Hi Terry, this is a great article full of advice that lifts me out of the doldrums. We met in 2022 at the Leacock Gala Award where you were guest speaker and host for the Saturday night youth writer's selection. You wore many hats at that event, yet you found time to cruse the crowd and we happened to bump into each other. Lucky for me! I had just completed my memoir about being a young police officer in my hometown. Entering the Leacock contest was never on my radar, but my publisher encouraged me to give it a go. It was a challenging year as my work was up against some seasoned professionals and well know celebrities, Rick MERCER and Mark CRITCH. Oddly enough they were very accessible and engaging like you. I had not expected that from any of you, but I guess this writing thing does connect people as a base level transcending celebrity. In the end Rick Mercer won that year and it was his night. Still, the Leacock Associates allowed the otherwise unknown authors like me to sit and sell our books right beside Rick and Mark. It was a strange equality that I felt was undeserved, but I was deeply grateful as it served as a kind of consolation prize for having entered the contest. I had several short, friendly conversations with you over that three-day weekend and each time you remembered me, cool. Getting back to your article. Insightful stuff here as you dissect the various methods writers use and or discover through trial and error or by fate. I am working on my follow up book and I have only managed to get the first four chapters drafted. It's taken me about a year to get this far and often times I procrastinate instead of reflecting on why I don't put in the time and effort to finish it. Your article has helped me find some of the method to this madness we call writing. I liked your reference to your university days as the editor of the paper and how you thoughtfully took the time to review old drafts of articles for keys to what worked. Reflection, reflection, reflection. Good advice Terry! I think I know now what I need to do to get back on the horse. In my original effort I had taken the time to thoughtfully draft the entire outline of the manuscript. I broke it down and made sure to inject specific elements into each chapter that were consistent giving the reader cause to be engaged and stay engaged. I understood that my audience was looking for humour so I put twice as much humour as drama into each chapter. That formula worked and that method worked. I must say this was all supervised by a professional editor and I cannot over emphasize the value that such an editor brings to the table. All in all, we got through it to the end following a systematic method that included revision, revision, revision and reflection, reflection, reflection. It took us about eight months to produce the final manuscript. Thanks for this article, you have inspired me to get back to what worked. If it's not broke don't fix it - just repeat the process. My next effort will be an entirely different genre using historical fiction to tell a true ghost story to a new generation. It's a story I knew well and grew up with. Again, write what you know. I will go back and apply your wisdom to my draft and hopefully a book will come out at the other end. Thanks again for your candid friendly and always constructive insights into writing. There are many, many of us who appreciate your generosity to encourage and guide prospective writers and authors that the world needs to discover. All the best at the Leacock Gala this year!
Oh, this is all so true, Terry. And I've known it for most of my life. Well, at least that I'm much more of a pantser. My first novel took me 6 years and I suspect much of that time was spent finding my writing groove. I now get the idea, I do research and collect notes and then I jump in. And yes, I've had that experience where there's a knock at the door on my page and I don't know who is going to come in. Contrary to what we were all taught in teacher training all those years ago, different students learn in different ways. Our brains are different. They are not 'one size fits all'. And isn't that wonderful? Vive la difference!
I’m more of a pantser too, Elaine. Perhaps not a full-blown ‘I have no idea where this is going to end up’ writer but a bit of a mystery nevertheless. To be fair, much of my writing is drawn substantially from my own life, thinly disguised in my fiction, fully declared in my memoirs. I usually have a good idea of the first chapter, but the rest simply comes as I type. The arc of the story tends to emerge as I get deeper into my work. I do more research, sketch out a table of contents and a timeline and just keep going. I depend on Bertrand Russell’s advice, do your research and thinking, let it incubate, then sit down and write: it’s already composed in my head and it comes out almost fully baked. The refinement and adjustments in logic/timing (and typing!) come in R1, and 2 (and 3, and 4). (The tortured writer phase, for me, comes after, when I come to promote my book, fretting that only a few find out about it and it doesn’t get read, or win me enough approbation. Arrggh.)
I am mostly a pantser, and I fly madly off in all directions until I get 'er done. Then I do it over, move whole sections and/or sentences, eliminate stuff, add stuff, develop, etc. My pantser version turns out to be my floorplan.
Terry, this reminds me of the recent talk Chris Cameron gave to our writers' group. I saw you were at his book lecture at the Heliconian Club. I'm launching a new novel there this Tuesday, The Age of Privilege. Please come if you're able. Doors open at 7.
As a full on pantser (a term I may not have actually heard before and if I have, it was stored somewhere way in the back of my mind bus) I totally enjoyed this column. As for torture, I am never tortured. I'm pretty sure about that. In any event, I certainly haven't planned for it...
