IWSG Post – Plotters versus Pansters woes

It’s my first year IWSG anniversary. Last year flew past by the speed of lightning. IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) is an online group started by Ninja Captain Alex J Cavanaugh. We share our insecurities, fears and doubts and help, support and encourage each other.

 IWSG members post on the first Wednesday of every month. Due to the first day of the new year falling on the first Wednesday this month, the IWSG date was postponed to the second wednesday. Check out the IWSG website, its full of useful information for writers.

One of my biggest writing worries is that I am enjoying being a panster more than being a plotter. Earlier I was a plotter: plotting every scene. From the past three months I love the freedom that a panster enjoys. Though I still have a loose plot (beginning, middle and end) in mind when I start writing, it’s the freedom of writing each scene spontaneously that has unleashed my creativity in a big way.

This has me worried as I always feel plotters write better stories than pansters as they have every little move plotted down in minutest detail. Again, it’s a personal belief that a panster’s story may end up with some loopholes or manholes which readers may find a fault with.

Last year when I plotted my trilogy in detail, I realized that it was kind of holding my creativity back. I was unable to write for many days. Frustrated with this logjam, I put away the trilogy and rewrote an entire book in less than a month courtesy my panster method. The ideas tumbled out of my head like a river the moment I decided I would not stick rigidly to the plotting method. I am writing another book using the panster method.

Does anyone else have the same problem like me: half plotter and half panster? If yes please share how you all manage to curb your panster traits.

P.S. Hope you all had a relaxed holiday with your loved ones. Its nice to see you all again.

The Forgotten Art of Longhand Writing

 Today I did something that I have always loved doing, writing in longhand. Normally I switch on the computer and tap away furiously at my laptop keys. This new WIP, needed  me to revert to my long forgotten roots. When I started writing, I would write with a blue ball point pen on lined foolscap sheets. The first drafts were always on paper.

These would then be transferred to the computer. As I got busy with other things, I started writing on the computer itself to save time. I would just open a word document and start typing. Somewhere with my busy schedule I had forgotten the joys of writing longhand.

When I picked up the reams of foolscap sheets presented to me by my dad (dad had searched long and hard in Bangalore to get these lined foolscap sheets, I had just casually mentioned to him that I was missing my usual paper as the stationary shops near our house had all closed down). I was thrilled. Nothing like visiting old times. Yesterday, the first day of the week I started writing the rough outline of the first book of my Middle Grade Paranormal Trilogy. I am rewriting the first book, keeping just few scenes from the original draft.

It was sheer pleasure to watch the sheets fill up with my handwriting. Every filled page sent ripples of delight coursing through my body. By the end of the day, I was quite happy with my writing progress. While writing, the feel of the smooth paper was bliss. I don’t know why, but I prefer staring at a blank sheet of paper than a blank screen. A blank screen tempts me to open my browser and check my mails, blog or facebook.

I feel longhand writing really unleashes my creativity. It sure turns my normal moody muse into a caring and helpful creature. It also sets free my blocked and choked up brain cells. For a few days I have decided to carry  around the page in which  I have outlined the plot, so that I can fine tune the outline and add more to it.

I know it’s a lengthy process: first writing, then typing. I am just going to write chapter outlines and the major scenes, not the entire book. Lot of it will get changed while writing the consecutive drafts. I am seeing the positive side of it. While typing I can also edit and make the changes.

What about you all? Do you cherish the times when you wrote longhand or do you prefer its quicker version; typing once for all on the computer. What do you all feel about writing longhand? Is it too cumbersome for you all? What is your writing method?

             

Few Imaginative and Funny Writing Prompts

Today, let’s move away from the usual serious topics. The topic for this post is Imaginative and Funny Writing Prompts. It’s just our imagination and us; the wilder the imagination, the better ideas we can get.  Here are few of my wacky ideas.

1. Imagine your Main Character’s boyfriend/girlfriend, who is  prone to jealousy and suspicion, volunteers for a clone experiment. It succeeds, and now there are two of them, exactly the same. Its Double Trouble. What happens to the poor MC when she/he  has to put up with the two of them?

2. Three men wearing strange clothes follow your Protagonist  and her/his friend home. It turns out that the Protagonist’s girl friend/boyfriend is an alien with amnesia, and can't remember a thing. These men have arrived to escort him/her back. What happens now?

3. Your Protagonist  befriends a man who is the Keeper of Secrets. Now your protagonist is aware of every secret  in the world. He/she can blackmail everyone. What does your protagonist do?

4. Your Main Character is stranded with a  shape-shifter on a deserted highway. Now what happens?


5. One of your characters meets with an accident, he/she wakes up in the hospital and realizes that they have developed an ability to read people’s minds, or see their future. This can be disastrous.

