel From The Middle: A New Approach for Plotters, Pantsers and Everyone in Between" by James Scott Bell

I'm a pantser. I wished that I could plan my writing better, but outlining would trick my brain into thinking that I have already finished it and lost interest. It's fine when I write something short, but right now I'm stuck with wip.

Write Your Novel From The Middle is short (90 pages) and practical. It advises writers to intentionally find out the "moment of truth" of their novels and develop from there. I find it very helpful to rethink what my wip is about and get unstuck.

Comments

[cornerofmadness]

I wished that I could plan my writing better, but outlining would trick my brain into thinking that I have already finished it and lost interest.

We share a brain in this case

[snowynight]

Brain twin fistbump.

[cornerofmadness]

and also thanks. I no longer feel alone in this. I was once in a writer's group who had devoted plotters who were MEAN about it. Oh the fun I had when Stephen King wrote about being a pantser (because this one guy had done the Clarion thing so he knew all and knew you couldn't possibly be a writer if you were a pantser)

[snowynight]

Those plotters are awful ! The example of Stephen King is very encouraging!

[cornerofmadness]

they were and the Clarion dude, 25 years later I'm still absurdly happy I published before him

King definitely added validation to there being more than ONE way to do this (which should have been obvious from the start)

[snowynight]

Your achievement is the best comeback.

It's great to have additional validation for finding a way that works for you.

[cornerofmadness]

very true. I am just glad we're finally getting people saying there is no one right way to write

[yifu]

"outlining would trick my brain into thinking that I have already finished it and lost interest."

Especially when the outline is long and detailed. I'd feel as if I'd done about half of the work, then my heart sinks as I realize I haven't in fact written anything. Sometimes I work better with short outlines, which leaves little room for that kind of brain trickery.

[nonesensed]

Finding the best way to write can be such a challenge - I'm definitely a plotter and have the opposite problem; if I don't plan my story out in detail, I lose interest halfway through, at the latest 😅 It's a good thing there's no "one right way" to write a story, only a "right way for you".

Thank you for the book tip and best of luck with continuing to develop your writing technique!