Oh, I saw myself 7 times in this article, Terry. After nearly 40 years of writing, I continue to adjust that sweet spot finding that variation works best for me! Great piece!!
As a Visual Artist , I say, LET ME SEE IT! ALL OF IT! AT ONCE! Up on that beautiful, blank, big studio wall (think canvas?)
I wrote two theses for degrees which related to my work as a psychotherapist. The writing sailed when I had an interest and intent to learn around a question, then wrote down all my bits of thought when inspired by readings and other research. I had zillions of bits, which I then put up on the wall, and grouped according to relativity. I could see, literally, clusters of thought coalescing into formative ideas, which I just let speak to me. Anytime NEW s-trains of thought and ideas occurred to me, I wrote each out and gave it its own printed sheet. For my own visual work with clients and their art pieces, each segment received its own printed image sheet and concurrent thoughts, which all went up on the wall.
The wall could contain everything; and it was all out there to see! It's fun and fine to read a book where I can't see everything; I want very much to arrive at each page like another surprise. Reading is about the process of discovery. Creating a book, however, is a different process. I need to know all the parts intimately so I can place and show them to greatest flow and impact. Much like wisps of cloud come together to form bigger clouds, working with wisps of text, amassing them on the wall in front of me, I felt like I could contain and link the disparate bits. I would move things around and the structure of the paper seemed to build itself. Some parts just didn't fit, and I removed them to the corners in case needed later. I could relax knowing that I wasn't going to forget something, or where it was in the paper. Rather than thoughts being in a file unseen, it was all up there. This helped me develop the thesis even as I let the structure and bones of the thesis reveal its strongest assertions to me as I went along.
I actually built the plan for the thesis as it grew, and this strengthened my arguments as well as the structure of the paper. I moved things into chapters and worked with the order. I'd reach as high up on the wall as I could to place the first page of a chapter, then put each subsequent page underneath down the wall vertically. Visually, chapters became vertical lines of sheets, and chapter two started again at the top, just to the right of chapter 1, and so on, working across the wall from left to right. I felt satisfied that I had created an original piece of work and learned, even surprised myself, through the writing process.
Panster or Planner ? Hmmm, . . . I knew what question I wanted to address at the outset, but I planned the paper's response all the way along. I welcomed, made room, for surprises. Maybe that makes me a Planster.
Thanks so much for your thoughts on writing, Terry; as always, fun to take in, and fun to respond to!
Hi Terry, this is a great article full of advice that lifts me out of the doldrums. We met in 2022 at the Leacock Gala Award where you were guest speaker and host for the Saturday night youth writer's selection. You wore many hats at that event, yet you found time to cruse the crowd and we happened to bump into each other. Lucky for me! I had just completed my memoir about being a young police officer in my hometown. Entering the Leacock contest was never on my radar, but my publisher encouraged me to give it a go. It was a challenging year as my work was up against some seasoned professionals and well know celebrities, Rick MERCER and Mark CRITCH. Oddly enough they were very accessible and engaging like you. I had not expected that from any of you, but I guess this writing thing does connect people as a base level transcending celebrity. In the end Rick Mercer won that year and it was his night. Still, the Leacock Associates allowed the otherwise unknown authors like me to sit and sell our books right beside Rick and Mark. It was a strange equality that I felt was undeserved, but I was deeply grateful as it served as a kind of consolation prize for having entered the contest. I had several short, friendly conversations with you over that three-day weekend and each time you remembered me, cool. Getting back to your article. Insightful stuff here as you dissect the various methods writers use and or discover through trial and error or by fate. I am working on my follow up book and I have only managed to get the first four chapters drafted. It's taken me about a year to get this far and often times I procrastinate instead of reflecting on why I don't put in the time and effort to finish it. Your article has helped me find some of the method to this madness we call writing. I liked your reference to your university days as the editor of the paper and how you thoughtfully took the time to review old drafts of articles for keys to what worked. Reflection, reflection, reflection. Good advice Terry! I think I know now what I need to do to get back on the horse. In my original effort I had taken the time to thoughtfully draft the entire outline of the manuscript. I broke it down and made sure to inject specific elements into each chapter that were consistent giving the reader cause to be engaged and stay engaged. I understood that my audience was looking for humour so I put twice as much humour as drama into each chapter. That formula worked and that method worked. I must say this was all supervised by a professional editor and I cannot over emphasize the value that such an editor brings to the table. All in all, we got through it to the end following a systematic method that included revision, revision, revision and reflection, reflection, reflection. It took us about eight months to produce the final manuscript. Thanks for this article, you have inspired me to get back to what worked. If it's not broke don't fix it - just repeat the process. My next effort will be an entirely different genre using historical fiction to tell a true ghost story to a new generation. It's a story I knew well and grew up with. Again, write what you know. I will go back and apply your wisdom to my draft and hopefully a book will come out at the other end. Thanks again for your candid friendly and always constructive insights into writing. There are many, many of us who appreciate your generosity to encourage and guide prospective writers and authors that the world needs to discover. All the best at the Leacock Gala this year!
