So the past few days I've been seeing a lot of us vs them thoughts.
Self pub vs anyone else.
pantsers vs plotters
fast drafters vs anyone else.
Can I just say something? (the answer is yes. I'm the blogger, so I get to say all the things.)
CUT IT OUT.
This isn't high school. It's not you and your clique against the world. There isn't a cool table and you aren't sitting at it. (And if it were high school, can we all admit that we didn't sit at the cool table? We're weird, peeps)
Look---there isn't a right way to write. There isn't a write way to publish. There is only the way that works for YOU and the decision you make that is best for your book.
If that means you write 10k a day and finish a book in a week? WOOHOO!!!
If that means you write a chapter a month and have no end in sight? YAY! (Works for GRRM)
If you plot before you write? YAY!
If you wait until it's literally time to decide which way to turn on the road? Good for you!
If you revise while you write? Dude, jealous.
If you do it all at the end? As long as it gets done.
One isn't worse than the other or better because you did it.
We're all writers. We're all united by that. We love stories and words and being locked in our heads with a bunch of voices and you know what? That's all we need. We don't need to break it down and find things to divide us. There's enough of it everywhere else in the world.
Let's make this our happy place, k? :)
N~
Excellent post!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I clench my jaw when people say smugly, "I used to be a pantster until I figured out how to outline. Now I know how to do it right."
I want to reply, "Well goody for you. I'll just continue to be a hack writer by not outlining, like, oh -- say, Stephen King."
I WISH I could outline and produce something worth writing. It would save me a lot of angst. But it doesn't work that way for me. And that's okay, as long my way DOES work.
Yes, yes, yes ... that's me agreeing, not an excerpt from When Harry Met Sally - all this right/wrong, us/them - it's utterly bonkers!
ReplyDeleteThank you! After reading my first writing book I tried to change how I did ALL the things, and I only succeeded in becoming guilty and less confident. Now I do it my way and let others do it their way.
ReplyDeleteGreat post.