Category Archives: Writing ways

A blog about the topics of writing, Writing ways

Are you a pantser or Plotter? : Be proud either or

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“Are you a plotter or a pantser?”

To be honest I never knew what those terms meant until I attended a local conference a few years ago. I knew about a fourth of the people in the room.

The speaker of the class I was attending asked our group that question.

Those around me pointed to me. The speaker chuckled.

“Which one is she?”

“Pantser!”

I was at a lost. I’m a pantser? What the hell is a pantser?

That is when I was educated on the two terms. Plotters are those who make an outline and plot their entire novel. Pantsers are writers who write by the seat of their pants. Also know as we don’t plot.

Yep, that is me. I rarely plot out a book let alone write a full outline for it. I will have in my head the general format of characters, plot lines and sceneries I need to get into. Nothing in great details. Just thoughts. I will generally know the beginning, the middle and the end to some degree.

I just never knew there was a term for people like this. I like it. I like it very much.

I just want to write. I love the feeling of writing without restrictions and rules of engagement that can come with writing. The freedom to take a book in any direction or to let characters decide for you and not be restricted to some outline is freeing. My best books come when the characters take over.

To be perfectly honest I just don’t want to be bothered until I am done the first draft of any novel I am working on. There will be plenty of time for edits, revisions, synopsis, naming the book and the whole kit and caboodle that comes with creating a book.

The pure joy that fills me as I write does not want to be interrupted. It is hard enough to get a novel into shape that it needs to be in. That is not so much joy. Why ruin the moment for me? More importantly why ruin it for my characters?

I’m a pantser. I wave that flag proudly.

A blog about the topics of writing, Writing ways

Do you have a space to write?

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Do you have a space to call your own where you can write? Do you have a place where you can close a door and do the many aspects of writing?

I am fortunate that I do have an office with doors that can shut off the rest of the house. It is in my bird room. Yes, bird room. I been rescuing and adopting birds since 1998. Though my birds are no longer in this space when anyone in this house refers to this room it is not Sharon’s office . It is called the bird room.

It is a place for me to have space for my books on writing which can be extensive if one is not careful. I have space for file cabinets. It has space for two huge bookcases to load my favorite authors and new ones, to me, for me to check out.

It has my cork board and a nice size calendar to note when I need to put up a blog post, when I need to send out information through my author’s platform, deadlines on interviews, reviews and the likes.

Now while all one needs is paper and pen, tablet or a laptop to write, having a space to spread out is amazing. I can shut out the world, turn on some good music, have a glass or sweet ice tea or Pepsi and go for it.

The bottom line is I hope you have a space, regardless how it is defined, to write and do the magic you do when you create your WIP. A place that makes you sing internally, and maybe externally, and gets you excited to write.

A blog about the topics of writing, Writing ways

Are you growing as a writer?

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Are you growing in your craft? Just because you have a book published, regardless how, that doesn’t mean you are the expert in all when it comes to being an author.

One can always learn and move forward just like any other business. You see people getting certified and getting additional knowledge. This also applies to writers.

When I attended my first writing group it hit me fast how behind I was and how much I needed to learn.

I have taken classes on character development, writing fiction, learning how to craft and engine a story line and more. This has taught me that there is always more to discover.

If you are trying to get published that alone comes with its own set of rules- self published, vanity or traditional.

Once you are done your book you still have to maneuver how to market it through the rapidly changing field of social media.

And for me, someone whose English grammar was not the best, I had to learn how to write in a way that was not riddled with errors- past tense, commas, run on sentences and more. Though my biggest Kryptonite is past tense. I am the Queen of past tense.

If that is not enough than you need to learn how to do pacing, setting, dialogue, character development, story line development and the list goes on. No one knows how to do this 100 % from scratch. It is a learning process.

Hey, if you get to the point your book is published I commend you. For I truly know the work that is involved in getting this down.

But to grow as an author one must continue to learn the different avenues of writing. Else you risk the chance of getting stagnated.