These prompts are great short story ideas.Can you think of any wild and funny writing prompts? We all badly need to exercise our  creative muscle and also laugh. Please share them with us.

Some Writing Prompts to Trigger Creativity

I came across few of these writing prompts in a book. I tweaked and modified most of them to suit our  current needs: keeping our WIP in mind. I am sharing them with you all, in the hope that it will help us out of tight spots and knots in plots.

1. Select an ordinary domestic item  such as a teapot, a mug, a jeweled brush, a broom and write an article on it. For eg: the jeweled brush can belong to a princess, the broom can be a witch’s who has lost her magic powers. This prompt  creates wacky short stories.

2. Write a conversation between your protagonist and antagonist. This prompt can pinpoint  the weaknesses and strengths of  both the protagonist and antagonist and will assist when its time to bring them face to face.

3. Interview your protagonist at different ages: 7,11,15,19, 23, we can even reach their old age. I am sure this prompt will be fun and will help us with our protagonist’s goals. What kind of a person has our MC become in old age, have they achieved everything that they set out to do? How did they achieve everything? Are they happy, or bitter?

4. Try Time Warps. Imagine you or your protagonist coming back from the future and confronting your present self, or, the present day world. We can also send the protagonist into an alternate universe. This writing prompt can also be tried for the antagonist.

5. Take some unusual  pictures and  write about it from the Point of  View of one of the characters in your WIP. This will make us see things from that person’s perspective and give us a peep into that character’s mental makeup.

6. Stare into the fire, clouds, rain, tree, a table, or, even a house and see what pictures start to form. The setting sun or the sunrise are wonderful prompts. Write the scenes that you see  from the point of view of your protagonist. What feelings do these  scenes evoke? What is the protagonist’s emotional state when he/she encounters the above scenes?

I seldom try Writing Prompts (I may have just tried few). But these have motivated me to give them a go. What about you all? Do you do writing prompts, or, are you like me and generally give them a  miss? Any favourite prompts you want to share?

Picture Credit and Copyright Melissa Crytzer Fry

Unleashing Our Creativity

Several times our creativity gets stuck in  a rut as we work long and hard for several hours in a day,  for months together and sometimes for  years on one WIP. Our thoughts get stilted. They seldom drift from plot, character, conflict and resolution. This leads to battle fatigue. Yes, we do  get tired and the flow of creativity is restricted.

We may call it Writer’s Block or by any other name. I noticed while teaching my students that they were moving along just one track. The group of 18-19 year old girls seldom strayed from the path of love stories. Most were getting stuck in a rut.

To infuse fresh  enthusiasm I introduced them to the Double Trouble Game which I  had come across on my blogging friend Australian Writer Sheryl Gwyther’s blog long time back. Sheryl  generously allowed me to share this creative game  not just with  my students but with everyone. I would like to share the game with everyone. 

                   

 In this game we have to pick two nouns from a list of unlikely 'room-mates' - naming words that do not go together. 

Like:

GRASSHOPPER  CHOCOLATE

GOLDFISH  COKE

FROG  GUITAR

MAN  LEAF

BEE  PENCIL

You get the idea? Now imagine the combination of two (Frog and Guitar) and ask yourself What if ? Or you can think of unusual situations  consisting of a frog and a guitar.

Like: What if a frog  loved the guitar? What if the frog lived inside a guitar? Or what if a  frog  liked to play a guitar to serenade his girlfriend? What happens  when the frog is rejected by other frogs  because of his love for guitars?

How will our   Frog  ( my frog is called  Freddy Strings) cope with this rejection from  other frogs? Can he live away from the frog community? What  is he going to do? Would he stop playing the guitar? Would he stop living inside the guitar and move to another place? Short  stories can be built on these unlikely room mates.

My brief to my students was “ Go wild. Have fun. Let nothing hold you back.” And fun they had. I got such unlikely roommates (Cindrella- McDonald, Dog-Rose, Icecream-Sun, Plant-Coke, A popular Actress-Chocolate, Ant-Skateboard ). The stories built around these strange roomies were wild, wacky and weird. But it did let loose their creativity.  

I think this is a wonderful way to create unusual situations  in our manuscripts. We  can take two unlikely room mates ( elements from our WIP) and come up with something unusual. Maybe we can arrive at an unexpected  and unusual plot twist. Who knows  which direction our imagination will lead us to?

What do you think of the Double Trouble Game? It would be great  if  you  share two unlikely room mates with us. What is their unusual problem/situation?  Don’t you think this can be a wonderful source of inspiration not just for picture book writers, but for all of us?

P.S: My unlikely  room mates were the frog and guitar. 

Teaching Creativity is like Learning it all Over Again

Going back to college was nostalgic.  From a student of Psychology, Literature and Journalism, I was returning  as  the Creative Writing Teacher.  The moment I agreed to take on the job six months back,  I was attacked by anxiety and doubts. I had never taught anyone anything before.  Would I be able to teach?  Would the students be interested?  Did I have the patience to teach? What would I teach?  Oh boy, I had more questions than answers.

