#story architect vs gardener: go!

[waterfall-ambience]

who would win? extensive story brainstorming and character rotations in the mental space OR the urge to implement each successive creative impulse?

[slayingfiction]

Plotters VS. Pansters

Don’t forget our Grand Opening Giveaway starts February 1st/24 on Tumblr, Instagram and slayingfiction.com! You don’t want to miss it! Happy Writing!

In the world of writing, there are two types of creators often discussed: plotters and pantsers. These terms describe a writer’s approach to crafting stories. Whether you’re an aspiring author or a seasoned novelist, understanding these styles can offer valuable insights into your writing process. Let’s dive into what makes plotters and pantsers distinct and how each approach contributes to the

art of storytelling.

Plotters: Architects of the Written World

Plotters, often referred to as ‘architects,’ are writers who plan their stories meticulously before diving into the actual writing. They are the mapmakers of the writing world, charting out each twist and turn of their narrative.

Detailed Outlining: Plotters create extensive outlines, character profiles, and world-building elements before penning their first sentence.

Controlled Storytelling: This style lends itself to a controlled narrative with fewer inconsistencies and plot holes.

Time Investment: Plotting can be time-consuming initially, but it often makes the writing process smoother.

Famous Plotters: J.K. Rowling and John Grisham are notable plotters, known for their detailed story planning.

Pantsers: The Free Spirits of Storytelling

Pantsers, or ‘gardeners,’ as George R.R. Martin likes to call them, write ‘by the seat of their pants.’ They dive into writing with a general idea or none at all, discovering the story as they go along.

Spontaneous Creation: Pantsers often begin with a basic concept or character and let the story unfold naturally.

Flexible and Dynamic: This style allows for more flexibility, often leading to surprising and dynamic plot turns.

Adaptable Process: Pantsing can be less intimidating for some writers, as it doesn’t require extensive pre-planning.

Famous Pantsers: Stephen King and Margaret Atwood are known for their pantser style, crafting intricate stories with a more spontaneous approach.

Which Approach is Better?

The truth is, there’s no ‘better’ approach. Both plotters and pantsers have their strengths and challenges. Some writers are strict plotters or pantsers, while others fall somewhere in between, employing techniques from both styles.

1. Mix and Match: Many successful authors use a combination of plotting and pantsing. They may start with a rough outline but allow room for the story to evolve.

Personal Preference: The best method depends on what works for you as a writer. Experiment with both styles to find your comfort zone.

Genre Considerations: Some genres, like mystery or high fantasy, might benefit more from plotting due to their complex plots and world-building.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a plotter, a pantser, or somewhere in between, the most important thing is to keep writing. Each approach offers unique pathways to creativity, and understanding your own method can enhance your writing experience. Embrace your style, and let it guide you in your storytelling journey.

Remember, there’s no right or wrong way to write a story. The beauty of writing lies in the diversity of its creation.

[camlannpod]

hi I’m the person who asked about character creation advice in the listen along stream. My internet went funny so sorry I couldn’t specify on stream!

I meant characters in general! I really want to get into writing stories (books, podcasts, film, I haven’t really decided yet) but I’m struggling a bit with fleshing out my characters and I often feel like they’re all kind of the same person.

I really love the characters in Camlann so advice would be great!

Hi hello! Thank you so much for joining us for the stream, I'm sorry for your internet difficulties!!

Hm, this is an interesting and tricky question which I want to preface with a quick disclaimer:

Everyone writes differently. There's no one correct way to write, and whilst there are tool sthat you can use for writing - just like there are tools in visual art and music, learning which tools you want to use and how you want to use them is, I think, a big part of learning how to write well and in a way that's enjoyable for you.

This said! People often make jokes / comments about 'plotters vs pantsers' or 'architects vs gardeners'. A lot of writers fall into one of two categories - meticulously plotting detail before writing, or just kind of going with the flow. I personally am very much in the latter category, so I'm afraid I don't have a lot of specific tools or exercises I can give you.

This said, I'm going to do my best. Ursula K Le Guin is, in my opinion, one of the best writers of the 20th century, and she writes a lot of wonderful essays about the imagination and writing which I find really inspiring. I'm paraphrasing because I can't find the quote, but she once said something along the lines of: "If I can't close my eyes and have a conversation with a character, then I'm not ready to write their story yet."

That's a lot how I feel about writing characters. Some of it is conscious. I identify traits - flaws, strengths, quirks - in myself and others, and I give them to my characters. Dai is hyperactive and excitable because I'm hyperactive and excitable. Perry infodumps because I infodump. Morgan is stressed and protective because I am both of those things. But they also all have elements I don't have - Morgan is a lot more understated and pragmatic than I am. Dai is much more confident and reckless. Perry is significantly more organised and self-disciplined.

As a rule, I personally find it best to avoid ever trying to write 1 for 1 either yourself or a friend into a character. That way lies hurt feelings and honestly an inability to see them clearly, because it's very hard to see yourself objectively. Instead, I think of it like putting puzzle pieces together, or a patchwork quilt, or planting seeds. People often say good writers are good eavesdroppers. Phrases that people say on the tram stick with me. Strangers in shops. People dancing. Expressions and ways of speaking that filter through to characters I write.

