GO WITH IT!!
I write this post at the risk of my readers rubbing their temples and saying to themselves, ‘Trish has completely gone off the rails. Now she’s got voices talking to her, reaching out their hands and leading her down another story pathway? Has she gone completely nuts?’
I’m not a very organized writer…well, that is to say, I just let ‘er rip! I’m what’s known as a ‘pantser‘. A writer who dives into their work without a detailed plan or outline is often called a “pantser”. Yes, you read that right—it’s not a typo! The term ‘pantser’ comes from the phrase “flying by the seat of your pants.” These writers rely on their intuition and creativity to guide them as they write, allowing the story to unfold naturally without the constraints of pre-planning. Famous authors who embrace this approach include Margaret Atwood, George R.R. Martin, and Stephen King. So I’m in good company.
So here how it works:
I have an idea of a story plot but only in my head. When my brain is so full of the new story I must empty it out, I sit at my keyboard and began typing. It’s going very well, the words are flowing and the story is going in the direction I had loosely planned.
Then one night, (120 pages in) about 3am (my best thinking time) I thought to myself, ‘this isn’t about Hannah Mae at all. It’s about her brother, Jerry and his music.’ I lay there and started dictating into my phone the salient points I wanted to tell. How young Jerry is a prodigy. He can play a song after he hears it just once. He can write the music down on paper. He composes effortlessly.
It was like Jerry reached out his hand and led me to his story path. And now with a bit of editing I am exploring his story and the musicians and mentors he meets as a young musician. It has been fascinating, for me, to research and learn about the ‘bluesmen’ of the 1950’s.
I mentioned it’s happened before: I had occasion to visit a state prison for men and as I sat waiting with the other visitors (mostly other women) their energy reached out to me and whispered, “you must write about us. The women who wait, the women who hold the family together until the day our man is released.’
I began writing their stories the next day.
Half way through writing this warm and fuzzy tale, I was interrupted when one of my characters took a hostage, at knife point, in the visiting room. It stopped me dead in my tracks. I remember yelling at the computer screen, “NO!!” I considered ignoring what the character, Charlie, had done. Back space the words, delete them, forget it had happened. But I couldn’t. It was already there on the screen and besides…it was a good twist and made perfect sense within the plot. It was meant to be.
I knew nothing about hostage negotiating. It was a delay of about two months while I researched and wove a new negotiator into my story, how the other visitors relate to her (yes, she’s a female negotiator .) and remembering that the entire visitors’ area has been taken hostage too.
Learn how to do the rest: story plot, character development, structure, arc, themes, rising action, inciting incident/s, and setting.
But, TRUST YOUR GUT! Your creativity, intuition, and (if you’re very lucky) your story characters should lead you through the story that must be told!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To receive my weekly posts, sign up 
On the home page. Enter your email address. Watch for more interviews with authors.
