What type of writer are you?

What type of writer are you? The one great doubt that accosts many would-be authors when you are just beginning, and all you have are your ambitions and doubts. A lot of time can, and is, wasted on trying to figure that out. I know I have done exactly that. So, Neophyte, Timmy, today is not a “rambling day”; today is important. Why? Because if there is a single lesson that could save you time, then this one is it.

So, what type of writer are you? Not too long ago, that question was usually a lonely affair to answer. Each person was basically alone on that path. Sure, you could try to join a writing group or maybe connect via paper mail. Ultimately, it was lonely.

No, Timmy, I am not putting you on detention; you haven’t done anything bad… yet. No, I am talking to you, not about you. So please listen.

Anyway, today the matter is inverted; we are so connected that we don’t know what to understand. I know that you have experienced it already. You go online, and the second you start to research a topic on a consistent or semi-consistent manner, you are bombarded by all types of content with no order nor organization.

It’s no wonder people like Timmy over here are so distracted, too much information with too little… Timmy, drop the crayons, drop them now! I don’t want a repeat of last time. Anyway, let’s continue.

This excess of information is, to understate it, confusing. So how do you go about unconfusing it? You stop and think very hard… Timmy, you are going to pop a vein doing that… please stop.

I mean it; the only way to really answer the question posited at the very beginning of these sessions together is to stop and think, think about how you are as a writer. Are you the type who enjoys having everything neatly arranged before you start to write? Do you write the story when you are thinking about it? Then you are an outliner. A breed that essentially writes the story before penning the prose. Yes, Neophyte, writing is not confined to the writing of the story itself; what the hell do you think I have been explaining all this time? How to do crochet… oh dear… Timmy, come back! You don’t need to go fetch your nan for… well, we lost him for a while. Would you give him your notes later? Good.

For those kinds of people, the story is written before they build the novel itself. The plots are woven in a vacuum, the characters and their identities in a lab. Penning the prose is but an exercise in decoration for these people.

Then we have the pantsers, also called discovery writers. The stereotype of them is that they sit down and write, and the story comes to them as if from heaven, or hell if it is particularly bad. Truth be told, even they need some kind of structure; I know I lean more to that side of the spectrum so I can tell you. Even though there is a lot of gut feeling that goes into it, and therefore trust in ones own skill, we still need some measure of guidance, something to bounce off of. That means pre-writing work, just of a different kind than that of the outliners.

What type of writer are you? Now, Neophyte, pay attention. Because in this day and age, we have the erroneous idea that by studying and living in a permanent state of “preparing,” we are actually doing things; no, that isn’t the case. You just can’t discover what type of writer you are by doing “preparation” work alone. You create the road as you walk it; there are no two ways about it. And as is the case of actually becoming a writer, the only way to truly understand what type of writer you are is to write.

Only in doing will you find your breaking points, how you work, and how to endure the work. Because ultimately, to understand what kind of writer you are is not a matter of bohemian importance. It is not for you to go about strutting all over the place, leaving contempt and derision all over the floor and disorganizing other people’s libraries. It’s to ensure a good workflow and a continuous workflow. You will hear me repeat this into oblivion, but book writing is a long affair. Yes, you could try and write fifty thousand words in a single day and call it remarkable progress; it certainly is. But what about the day after, and the one that follows that? What about them? It helps none if you end up so burnt from a single session of mad writing that you are too tired and exhausted to work. Worse still, you could end up fed up with what you are writing and abandon it altogether, rendering your fifty thousand-word writing day moot.

So, don’t obsess over what type of writer you are; you are going to discover it as you become. Neither should you become blind by the endless stream of information that is available; the utility of much of it is doubtful.

So one more time, to recap:
What type of writer are you?

Outliners essentially write the story before starting the prose, either in the outline or in some other method.

Pantsers, or discovery writers, they “discover the story as they go”.

What both of these have in common, Neophyte, is that they both have to discover the story; it’s just that they do it in slightly different ways. I think that we are going to have to stop for today; I think I hear Timmy returning with his nan. only you can answer the questin What type of writer are you?