Once I've identified a small handful of key pieces, I leave them to grow in my subconscious. This normally takes a few months. It's like...moulding a piece of wet clay for a few hours - ok, I don't want them to be X, I do need them to do Y - and once you've got roughly what you want in the right places, putting it in the kiln that is your mind and letting it cook. I just...think about my characters a lot - daydream about them, imagine them in different situations etc. Once I feel they've had enough time to settle, I start writing.

I honestly find one of the best ways to get to know a character is just writing them. For me that always feels like a conversation. And not just writing - editing and rewriting and rewriting - learning what they would or wouldn't say, thinking about how they'd react in different situations etc. There are...minimum 7 drafts of the Camlann scripts? I got to know the gang better just because I spent a lot of time with them.

Finally, for audio specifically, always always read your scripts aloud! If you can, rope in a friend or two. The way people speak out loud and the way they speak in our heads when we're reading is very different. Something that's incredibly moving in prose can feel awkward and stilted in audio. So read it out loud - start getting a sense of your character's vernacular. Do they say 'don't' or 'do not'? Do they swear? Do they use slang? Are they flirty, shy? I always find that my characters start coming to life when I can hear their voices. If I can hear them speaking to me, they're ready to be written.

This is all a little wibbly wobbly, and very personal to me, but I hope it at least helps you think about how you want to write. Good luck, and have fun!

[zenaidamacrouras1]

Reflecting on my writing process. I definitely qualify as a gardener vs. an architect.

Step 1: Write 5-75,000 words of vibes

Step 2: Start posting the fic. You have a lot of chapters, so that gives you time to finish it while you write the rest.

Step 3: Realize this probably has to have an ending ? or something? Feel violently jealous of people who plan out their fics in advance and like, outline what's going to happen in them? Is this real? Are people really doing this? Why can't you be them? Read other people's stories because maybe that will inspire you to finish yours, but it just fills you with inadequacy because everyone else's stuff is better than yours and why are you even trying again?

Step 4: Spend 1-6 weeks imagining a meteor striking the world you have written and killing everyone, so that's the ending, and that will be easy enough to write.

Step 5: Well, actually, then you could turn into like a post-apocalyptic survival thing, or maybe a character study on what happens when they are waiting for the meteor to hit, which would take like another 75,000 words of vibes to talk about and then you'd still have to write an ending. So scratch the idea about killing off everyone in the fic.

Step 6: Regret being born. Regret not being hit by a meteor. Painstakingly back-create an outline from your 20 chapters of meandering vibes to see if that makes an ending to the plot appear. It does not, just underscores how bad you are at plot, which you already knew, but look! Proof of your inadequacy. Cool. Google to see if any meteors are coming soon, in which case, why are you doing this to yourself? You might only have a few weeks to live.

Step 7: Force yourself to work on the story, but then you just do micro-managing edits like adding 900,000 commas that aren't needed and then add a bunch more vibes to the chapters you already wrote, so now it's worse and full of filler it didn't need and you have to delete all the garbage you just wrote. Why does this story exist? What's even the point? Of this story or like, literally anything? Go on tumblr to scroll mindlessly. Write a long, self-indulgent post about how hard writing is.

Step 8: Go into a fugue state fueled by panic and fear of disappointing the people who have been reading along with the fic because like an idiot you already started posting it even though you had no idea what the point of the fic was or how and why it would end. You hate the fic, but you hate the idea of letting the bastard fic WIN more than you hate the fic, so you are going to murder the stupid fic if it kills you. Ignore all responsibilities and have a panic attack because you forgot to eat breakfast lunch and dinner and you can't figure out why your body is shutting down and you are waste deep in garbage because you forgot to clean the house and the children were running feral and subsisting solely off Nutella while you were thinking about the STORY.

Step 9: Wait, it looks like the fic is actually finished, but you can't remember how you finished it so unfortunately the process isn't not able to be replicated.

Step 10: Finish posting fic. Feel immensely sad that it's over. Oh, how you loved writing it, the darling, darling thing. The grief, the loss, that you will no longer have this lovely story as a companion to your days.

[justoneday-namjoonii]

rip jungkook (and also maybe jin) when he reunites with the mc and realizes what has happened in the meantime... I hope you don’t feel pressured one way or the other on who she should end up with, personally I’ve had fun with all her romance options although I feel that all of them are to some extent using her to “band-aid” other issues in their lives. To jk she’s kinda like a replica of his mother and a person who can’t abandon him like his family, to jm she’s a fix to his insecurities about being used and overshadowed by others, to yg she’s a way to prove to himself that he isn’t exactly like his dad (and maybe even acts as a jin replacement?) and it leads to very selfish behavior from all of them. It’s hard to tell who would have fallen for her if they lived different lives where none of the above are true. I kinda get why jin was so appalled at the idea of her dating anyone from the gangs lol it’d be funny if she was like “I’m sick of everyone’s bullshit!” and moved on from all of them 💀

also idk if you’ve heard about the architect vs gardener types of writers but I’m curious about whether you’ve had an ending set in your head from the start (architect) or if you’ve let the story take its own course and changed your mind while writing (gardener). if it’s the gardener one I’ll be back when the series ends to ask you to talk to us about other ideas you had along the way!

