To Pants It or Not to Pants It?

On By DanicaPicheIn Creative Writing

That is the question.

I’ve posted several times in as many days and I thank you all for reading!  A story is evolving and I’m trying to keep up.

I tend to post as inspiration hits and time allows.  Those two variables don’t always line up to create an even, predictable graph.

So, I’m experimenting with structure.  I’m going to post twice a week and see how that goes.  So far, it’s meant restraint!  I know, I was surprised too… I guess this is what happens when people make writing a priority?

I’ve already held off on posting!  I’m used to hitting the “publish” button as soon as I have something readable.  That’s meant a few minutes to a few hours between my idea and the resulting post.  Now, I have a draft that I’ve worked on for more than a day.

I’ve already seen a difference.  I woke up this morning and my first cohesive thought– after the ghostly shadows dancing across the window– was a word I wanted to change in my draft post.  That’s right, one word.

I lay there smiling, thinking, is this what happens to… writers?  (Can I even use that word?)

Hopefully, it will mean better things for you to read.  Then again, if life takes over too much of my writing time I may end up blasting through the idea-to-post arc to adhere to the two-posts-per-week schedule and we’ll be back to pantsing it.

Thanks again for reading.  I appreciate it so very much. 🙂

 

 

 

29 thoughts on “To Pants It or Not to Pants It?”

  5. Kevin

    Do you ever force yourself to write, or do you wait for inspiration? I can only “write” when I have a sudden, almost involuntary urge. When the muse finally makes an appearance, I have to be ready for it – there’s no telling when it might return.

    Interesting that you felt you had to change one word. Sometimes, when I think a song is “finished” (are they ever truly finished?), I’ve gone back to change one single note, and it made a world of a difference.

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    1. A great question, Kevin! So interesting that you bring it up… I’m going to start forcing myself to write. I want to develop and complete more complex stories, or at least some longer stories. Do you carry a notebook everywhere for when the muse visits? I should start doing that too….

      I know, isn’t that something? It struck me as an odd thought, especially very first thing in the morning, but it made perfect sense. It did make a difference. Maybe songs, like stories, are never truly finished. We just have to decide that they’re okay enough to put out into the world.

      That was the biggest hurdle for me — to actually post my creative writing and stories. So, writing a post in one sitting and publishing it as soon as it was readable was important for me. Now, I’m comfortable with my posts being published and I don’t worry about all the changes and improvements I’d make; I just carry on to the next. With this comfort level, it’s a good time for me to sit with a story a little longer and enhance it.

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  6. Yes, Danica! It DOES happen to other writers!
    I usually have to edit Posts cos of just one word.
    Fallen behind with my reading – wondering, for months, if/when I will ever see u again, and then, come your glorious return, Brad doesn’t log in – sheesh!
    I’m playin catch-up right now!
    Thanks again for writing. I appreciate it so very much
    Cheers!

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    1. I’ve really enjoyed your revisions of Bus Trip! I can see how they’d be instructive. I haven’t gone back to revise any earlier posts, but that would be an interesting exercise. I’ve already found that there’s a line between finessing and altering, if that makes sense. I stop when I realize that I’m changing the story.

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      1. If it becomes a different story that either means you’ve discovered the meaning of the story or you just need to move on. Some of the work that I produced in my thirties made no sense to me until I was diagnosed with DID. The stories ‘changed’ as I became less afraid of the meaning.

        I hid the real story behind a camouflage….I hope that makes sense.

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          1. My mentor told me never to throw anything away. He said that the story continues to evolve even when you’re not working on it–and I’ve learned that he was write. The other thing he did was revise work he had already published. I published three or four different versions of the same poem. The essence is the same but the style is slightly altered. I do that too…I make different versions of the same photos and poems.

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              1. I didn’t see it at the time. When we met I could barely write more than a line or two. I’ll have to write more about him.

                He mentored me in the cynical 1980’s so naturally everyone else thought our relationship was sexual–but it was a close literary relationship that lasted five years.

                In retrospect they were my true formative years.

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