By June Shaw
Novelists may be the only people who know what I’m talking
about, but they do know. And most of them can respond yes or no or both.
It took awhile in my writing career before I understood what
this meant. Once I did, I realized I was a pantser.
Many others, it seemed, were the opposite: They were
outliners.
I had no idea how I would outline a novel before I even
started writing it, but then I discovered a huge number of highly successful
authors did that. Soon I determined that I had been doing both. I did outline
some major sections of the novels I began to write. I filled in the scenes by
the seat of my pants, meaning I decided what came next as I went.
Outlining, I found, really did help structure my novels. It
directed a path for my stories without taking away any of the creativity, all
the while helping me write faster.
What about you?
Do you discover your story as you write, or do you have the whole
story planned out before you type in your title? What do you find helps best?
Why do you choose one or the other?
I’d love to get feedback from other others—and maybe those
who don’t write books but read them have some idea of they believe would work
best.
As always, thanks for sharing your ideas!
June Juneshaw.com