sorry for the rant, I’ve had these thoughts for some time and let them all out rn lol (also rip namjoon you had too much swag they had to kill you 🕊)

*visual representation of me ruining my characters lives**

thank you for this in depth analysis!! omg, I really enjoy this type of dialogue with you beautiful readers💞 your interpretation is sooo good, her romantic adventures have been so interesting to write. The Jk x Y/n is different from the yoongi x Y/n, and the jm x y/n is just a whole hot mess. I think what I like about jk and yn the most is how youthful their attraction is, even though it’s painfully toxic. It’s something that doesn’t get old. There’s still a lot left unsaid there, Jungkook broke it off because Y/n could not grow past where the relationship had ended. And Jin has every reason to not want her with any of them, he grew up with them and knows their bullshit very well. That’s the one area he truly cares about Y/n, he genuinely doesn’t want her to be with them, his heart is there at least.

I won’t even touch on Jimin lol. Yoongi’s though, it took MONTHS for me to bring them together. Like even I was feeling awkward during some of their scenes. But I eventually got a flow the other day!! Things just started to fall into place in my mind and I’m happy with how it come out🥹 I think you said it best, being with her is a way for him to prove that he’s not like his father. It’s a bit ironic. He’s having to revert back to his old ways, similar to his father—but in terms of his love life? Or lack there of, he’s done a 180 and that’s what I really like about their dynamic

I’ve actually never heard about that!! But that’s so cool, I am definitely an architect (with gardener tendencies) 👉👈 from the very beginning, since the prologue, it was always going to be Yoongi falling for her. As I’ve written, there have always been pivotal moments that I plan, and then I just have to write myself there. It’s a bit chaotic but it works😅

NEVE APOLOGIZE FOR THE RANT, I’m a yapper myself so I love to hear different perspectives and share my own. I actually really appreciate it so much💕

😩😂🥹 yes RIP, he was a real chaotic evil, the ultimate OP of my dreams… but in true Namjoon fashion, even in death he’s got his own plan✨

[snickerdoodlles]

P and S for the fanfic asks? 😊

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

definitely a gardener!! there's a certain level of planning i have going into any fic-- i usually have a pretty good idea of where i'm starting vs where i want to go, i have a little selection of mental bullet points i want to hit along the way, and i'm actually pretty good at telling how long a story will become to tell the story i want to tell. but i do not like rigid story planning or extensive outlines. at all, they chafe against me and i find them more of a block than an assistance. i don't subscribe to the writing idea/joke that characters will drive the plot instead of me, but i do like having a more flexible approach to how i tell a story while i'm writing it.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

TIME 👏 LOOP 👏 STORIES 👏👏👏

i am suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch a sucker for timeloop stories oh my god, i will eat them up with a silver spoon every time. i love doomed hero stories and timeloops are one of my favorite ways to dial those up to 11. every story always has a million ways it can go, and timeloop stories let you explore dozens of those options. even better, timeloop stories let you FAIL 99% of those options too. they're such a good pressure cookers for character development??? you can have the aching loneliness of a character trapped in a moment of time, or the inevitable codependency of two characters trapped together, how long does a character fight their circumstances before they give up, what force drives them to not give up, how do the characters reconcile a seemingly abrupt personality change vs being irrevocably changed, and just. so much of this. so much more. I LOVE TIMELOOPS GUYS

a potential subset of this trope love is i am a total sucker for time travel AUs for tragic stories because like. the character's already failed. (or even more delicious, they had accepted their past and found a happiness, but are now facing the choice between doing it all over again but possibly failing worse, or actively accepting the tragedies they know are coming in hopes of eventually reclaiming that lost happiness. fuckin yes man.) however i'm also a lot more picky on these because i don't like stories that are just retold except characters are somehow immune to stupid decision thanks to the power of hindsight, i like a new story with new choices and stakes haunted by the previous tragedies and old decisions.

getting back on track, another trope i'm obsessed with: kidnapping plots. there is zero justification ever needed for a kidnapping plot, snatch that guy and give everyone FEELINGS about it and you have my full attention forever ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[[ fanfic ask game ]]

[guqin-and-flute]

New year writing asks: 1, 8, 24?

1. Do you have a word-count goal for the upcoming year?

Not for the year, but I'm going to try to set a fairly attainable goal for updating/posting SOMETHING (fic wise) at least once a month, to keep the momentum up!

8. Is there a story idea in your mental vault that you’ve never been brave enough to try writing? Is this the year? Can you tell us about it?

So...sorta. There's 2. One is the I've talked about the Xichen in Guanyin Temple Time Loop fic that fascinates me. It just requires a lot of planning (at least vs what I normally do). A lot of times, my story lines sort of write themselves after I've futzed around in them for a chapter or two, or, sometimes the broader arc of it just sort of pops out of nowhere. With timeloops, tho, part of the narrative juiciness is the stuff that stays the same and how that changes because of context. Starting with Architect™ energy is daunting to my primarily (or at least, initially) Gardener™ brain, cause I want to do it justice! Plus I would need to figure out the ending 😂

The second is a post-canon JGY Survives Guanyin Temple AU from his POV I started back in 2020 fairly soon after I finished the show for the first time. I think it was the 3rd fic I started planning for this fandom ever? It's a lot darker than a lot of the other stuff I've written and I want to be sure I can write him in a...realistic way? I deal so much with AU's and Fix-Its before everything truly goes down the drain for him re:Qin Su marriage, JGSs murder, and A-Song's murder, 3 instances where I really think something in him just broke. I haven't dealt much with that JGY and so I want to do him justice and write him as jagged and savage as he is but still make him make sense as himself, you know?

