Friday, October 21, 2005

Sisterhood of Traveling Pantsers

Having to write a synopsis before the story is torture. It’s even worse than writing one afterward. The ‘after’ synopsis is a lot like writing a book report, which reminds me of being in school [hence bad] but I was always good at book reports so I manage to sweat it out and produce something useful [hence not so bad]. I don’t know what my publishers do with the synopses I’ve written – probably just snicker gleefully as they run them through a shredder before mailing me my contracts. At least I find them useful for mining blurbage.

Blurbs are hard, too. But they’re nothing like the ‘before’ synopsis. That’s what I did today. I broke down my ‘to be written’ story chapter by chapter which made for some pretty lame stuff.

I’ve noticed a number of my fellow pantsers lately being forced to become plotters and I can only sympathize with their struggles. There’s something so exciting about sitting down with nothing more than a kernel of an idea and letting your imagination run with it. I’ve surprised myself a number of times, and those are the moments I truly love being a writer. I suspect that’s what entices other pantsers as well, and why there are so many of us.

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