Confessions of a Pantser
How a lack of the usual structure helped me get over 40 published stories within my initial three years of writing flash fiction.
Pick up any book on “how to write…” and they will tell you there are three kinds of writers: outlines, plotters, and pantsers. The first two are perfectly appropriate for anyone wishing to produce literature of any type, whether it be flash fiction, short story, novella, or novels, but probably not non-fiction works. Then, they tell you all about outlining and the three things you need or the formulas that are most helpful for neophyte riders.
How many of you have read “Kill the Cat,” “Understanding Show, Don’t Tell,” “The Hero’s Journey,” or any of the other dozens of books that claim to have those secret sauce ingredients that can turn you into a professional writer? OK, let’s amend that to “turn you into a writer.”
And let’s not forget “beats,” which are supposed to move the story along. I don’t think about beats because I write as Stephen King does, by visualizing the story.
Then there are all of those courses that you could take, the conferences you can attend, the weekend seminars, the videos, or whatever else there is where someone can make a buck on you because you have that writing bug. I’ve tried some of them (not the seminars or conferences), and I’ve tried reading some of the books…