But basically, Xichen says that the Lan will take responsibility for him and he locks him up 🙃 And then goes into seclusion. Which, y'know. Parallels. I go into how that mentally fucks with both of them, how that reconciling/healing(?ish?) process is for both of them, how they have both changed, to each other and to who they were before.

24. By the end of this year, you want your fandom to think of you as “that author who _______.”

Finished that really cool AU! I DON'T CARE WHICH ONE, I JUST WANT TO BE ABLE TO FINISH A PROJECT AHJISDJOFA

[ariadnekurosaki]

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

I'm a... gardenitecht? (Or a plantser, for folks who prefer the terms planter vs. pantser)

Any story I write over, say, 2k has at least some semblance of an outline or synopsis. Sometimes that outline was created solely by me; sometimes I riffed with a friend to come up with the scenario. Multichapters, like Of Queens, Horses, and Red Strings, get a more detailed outline with plot points to hit for each chapter.

That said, sometimes the story goes to unexpected places along the way, and usually I don't fight it when it does.

Thanks for asking!

[causeitsagame]

For the fic ask meme! Literally all of them? I’m so curious

Well, it made the most sense to answer this particular ask and let it cover others!

ANSWERS INCOMING.

Keyboard or notebook?

KEYBOARD. When I write by hand, my wrist soon hurts. (Old tendonitis from undergrad, it loves to flare up.) But my fingers can fly across the keyboard fast enough to keep up with any words as they come. When I get into a groove, I can type awfully fast. My single-day writing record was around 18k words, but uhhhh that has not been approached since.

Now, the risk of typing on a keyboard: the computer has all of those other fascinating elements lurking behind the writing window, and it's just so, so easy to tab over to them. To counter this impulse, I'll often fire up Composition Mode in Scrivener, which takes over the screen and hides all of the other things I could be doing.

Beta or no beta?

I don't use a beta, but I do have a writing buddy. We mutually talk each other through knotty/stubborn structural plot elements of our current pieces, and that's where writing challenges usually lie for me.

In terms of cleaning up the fundamentals, I typically do two things before making anything public. One, I bump the font size way up and/or change the font, to make it look like a "new story." Two, I read every word out loud. I've found this to be an incredible way to catch awkward phrasings, repeated words, run-on sentences, etc. that I'd otherwise miss. (It can also help with pinning down character voices if I go full Audio Book Voiceover and add in some vocal flair for each line of dialogue. But you need to be willing to feel like a little bit of an idiot for that part.)

Plot?

My writing buddy constantly makes (friendly) fun of me for how much I'm into PLOT. I cut my teeth on the Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire series as a younger reader, and those authors fucking. Love. PLOT!

Foreshadowing! Plot twists! Callbacks! The tiniest of hints! The smallest of details! ("No one cares about those details nearly as much as you do, [Miggy]." "DON'T CARE.")

I will say that GRRM's famous Architect vs. Gardener paradigm doesn't fit my plotting style, though. I use what I've dubbed a Road Trip approach, and I'd explain that here, but this is already long enough! I can do it at some other point if anyone's interested?

Smushy or smutty?

I'm fine with smut, I guess, but I prefer it to serve a plot purpose. "These two, overcome with desire for each other, are overjoyed to be reunited" is an example of a place where it could absolutely contribute to the narrative, for example. Otherwise, I'd rather just stick to emotional development and find it to be generally more engaging.

Summary?

Fucking hate them. Ugh. I usually do a quote from the story and then a vague description. Worst part of posting to AO3, truly.

Funniest fic?

Probably something that was lost in my old Livejournal account? I filled an incredible number of anon fic meme prompts there and some of them were actually quite hilarious.

(I miss anon prompt memes so bad. :( That's a huge thing that both Tumblr and AO3 lack.)

Most popular fic?

Legal Partners (Ace Attorney), and it's not close.

Most fun to write?

Probably a poll-driven fic series that I did on Livejournal. I'd write the setup, let people vote on the outcome, and have to figure out how to make it work for the next installment. It was incredibly fun and engaging, riiiiiiight up until some people decided to start setting up a bunch of burner accounts to cheat and managed to ruin the experience for everyone. 🙄

Best and worst?

Worst would definitely be one of the random Yuletide fills I've done. I like the idea of Yuletide, where you gift someone with a fic in a tiny fandom they'd never otherwise get to read. But in reality, the recipients kept adding specific details about romance, timeline, events, etc. that went beyond what they were supposed to provide. As an author, you're technically not constrained by anything beyond the requested fandom and a few specified characters. But if the recipient makes their preferences so very clear, then you're unfortunately faced with a choice between "write the specific thing that would apparently make them happy" and "write a story that you can actually envision, structure, and be proud of." There's a reason I haven't done Yuletide for years.

Best? Well. See. Okay.

