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How do you write? There are as many styles for getting the words on paper as there are writers. Do you write quickly, mashing out several thousand words in a day? Or do you write more slowly, doing a little at a time and letting the words simmer? Are you a plotter, needing to have everything lined up, laid out, and every detail noted before you begin? Or are you more of a pantster, sitting down to write and letting the story come tumbling out willy-nilly?
How do you find out what kind of a writer you are?
This is the dilemma facing many new writers, and many seasoned writers as well. Hearing and reading about all the different ways to write can make it hard to decide what works for you.
The best way to find out what works is to try them all out. When I was a newer writer, I tried NaNoWriMo and wrote my first middle grade historical novel. I had a general idea of the story line when I began. I even found an agent for it. But the novel had serious flaws, and it never sold.
The next story I wrote, a middle grade adventure, I used a plotting style. I actually think of it as my plodding style. I wrote every day, each chapter as it was plotted. Before I moved on to the next chapter, I did a first draft edit on the chapter. By the time I made it to the end, the story didn’t need any major editing, as my first novel had, but it was certainly a long process.
Next up, I tried more of a pantster approach on an adult story. I ended up with a novel called Blooming with Hope, which is anything but. It’s a mess. I didn’t stay true to my voice, the characters are cardboard, and I don’t know if I’ll ever go back and fix all the plot holes in that one. It’s blatantly apparent from this disaster that I’m not a pantster.
A woman in my writing group tried a method of writing in which you and a support buddy write twenty pages a day for two weeks straight. At the end of two weeks, you have a novel. In her words, “I’ve finally found my writing method.” This fast draft method of novel writing worked for her, and now she’s spending the next few months doing major edits and revisions.
If that sounds too intense, you might want to try Karen Wiesner’s method of writing a novel in thirty days. Hers is more of a pre-plotted and pre-planned approach, leaving you to focus on the writing during the thirty day phase.
Personally, you just have to try as many writing styles or methods as you need to until you find the one that works for you. For me, the thought of editing 280,000 words written in fast draft mode is too daunting. My own style is the plodding fashion, with surface edits as the novel moves along. After the midway point, the story starts to pour out faster, and I drop some of the editing. When I get to the end, and go back to edit, the process is much less painful for me.
How about you? Do you have your own unique writing style you’d like to share with readers here?
In the end, whichever writing style you choose, there are just three things to consider. Are you putting a satisfying amount of words on paper? Is the story flowing? Are you enjoying the process? If you can answer yes to these questions, then you’ve found your own personal writing style.
Happy writing!
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