Are you a planner? Do you have every detail of a project worked out before you begin? Or do you get inspiration and take off flying by the seat of your pants? (That's called being a pantser.)
Currently, even though my manuscript is written, my publisher wants me to make an outline of my chapters. If I had been a planner, this would have been done before I'd ever put fingers to keyboard.
Instead, one day an idea came to me, and I took off flying! The ideas came often at the most unexpected times. Once, I was driving and realized I had my character, Sharon, all wrong. It's like the inner workings of her personality suddenly became clear to me. I had imagined her as a mean mama, but God revealed to me she was a mama in pain. At a stoplight, I hastily made a note to myself (That was before I learned about the Voice Memo app.)
Sharon's story went into a different direction.
I know planning is good, and the smart thing to do. I planned on having an outline when I started my second book ... But, I'm 12,000 words in and I'm flying by the seat of my pants again.
Hello, I'm Jerralea, a pantser who prays for inspiration by the Holy Spirit. That's a good thing, right?
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This is Day 24 of taking my reader along a journey with me as I birth my book. I hope you consider checking in daily to see my progress.
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Some have asked how they can find all of the Birthing My Book posts. You can follow me on Instagram @ jerralea or visit me on Facebook at Jerralea Winn Miller to find the posts, or see the landing page here to find links to all the posts. I would be honored if you would like and share the posts that resonate with you.
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I write for believers, but if you are not a believer and would like to know more, visit A Ticket Home. to find the way Home.
In the meantime, I'm covering you with prayer. I'm radical enough to believe that anyone who visits here at the Journey will be drawn by the Holy Spirit to find out who Jesus is and then accept Him as their Savior. You have your own free will, of course, but why wouldn't you want Him, once you know the truth about Him?
By the way, I hope you visit often to find out more truth!
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Ideas can come at them most inconvenient moments, can't they? I'm mainly a planner but also a pantser. Generally I'll jot down ideas, then form into an outline. When writing fiction though, I start as a pantser and then move to a planner after I've written one or more chapters (that will ALWAYS change!).
ReplyDeleteI do think writing non-fiction requires you to be a planner; wheras if you have pantser tendencies, fiction can certainly trigger them!
DeleteWhen writing, it is mainly as a thought comes to me. Again, I am not writing a book but a post, much shorter. With life events, I am a planner. Flying by the seat of my pants will often find me forgetting something important.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand. There is a planner side to me; as I've said before, I have to keep two to-do lists running - one for work - one for everything else.
ReplyDelete