I challenged myself to write the stupidest crossover possible. Which meant that I had to make it work. Which meant that I needed to worldbuild. I needed to plot. Weave in foreshadowing. Explain the details. Respect both universes, both in content and mood.

The end result: a Marvel/Glee crossover (really) that a Hugo & Nebula winner has repeatedly encouraged me to file the serial numbers off of, to publish as original work.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Most underrated?

Special, the answer to the last question. I've downloaded it as an eBook, and when I've reread it on a plane (or wherever), I do find myself going "man, this IS good."

Strengths?

Plot. :D For the reasons previously detailed. I try not to hold back from swinging at the fences with developments, both negative and positive. At the same time, I want any positives to feel earned and I want any negatives to carry proper dramatic weight, which means not otherwise rolling around in gratuitous suffering.

I just got some great and thoughtful AO3 comments on my current story (need to reply to comments!!!) and this one: "I called it. I FUCKING called that unimaginable agony and pain was coming!"

came two chapters after this one:

"I’m falling in love with these kids so much. Which can only mean we’re in for a whole lotta pain in a chapter or two."

That's what I'm going for, along with the bad -> good reverse direction, too. (…Usually.) I'm basically a Nagito of plotting. You know: hope leads to despair, and vice versa. I want to elevate the mood before everything crumbles, for the reader will feel even more despondent if everything falls from even greater heights. Or flip it around, and happiness feels like an even bigger relief if the plot previously didn't seem to allow for the slightest scrap of it.

Weaknesses?

I absolutely know that this comes from cutting my teeth on fic: environmental descriptions. It felt weird and repetitive to describe locations that any fan would be familiar with, so that led to me glossing over descriptions of where things were happening. Which is all well and good if it's in an existing location, I suppose; a DR fan doesn't need a loving description of a HPA classroom.

But! While editing, I'll often see that I've done the same thing for some new spot, as well. I'll have an image of this new place in my mind, but that description doesn't make it onto the page with more than a few loosely-sketched lines. That doesn't just harm the story's overall quality, but it also lessens the emotional reaction of the reader as they can't wholly picture the scenes as they happen. It's something I keep kicking my own butt over as I repeatedly catch this pretty fundamental error in editing.

Dirty little secrets?

This 'dirty little secret' is all about how I've tee-heed over some reader reactions.

I think the behavior itself is good! For a story of any real length, I have a cardinal rule that I always, always follow: "every important character has to screw up at some point." No one is allowed to be a perfect cinnamon roll, in other words, while other less ~awesome~ people handle the fuck-ups.

Why it's a dirty little secret: I have giggled a LOT in private over responses I've gotten from clear [their favorite character] stans… because they blatantly ignore how their favorite also screwed up. They've cheered me on for having [their non-favorite] fuck up, and are so relieved that I obviously hate [their non-favorite], too.

Meanwhile, other people have told me the exact same thing... but with the two characters reversed! It's just such a blatant example of how people will have their stan blinders on. It amuses me every single time, even if I never ever mention specific examples outside of private conversations.

(Knowing that I have my own stan blinders is what keeps me using that rule, by the way. My favorites have gotta fuck up just like everyone else. Fair's fair!)

[perkynurples]

How does one begin writing, particularly a fanfic? Do you have most of the story already written before you begin posting chapters? How do you find someone to help read/edit what you write?

I’ve read so many of the OFMD fanfics, and yours have blown me away. I’ve got the seeds of a story in my mind, but no clue whether I have the ability to make it into something actually resembling a story - particularly one worth reading. I would love to know if you have any tips or resources!!

hi! so uh. this is a loaded question, but first things first, let me talk a little bit about the gardener vs. architect approach to writing. a gardener is someone who simply plants the seeds and waits for something to grow out of them - you might have a vague idea, you might even want to see a certain result, but you don't always end up with what you started with. the flowers might turn out a different color, some might die, some new unexpected ones might grow. the resulting garden will be beautiful either way. in other words, the story WILL happen somehow, but who's to say how it's gonna look exactly?

the architect, on the other hand, lays down a blueprint. you don't start building a house until you've got everything figured out perfectly. you don't start writing a story until you've got heaps of notes, until you know the scenes you want to lay down, until you plan for every contingency.

I myself am firmly the former. all my biggest longfics, and aftercare is no exception, started with a vague idea, oh hey this might be cool, and then grew and grew and grew from there until I had to take some hedge trimmers to them (only I never did. letting my stories get out of hand is like my trademark at this point).

to that effect, I don't do a whole lot of editing, aside from the perfunctory grammar and flow stuff. my notes are a jumbled mess that I keep adding onto as the story grows. I haven't had a beta in years, because hell, I hardly know where the story's going, how's someone else gonna pick up on anything?? I kid, I kid. finding a good beta can be good for solving that age-old issue of does this story even make sense to someone who isn't me.

the one thing I always, always, always have is an ending. it usually comes to me within the first few chapters, sometimes at the very beginning of the story, and it gives me something to strive towards.

so anyway, I'd try to figure out what works for you, first. do you need to do a lot of planning, or do you want to just wing it? try it out. when it comes to putting the actual words down, it's... I suspect the process is different for everybody. some days, it flows so easily, some days, it's like pulling teeth. a great, grand book on this subject is called bird by bird by anne lamott - it describes the process of taking really really small steps to achieve great things, so in our world, writing a tiny little bit to write something big. the author also has so many great insights on writing in general, big big big rec.

this got wordy, because, again, a gardener writer over here, but I hope it provided some measure of an answer to your questions. best of luck with your writing! writing ten words a day counts! or a thousand! or just your notes that don't make sense to anyone else but you! the actual story is just the finished product after hours and hours of writing work that never sees the light of day! good luck!

