Member-only story
Interstellar Idea Bats and South Cornwall (or where creativity comes from)
Sometimes books attack you sneakily from behind. Sometimes they land on the roof and wait patiently for their turn to be written. Sometimes you get some images, or a phrase grabs your attention and then you build the story from there. Often Interstellar Idea Bats flap in from outer space, form an orderly stack over my head, drop the ideas right into my brain and fly away again.
I’m a natural Pantser rather than a Planner — oh sorry, writer-jargon. Most writers seem to plan their books before they write them, sometimes in extraordinary detail. I’ve tried writing books that way and I just can’t hack it: I get bored and midway I have to change who the villain is and sometimes who the hero is, which is a lot of work, let me tell you. I have respect for writers who plan but it’s simply not for me.
A Pantser is one who flies by the seat of their pants — doesn’t know what the plot is, might not know what happens at the end, possibly doesn’t even know what’s happening next and has to write the scene to find out. A politer term is a Discovery writer.
I don’t think you can tell which one the writer is by reading the book — although if it’s a bit chaotic, probably a Pantser wrote it and if it has a plot which works like a machine shoving the characters around, likely a Planner…
