I talk a lot about beat sheets and charts; those things we do to augment the writing process. Some of these methods help, but some of these things are very effective for procrastination! Although I advocate for using whatever writing tools serve any author well, I’m also very self-aware that some of my better received stories started life as…a mess.
I tend to write like I paint or like I compose music. A splotch of colour on paper, or a squiggle that grows into something else. An arpeggio that modulates into the next few bars before resolving into a melody before I distort it further. When I write I tend to splash impressions and emotions in words before I shape that pile of graphemes into a plot. Some of the times I get an idea which I outline but the actual process of drafting it involves making a mess out of words and then crafting it into something that has pacing and momentum.
When I tell myself that the first draft will always be a mess, it’s a way to forgive myself if what I write is not perfect. It also stills that perfectionist tendency in me that often stymies me in all of my endeavours. When I look at a story as a pile of letters that needs to be shaped, extended and turned into something more beautiful, it feels more organic to me. It does not mean I do not plot, but the process of organic discovery is at the heart of my storytelling. It’s why I call myself a plantser. Or is that a grower?
Because that is what it feels like to me. Growing a story, or a painting, or a melody.
Till the next blog post,
xx
Anita