[fluffypotatey]

f g p r from the fanfic ask game? please?

Hey bestie 🥰 thanks so much for the ask this one took me awhile lol

G - Do you write your story from start to finish? or out of order?

i like writing things from start to finish. key word: like. my brain, however, likes to jump ahead to specific scenes and events. i used to fight that bit and force myself to forge on along and wait until i finally made it to that part in the story.

lmao that was a horrible idea. those scenes would continue to haunt me and pester me until i finally give up and wrote them. so i just stop fighting it and write out of order. (honestly it was a blessing for me to decide to make my lmk one-shot series not in chronological order bc then i’d never get it done lol

it’s why my writing can get slow sometimes because while writing the chapter for the next event, i’ll be hit with some scene 2 chapters later or 3 scenes after some confrontation i haven’t started yet!!! i have ch7 for the dr geyer fic. it’s in my docs but i haven’t finished it bc someone *looks at brain* wants to write more of s6b bc Theo’s in that one >:(

P - Are you what George RR Martine would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance vs letting the story unfold as you go?)

you know, i know i read of this before like years ago but i don’t remember it lol. had to look it up to make sure i was understanding this right.

so… i think it depends?

with my merlin multi-chap fic and my medieval fantasy wip i plan those in advance. the merlin fic? i have that 1st arc’s plot down, i know where the story will lead to, i even know which characters i’ll keep alive or keep dead. 

with my one-shots (and my one-shots that chose to say “fuck you”), those are a spur of the moment kind of writing. i had something playing in my head that’s wants to be free, so i write it down and pray that it’s satisfied (it typically is not which is why you see a lot of my one-shots become multi-chapters or one-shot series). these don’t have a solid plan when i begin. i tend to come up with it as the plot comes together. 

tbh this works well with my fics bc i have a base outline: the actual show/book/movie. with my dr geyer fic, i know where s5-6 begin and end. sure, i’m choosing what gets to happen in-between, but i at least have the comfort of that base. the lmk series? it’s literally just me plugging in an oc and forcing a couple characters to air-out their issues. 

R - Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

oh definitely. tbh my main one would have to be Lemony Snicket. fell in love with the narration of those stories. the snark, the personality, the vocabulary, the inner dialogue. idk it just did something to 9 year old me lol

another big one i’d have to say is Branden Sanderson. not really his writing, but how complex and beautiful his worlds are. i didn’t know that you could create and capture the essence such beautiful worlds in writing but reading his books and seeing them come to life really influenced my desire to write and design fantastical worlds or even just explore snippets of other worlds like BBC Merlin Albion.

F - Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it

babe, i’m so sorry but it took me forever to choose. i debated on whether i should do lmk or teen wolf or abc merlin or even shit i haven’t posted bc i love too many of these T^T

but dw i did find one (it’ll be under the cut bc this got long jfc). i giggled a lot when writing it just because the back and forth with Liam and Mason interjecting was fun. also i picked this one to prove the dr geyer fic hasn’t been forgotten. i’ve just been….preocupied and going feral over immortal monkeys

*

“I’m not here to start anything,” Mr. Doughlas said to them calmly. “I just want the mountain ash barrier open, mh?”

“Yeah, because this isn’t starting anything,” Liam growled.

Mr. Douglas smiled, sharp teeth in full display. Again, he twisted his claws in the chimera. Theo, again, kept quiet. The only indication he was in any being came from his winces. Liam can’t tell if he should be impressed or horrified that getting stabbed in the spine barely got a reaction out of Theo. 

“This is simply a contingency. I just want the barrier open, then I’ll be out of your hair. I promise. No funny business.”

Theo chuckled (well, more like gurgled) and snorted.

“Says the Nazi.”

Douglas drove his claws further into Theo’s spine, polite smile cracking, in response. The chimera grunted, but Theo just laughed again.

“Sorry, sorry.” Theo’s smirk looked almost deranged with the blood coating his lips. “Nazi was the insult others threw at you, right?”

“He’s a Nazi?!” Mason shrieked. 

Doughlas sighed, all politeness disappearing as he addressed them all.

“Must we obsess over my previous occupation? I don’t see how this is important. I was just a soldier there.”

“Oh yeah, being a part of a genocidal fascist group should totally be overlooked!” Liam exclaimed. “Not like you were involved in and advocated for any of that!”

“Yeah, it adds nothing for us to even slightly trust you,” Mason added.

[thegoldenreport]

GOLDEN REPORT

You are now a staff writer for the Golden Report.

Welcome to your first day!

We understand it is dark and cramped and that your primary emotion must be an acute paranoia. Do not be alarmed. That is a very common feeling when one suddenly wakes up in a place they don’t recognize. 