Glad this post was helpful, Mark. Good luck with your writing project!
Oh, this is all so true, Terry. And I've known it for most of my life. Well, at least that I'm much more of a pantser. My first novel took me 6 years and I suspect much of that time was spent finding my writing groove. I now get the idea, I do research and collect notes and then I jump in. And yes, I've had that experience where there's a knock at the door on my page and I don't know who is going to come in. Contrary to what we were all taught in teacher training all those years ago, different students learn in different ways. Our brains are different. They are not 'one size fits all'. And isn't that wonderful? Vive la difference!
I’m more of a pantser too, Elaine. Perhaps not a full-blown ‘I have no idea where this is going to end up’ writer but a bit of a mystery nevertheless. To be fair, much of my writing is drawn substantially from my own life, thinly disguised in my fiction, fully declared in my memoirs. I usually have a good idea of the first chapter, but the rest simply comes as I type. The arc of the story tends to emerge as I get deeper into my work. I do more research, sketch out a table of contents and a timeline and just keep going. I depend on Bertrand Russell’s advice, do your research and thinking, let it incubate, then sit down and write: it’s already composed in my head and it comes out almost fully baked. The refinement and adjustments in logic/timing (and typing!) come in R1, and 2 (and 3, and 4). (The tortured writer phase, for me, comes after, when I come to promote my book, fretting that only a few find out about it and it doesn’t get read, or win me enough approbation. Arrggh.)
And - I will save your article - valuable insights.
I am mostly a pantser, and I fly madly off in all directions until I get 'er done. Then I do it over, move whole sections and/or sentences, eliminate stuff, add stuff, develop, etc. My pantser version turns out to be my floorplan.
Terry, this reminds me of the recent talk Chris Cameron gave to our writers' group. I saw you were at his book lecture at the Heliconian Club. I'm launching a new novel there this Tuesday, The Age of Privilege. Please come if you're able. Doors open at 7.
Donna Wootton
As a full on pantser (a term I may not have actually heard before and if I have, it was stored somewhere way in the back of my mind bus) I totally enjoyed this column. As for torture, I am never tortured. I'm pretty sure about that. In any event, I certainly haven't planned for it...
Oh, I saw myself 7 times in this article, Terry. After nearly 40 years of writing, I continue to adjust that sweet spot finding that variation works best for me! Great piece!!
As a Visual Artist , I say, LET ME SEE IT! ALL OF IT! AT ONCE! Up on that beautiful, blank, big studio wall (think canvas?)
I wrote two theses for degrees which related to my work as a psychotherapist. The writing sailed when I had an interest and intent to learn around a question, then wrote down all my bits of thought when inspired by readings and other research. I had zillions of bits, which I then put up on the wall, and grouped according to relativity. I could see, literally, clusters of thought coalescing into formative ideas, which I just let speak to me. Anytime NEW s-trains of thought and ideas occurred to me, I wrote each out and gave it its own printed sheet. For my own visual work with clients and their art pieces, each segment received its own printed image sheet and concurrent thoughts, which all went up on the wall.
The wall could contain everything; and it was all out there to see! It's fun and fine to read a book where I can't see everything; I want very much to arrive at each page like another surprise. Reading is about the process of discovery. Creating a book, however, is a different process. I need to know all the parts intimately so I can place and show them to greatest flow and impact. Much like wisps of cloud come together to form bigger clouds, working with wisps of text, amassing them on the wall in front of me, I felt like I could contain and link the disparate bits. I would move things around and the structure of the paper seemed to build itself. Some parts just didn't fit, and I removed them to the corners in case needed later. I could relax knowing that I wasn't going to forget something, or where it was in the paper. Rather than thoughts being in a file unseen, it was all up there. This helped me develop the thesis even as I let the structure and bones of the thesis reveal its strongest assertions to me as I went along.
I actually built the plan for the thesis as it grew, and this strengthened my arguments as well as the structure of the paper. I moved things into chapters and worked with the order. I'd reach as high up on the wall as I could to place the first page of a chapter, then put each subsequent page underneath down the wall vertically. Visually, chapters became vertical lines of sheets, and chapter two started again at the top, just to the right of chapter 1, and so on, working across the wall from left to right. I felt satisfied that I had created an original piece of work and learned, even surprised myself, through the writing process.
Panster or Planner ? Hmmm, . . . I knew what question I wanted to address at the outset, but I planned the paper's response all the way along. I welcomed, made room, for surprises. Maybe that makes me a Planster.
Thanks so much for your thoughts on writing, Terry; as always, fun to take in, and fun to respond to!
Bev