I remember about thirty-odd years ago enrolling on a writing course. This was a correspondence course and I recall having to type up the assignments and mail them off, then having to wait for the tutor’s reply. At the time I was using an old Royal typewriter and felt like a real writer, whatever that was. I enjoyed the course until after a few months my tutor introduced a plan. Well, this was actually a series of plans and the idea was to map out the story, plot, subplots, character arcs and so on.
This whole concept killed my creativity stone dead. I worked on my maps and plans and tried to make my ideas fit into the assigned grids, but in the end, I quickly came to the conclusion that I was not and never could be a real writer. I just couldn’t get my head around plans and maps and grids and everything else. You see up to this point my stories had just appeared and I felt like a guide helping them onto the page. I never knew what the ending would be, in fact, to be honest, I couldn’t have told you what the next page would say.
This particular story does of course have a happy ending. I realised one day that my stories were not only valid, but they were also good or so others kept telling me. I read a huge amount of how-to-write books on my journey, sadly most of these were written by writing teachers and not writers. The day came when I realised that just because my ways and methods were different to the way the majority work, didn’t make them wrong, just different.
I like different. Today I call myself an organic writer. My stories grow from idea seeds. I water them and nurture them, but I also give them time to grow. By the way, I still couldn’t tell you how a story will end exactly. Well, that isn’t strictly true. Because once I begin a story I do come up with a basic end idea, however, beyond that is anyone’s guess.
I’ll often walk away from a story for a few days and on returning find that my characters have moved ahead and I’m having to run to catch up. I no longer use a typewriter, though I think they make wonderful props and will always make our hearts sing and our pulses race when we see them.
Incidentally, if you happen to enjoy using plans and maps, well, if it works for you I’m very happy. They’re just not my thing.