You might be wondering what your “work” is, what to do. Well… 

Why don’t you go outside and interview a stranger? Get those journalistic juices flowing. See what happens. Post your findings.

And remember, sunshine drips slower in dreams.

…

To be honest, I don’t know how I got here. And I don’t think anyone who works for the Golden Report does either. They just sort of…take you one day and then…this is your job. You don’t question it. You just start writing.

The panel opened shortly after I awoke and read the above message. My eyes squinted at the beam of sunlight. Surprisingly, I did not see this as a perfect time to escape. Didn’t even register in my mind to try.

I grabbed a notebook and pen from the left cabinet drawer of my obsidian desk and headed outside. I found myself in some kind of terrace or garden. A stone slab path winded around ivy bushes and other greenery. It didn’t take me long to find a subject. As far as I’m aware, she was the only one besides me in this whole park.

There she reclined on a wired bench, cloaked in an olive green overcoat and black goggles over her eyes. Her arms were crossed as I approached her. My voice cracked when I introduced myself. I stumbled over my words. She smirked. Beckoned me to sit next to her. Almost like she had been asked many times before.

She called herself the Architect and would not give me any other name. So this was our conversation in full.

GE049: Good evening, my name is GE049 and I am a staff writer for the…

ARCH: I know your kind.

GE049: Do you consent to an interview?

ARCH: Of course. Let’s begin.

GE049: First off, who are you?

ARCH: I’m the Architect.

GE049: Okay. Do you have a…another name?

ARCH: No.

GE049: Architect. Now what does that mean?

ARCH: I build. I tear down. I rebuild.

GE049: What exactly are you building?

ARCH: If it’s in your mind, I’ve touched it.

GE049: Interesting…

ARCH: Very.

GE049: Is this a character you play?

ARCH: Are you not also playing a character now? The nervous writer, first day on the job and the mysterious architect, full of cryptic responses…all part of one big overarching story. A living myth. Yet we do not merely play characters. It’s who we are.

GE049: If this is a story, than what side are you on?

ARCH: Side?

GE049: Good vs. evil?

ARCH: Both. As is the Golden Report.

GE049: How often do you spend in this park?

ARCH: You’re an odd one.

GE049: And by the way, where are we?

ARCH: You’re in the Spiral…quaint and mindnumbing. A labyrinth for your thoughts to get lost in. I’ve been sitting on this bench for approximately five hours.

GE049: Sounds nice.

ARCH: It is…easy to just let them go.

GE049: Do you listen for anything in particular?

ARCH: Not usually. Maybe the wind. The snake rattle through the trees. But I come to the Spiral to be less aware. 

GE049: Explain what you mean by that.

ARCH: There is a museum, a gold open dome where clay figurines dance to the ticking of a clock. Inside this dome, there is also a white room. Ten by ten foot surface area, which houses the watchers in their white robes and raspberry eyes. I meet with them often. They speak to me strangely. Symbols. Codes. Flashes of images speckled with visual snow. It takes the whole day to translate and understand what they mean. So then I come here. Where their words will run the Spiral. Unspin themselves.

GE049: You seem the keeper of some great purpose.

ARCH: I am no better than you. 

GE049: Why are you with us?

ARCH: All things are vulnerable. All things are bound to crack. But you…and I, we fill in the cracks with liquid sunlight. Fluid and flexible. Reality bent, but never totally broken.

GE049: This is my final question. What do I need to hear right now?

ARCH: Do not fear the twists. Lean into it…as they come.

At this time, the Architect stood up and sauntered off, further down the path. I returned to the black box, my office, I guess you could call it, and compiled my first report. 

I do not know who this woman is. I get the feeling she is more important to the story than she lets on. I am grateful to have wandered through her world, if only for a moment. I hope we see her again.

[quaykey]

My Thoughts on Gardener vs. Architect

I figured it might be worth sharing the approach I take to writing because maybe some people out there might be people out there who find it interesting.

If you're unfamiliar with what the 'Gardner vs. Architect' idea is about, give this a read - it'll explain better than I can:

Gardener vs Architect, Which Type Suits You Best – LivingWriter Writing Blog

My approach is a hybrid between the two. I'm gardner who relies on an architect mentality to achieve a cohesive, creative whole. So how does that look?

At the start of a project, I start to list work out the ideas and themes I have in mind for this story. I'll use a document, a digital whiteboard, whatever feels right. This is supposed to be an idea dump - things I think would be interesting to read. The key here is that there's no structure.

From those pieces, I start to form structure. Perhaps a theme on "loss" could develop into a small arc; character A has to go through a tragic loss. How does the loss happen? What motions do they go through? I chart this idea out into something more structured. This is where the Gardner becomes the Architect.

I repeat this process until I have a bunch of stuff I could string together into a somewhat coherent whole. The purpose of what I'm doing right now is the get the overall storyline.

When I get stuck, I turn to a post-it note style of planning:

This is a barebones framework for a character arc. It could be the main story arc, or it could be a side arc. Regardless, it's not quite enough to write a whole arc with.

I'll seperate the story beats like so, and in the middle put blank post-it notes:

Now it's my job to fill in how we get from post-it note 1 to note 3. Again, this doesn't have to be detailed. It could be simple ideas, or specific scenes you had in your braindstorm that could fit in.

