Overthinking It

I'm not a plotter. There are reasons for that, the main one being that I'm not a big idea person. Also, I prefer to start a story at the beginning, meaning when an idea hits me in the shower (where ideas usually hit), it's an idea for a setting or an MC's profession. Never once has an inciting incident occurred to me in the shower, without at least having the skeleton of a story already written.

And while I don't envy plotters, I admire what they do. For me, however, having an entire story plotted out before I've written a single word makes me a transcriptionist, not a writer. It turns the writing process into a bore. I like being surprised at where a story leads ~ I like using my imagination. I've never once known where a story I'm writing will lead, yet it's led to some very interesting places. 

From time to time I read posts on a writer's forum about "character sheets" ~ you know, the ones in which an author jots down every single thing about their MC ~ down to the color of his or her eyes. Who cares? And what does that have to do with the story? Or their questionnaire will cite a hypothetical situation and ask how the MC would react to it. Unless you're using that situation in your story, you're probably going to figure out the main character's reactions as you're writing. 

I view these time wasters as procrastination. If you want to write, write. Don't make up excuses not to. 

As for outlining, why exactly? Are you going to forget what you intended to include in the story? "Intro: The search party approaches the mountain summit." Well, how would you start the story off without this written instruction? Were you going to start it in the middle?

I know, I know ~ I just don't get it. That's true; I don't. It's alien to me. That doesn't make me right. Every writer has to do it their way. But I can say with confidence that if I had to refer to my printed instruction sheet before I wrote the next scene, I would quit. I would. I would grow bored, because writing is supposed to be fun; not an assignment. 

And does something bad happen if one dares to deviate from the outline? If you suddenly have a brilliant idea, but it's not already mapped out? I guess that brilliant idea has to go. It's not in the manual, after all.   

I am a risk taker, because that's what makes life fun. There are limits, though. I'm not taking risks with my finances, because if I'm wrong, the outcome will be ruinous. But in creative pursuits, it's risk for me all the way. I approached songwriting the same way; I even took risks when I was into photography. Yes, the result could well be crap, but it also could be glorious. I detest reading instruction manuals. It's a challenge to figure things out on my own. If I end up completely lost, however, I'll pick up the manual to get me out of the mess I created. That's never happened to me with writing. Not that I haven't made a mess of things from time to time, but an instruction booklet wouldn't save me.  

From what I read, the majority of writers are outliners. I can't gauge their relative success versus those of us who simply hold on for the ride. It's probably fifty/fifty. 

There's no right or wrong way. There's simply a right or wrong way for me.