Though I had mentally decided what I would  teach from March,  I hesitated to put it down on paper.  Maybe that particular course may be scrapped said a voice inside my head. Maybe no one will sign up for it, said another voice. But when things were confirmed by  March end,  I started planning for the  course.

Words of caution poured in from  family and friends. “The students are terrors, they will bully you,” said one friend. “You don’t look like a teacher,” said an aunt. “Trust me, no one will pay attention,” said another  pessimistic aunt. “How will you manage to write your books as well as teach,” asked my concerned best friend. “ Can’t imagine you as a teacher,” laughed my college  friend.

The  words of caution turned me into a mass of quivering jelly.  But as the day of joining college drew near, I relaxed. I would manage. Either I would suck as a teacher, or,  be able to teach well. I decided to judge for myself. I would  first get to know my students during the initial  session and then proceed after that.

It has been  22 days and I can say with a certainty that I am enjoying  every moment of teaching. The students are an enthusiastic bunch and whatever else we can fake, one can’t fake enthusiasm. That’s half the battle won. They are  polite,  respectful and behave like angels.  

An advantage I have is that they are quick learners. When I taught them the different  styles of narratives, I was astonished by their rapid grasp ( it took me longer to master it). And so were the amazing  descriptions they wrote when I taught them descriptive writing. I explained  Descriptive Writing as using the five senses to describe an object, person, event or  a place. Most of the students went beyond my expectation. Their descriptions gave me a peep into what went inside their heads. They created vivid images. Their essays on  ‘My  Favourite Childhood Memory’ were wonderful. Okay, there were some grammatical errors (but that’s my job to teach them proper grammar as well how to enhance their creativity).

The art and craft of short story writing saw the most participation. Each one is eager to write an amazing story. And the tough topics they have chosen make me   fear for their sanity as its their first  attempt at  short story writing. The mental and detailed images of the  protagonists they have narrated to me,  have made me eager to read their short stories.  

Sometimes SMS lingo does creep into their writing. But I know it will take me time to wean them away from that style. Their enthusiasm is  child like. Slowly  they are shedding their shyness and sharing their  creative thoughts and eagerly doing the creative tasks I set for each session.

Teaching them is making me more perceptive to my own mistakes whenever I write nowadays. It’s like I am learning the basics of writing all over again. And  brushing up on the basics is not  a bad thing. We tend to forget the simplest rules while struggling to master the more difficult ones.

What is your opinion about teaching? Do you think teachers learn as much as they teach? Any teaching advice  for a newbie like me?   

Scribblers, or Gods of our Universe?!

Are we just Scribblers (penning stories) or, are we Gods of our Universe. As writers we get to play God with our literary characters. We become something akin to their Destiny Makers. We have the ability to bring them to throbbing life, or kill them with one stroke of a pen, or, with the click of few keys. We have the means of ridding them of their problems quickly, or tormenting them for several chapters.

In the literary world we can do everything that we cannot do in our real world. Would we create problems in someone’s life like we do with relish in our protagonist’s life? God forbid. No. Never. Would we ever be accused of manipulating people in real life, in the way we manipulate all our characters? Again the answer would be no. But when we write we keep aside our guilt conscious, and trouble and torture our characters mercilessly. At times with glee. The more problems we add in their lives the more believable the character becomes. A case of the Written Life emulating the Real Life.

As scribblers we give full rein to all our fantasies, create make believe worlds, people the world with believable protagonists, add loathable antagonists, generously add conflicts of all kinds, and finally resolve it to universal appeal.

As writers we have complete control of the destinies of each and every character we create, not just the main. We set the stage for the entry and exit of all the people who have initially resided in our imaginations. In real life more often than not we are helpless.

Have you noticed that the lack of influence we have over the people in our lives: family; parents, spouse, siblings, children, and friends doesn’t trouble us during writing? Our characters unlike our family and friends cannot call us interfering busybodies or control freaks when we meddle with their lives. Writing is the only time we are in complete control (provided the muse is co-operating, and distractions that deter us from writing are at bay, and we get uninterrupted writing time).

In our literary worlds characters are created with impunity, they are shown the door unceremoniously, flying on the wings of imagination our characters indulge in activities that we would never dare to do! Deep down most of our characters reflect our secret desires and passions. Sometimes I think even the not so nice ones.

Our characters are puppets that we manipulate to put on a wonderful performance that will leave the readers asking for more.

Are we writers closet control freaks? Is that one of the main appeals of writing? To be in complete control of every aspect of our character’s life? Or, do we love to create new worlds, new situations and new people? What aspect of writing appeals to you all the most? I would love to know.