And volia, from nowhere, the bones of a story are starting to form.

I could continue this, or I might start to write the opening scene I have in mind.

While I'm writing that opening scene at the funeral, I might gardener myself some ideas which relate to the beat about "similar circumstances of death."

When she looked at her friends wrist, she noticed that a tatto she had was missing.

Now I have a new thread to add to my structure; the killer removes tattoos.

And during a later story beat, I might want to explain why that is. I'll add a small post-it note to remind myself to close that thread when I get to that section of the story.

Now this is no literary work of genius, but for an example it highlights how in a few minutes you can have the structure (architect) of something to allow you to behave like a gardner and explore your ideas freely and expressively.

As I write, I expand my outline. As my outline grows, I might have ideas that I need to go back and add into already completed chapters.

Here's the outline for the work I'm currently writing. It started off with only four or five post-it notes, and grew over the course of a week or two while I've been writing the first three chapters:

You'll see I use colours to represent threads/arcs/themes, arrows to show the flow of these arcs, and sub-notes whenever I have things I want to remember for future use.

I hope you found this interesting!

[beskarandblasters]

helloooooo

i have three questions for you, my friend <3

M, Q, P

love youuuuu

M. Got any premises on the back burner that you'd like to share?

I've got a twist planned for True Blue that I'm soooo excited to write/share. I don't wanna give away too much but the best way to describe it is: pain

Q. How do you feel about collaborations?

I've never done one myself but I would love to!!

P. Are you what George R.R. Martin would call an architect or a gardener? (Planning in advance vs letting the story flow as you go)

Somewhere in the middle! I plan the bigger things (I don't even write them down I just keep them in my head) but as for pieces of dialogue or details I let those flow as I write.

love ya <3

[lily-orchard-gossip-blog]

I know Lily doesn't understand nuance, but her thing about writers lying when they say they planned something a story ahead of time seemed so silly to me. I wonder if she's ever heard of the gardener vs architect analogy.

The idea is that writers fall on a spectrum. On one end you have the gardeners, who know what kind of story they're making and have some ideas of how things are going to end, but they don't know every single subplot, or what directions the story is going to take, like how you know you're planting an apple tree, but you don't know how many branches you're going to get, or how big the fruit will be. On the other hand, the architects planned everything out. They know where everything is going and they stick to their outline like it's a life jacket. Similar to how an architect knows every window and door by size, and is working with form following function. Of course, this is a spectrum and no writer is strictly just one way. They may lean more towards one end, but employ some of the other in certain degrees.

For an example that Lily is familiar with, Steven Universe planned a lot of it's story and you can tell. There so many jokes, lines and background details that quietly foreshadow how things are going to play out. Cookie cat, a singular funny background element, explained the entire story, Rose Quartz's deal and Steven getting split into two identities right in the first episode. In contrast, Bismuth wasn't a part of the original outline, her gem in a bubble was just something a background artist drew and the writers decided to make a story for that. I like her, but you can tell she wasn't planned: Her episode completely interrupts Amethysts' arc, she's immediately bubbled for the rest of the show until just before the finale, and she's just sort of lumped in with Peridot and Lapis. In a similar vein, all of the focus on the townies was kind of mandated by CN to make the show more marketable, and the crew just had to go with it. You can tell there probably wasn't supposed to be so much human focus in the show since none of them besides Connie play a part in the finale.

On the other hand, One Piece's story is somewhat planned, but most of it is just the mangaka coming up with plots and ideas on the fly while postponing the destination. It makes sense for a manga author to do that, since manga is designed to go on for as long as possible and One Piece is the most recognizable manga out there.

So yeah, writers lean one way or the other, and it's so goofy to act like no one ever stuck to a plan.

That was very well said.

[magniloquent-raven]

P and U for the fanfic ask game?

ty for the ask fren 😊💕

P: Are you what G.R.R.M would call an "architect" or a "gardener"? (How much do you plan in advance, vs letting the story unfold as you go?)

oooh...i'd say i'm more of a gardener tbh. some ideas i plan more than others, but my outlines aren't so much structured blueprints as messy-ass notes i use to plop my ideas in as quickly as i can so i don't lose them lol. my brain tends to come up with this shit faster than i can get it properly written, so it's gotta go somewhere. and then half the time i don't even use the whole outline because once i start writing i'll get into the nitty gritty of a scene and be like, oh, okay, i can't actually get this character into the right mindset for that, so this is happening now. i gotta go with the flow. part of writing emotionally driven stories i guess? i focus a lot on how they're feeling so if i was to just like...have a checklist of "ok they feel x way about stuff, and now they have THIS emotion etc." it would be at risk of sounding stilted as hell

U: Share three of your favourite fic writers and why you like them so much.

augh but there's so many excellent writers out there. (and i'll have u know it took me forever to pick just three lmao) in no particular order:

peterqpan/@platypanthewriter writes absolutely DELIGHTFUL banter. top tier shenanigans

lazybaker/@lazybakerart always engaging to read, excellent, vivid prose

prettyboyporter/@prettyboyporter fics make me feel feelings with the lil soft details that get added to flesh out character dynamics

(and all three of them write billy n steve with so much personality & depth, which i adore)