How Do You Write A Book? Step 4: What Type of Writer Are You?
Good morning everyone,
It’s so great to be here this morning. I know I’ve been slacking recently, but school begins soon so there’s a lot to get done before then, plus I’m still working my part-time job. So my apologies about Sunday’s posts recently. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. I’ve also been in a tad bit of a slump recently and feeling sort of burnt out. So, I haven’t been pushing myself to hard.
Now for today’s topic. What type of writer are you? How many types are there?
Generally, there are 2 main types of writers, though this is a scale or spectrum and you can land anywhere in between these two types.
discovery/ writer - you go into your first draft with little or no plan and just write from the ideas spinning around inside your mind. This is the most sought-after and desired type of writing, though for many people it’s not feasible.
planner/plotter writer - you make some sort of plan before you begin your first draft. These writers know what they want to write and have a plan for where their story is going to go if they should get stuck, whereas discovery writers only rely on not getting stuck or being able to get unstuck with their flow of ideas.
I would recommend trying both as the sooner you find what works best for you, the better your writing will benefit and quicker. And please, do not fall into the trap of trying to force yourself to be a discovery writer, it is not the majority and if it doesn’t work, it just means you’ll have to spend that much more time editing your work because the structure is so messy. If discovery writing isn’t for you then work on planning and find your best strategy for planning and how much planning you need to do to write a story.
You can look up different plotting booklets, there are so many in a variety of depths. Some you only begin with several large plot points, while others have you planning what happens in every chapter and all the attributes and characteristics of each character you’re planning to include.
So, what type of writer are you?
I used to be solely a discovery writer but my writing process has been changing recently. And don’t be afraid of change either. What works for you now may not work for you in a year or two, let the change happen. I began planning a 20+ book series that I could not write without a plan as the idea was too big. And now I don’t mind having one sheet of paper with just a few of my thoughts for my story so that I know what I’m working towards. Or having a list of character names or plot ideas. So my process is different now, but I used to go into a first draft with no plan, not even a character name, but I would make choices when I got to a point where the choice was a necessity for the story to continue.
Well, that will be it for me, but thank you so much for popping by. I hope this post helped you. And maybe now you’re not afraid of what type of writer you are. Plotting isn’t bad, most writers are actually somewhere on the plotting/planning scale. So don’t worry about people thinking less of you, I assure you, they will not. Just write how only you can write, don't worry about anyone else or what they say about it.
Thank you! Lots of love! Happy reading and writing, especially you beginners, keep going, you got this. Until next time.
Celine Rose Marie
