Young Writers Society

So most of us have heard of being a planner or a pantser, but I found an absolutely fantastic tumblr article that takes it a step further and kind of analyzes writing methods. Even if you don't perfectly fall into a category, it's still a fantastic article, so I thought I'd share.

Here's the post: https://fictionadventurer.tumblr.com/po ... rselves-as

I think I'd categorize myself as a deductive writer because if I don't have a framework, I tend to hit a wall. My thoughts are so disorganized that if I don't have a lot of it laid out beforehand, there's no way anything would get done.

However, I tend to let my characters lead me around and do whatever they want. I plan, but I never stick to the plan entirely.

What type of writer are you? Does it change from story to story? How do you deviate from the category?

I'm more of a deductive writer, too. I tend to come up with character traits, worldbuilding concepts and attitudes, before branching off from there to create the plot. I also like to determine the overall themes/ atmosphere I want to present through my story before getting into it.

However, I often run away from my plan when writing short stories. Whenever I go for shorter prose (e.g. 500-1000 words), I tend to write huge chunks of it at once without referring to the plan. Sometimes I get so absorbed in the process, I let the flow of words carry me to a destination I did not set sail for. At times the new story is better, and at other times it's worse.

The "deductive" part of me has really shined through so far with the novels I'm planning, though. I'm almost afraid to write proper scenes for them because I feel I haven't done enough research or put enough thought into the themes I want to explore with the reader.

I'm a mix of both, really.

I'm deductive because I like setting out a plot in front of me, but once I get writing, I become much more inductive and draw conclusions about the story based on what's happening with the characters. For me, writing an outline is easy, but sticking to that outline is hard because my characters start differing from the perfect archetypes I dreamt them to be.

My short fiction tends to be much more inductive, where I'll start writing a character and figure things out along the way. For instance, my short story "The Orange Tree" started with the main character, David, resting under an orange tree. This leads me to ask where he is, why he's out there, and -- once I figure out he's one of six boys in a large, fairly rural family -- why he's separate from the other people he lives with. When I revise it, it will change again, but I know the general story and the message behind it.

Meanwhile, with long fiction, I try to figure out the core conflict and a basic outline before I start writing or planning short pieces of it. I've tried a lot of different outline styles throughout my life, so my own personal style is kind of a "throw it at the wall and see what sticks" of everything I've checked out. For early writing and developing a thorough outline, the Snowflake Method is my favorite, but if I'm just trying to figure out the idea itself I'll go with something less intense.

Honestly, I just think writing is cool xD

I'm pretty deductive - I need a broad idea of what the story is going to be about and how it's going to end before I can even start writing it. I have to know a fair amount about my characters as well, or I just wind up writing them to be really robotic.

BUT I've realized that after I've done all my planning and written the first draft of the story, in many ways I turn into partially an inductive writer. Because even though I've done all that planning beforehand, the heart of my story never turns out to be what I originally thought it was. I can only discover what the heart of the story I'm trying to tell is after I've written at least the first draft and seen what's gone wrong and what my heart has been more drawn towards while writing. The overall plot usually stays rather similar to what I had planned, but the character arcs and themes emphasized evolve dramatically.

I find I stray into inductive territory with novels more than I do with short stories, just because novels are longer and have more room to stray. I have done things where I just start with a character or an idea and try to write, but the only notable feature of all of those attempts is that they never got finished, so I think deductive is definitely the way that works for me. xD

@Mea I've found that just starting with an idea and nothing else is not what works for me either. But I've always wished that I could write that way. It seems more organic.

I'm also kind of a mix of both.

I'm deductive in that before I start writing I usually need to know the main overarching plot line of the story. I like to know where we're starting, roughly where we're going to end, and a few major plot points along the way. For the record, I didn't know much of this when I started novel7 and I think that's why I've been so stuck on it for so long. As I've gone along I've gotten a better idea of some of these things but it's been a struggle for sure.

I also know some general, overarching things about the major players before I start too. I've never been one for character charts or any kind of formal organization of characters before I start, I just think about them a lot and let my brain take off with them. As I write I learn more about each character and become much more inductive.

I'm a pantser at heart (at least for first drafts), so it makes sense that once I actually start writing I'm inductive and I allow things to unfold to figure out where exactly the plot is going to go. Other than those main plot points I usually already have figured out, I just see where the characters and the story take me and then I can change it all in the next draft. After first drafts I'm a lot more deductive and I put a lot more thought into what the big picture is going to look like before I start writing because I already have an idea of who my characters are and where things can go.

I also consider myself a mix.

I'm deductive in the way that I like to have a pretty good idea of where my story's headed. I like to be several steps ahead from my characters! I prefer to start drafting a story when I am aware of what's in the world, though not *so deeply* I can name every stream or every quirk of the minor character.

I'm inductive in the way that I discover *a lot* about my characters as I draft. In fact, just yesterday, I just realized an underlying motive for one of the characters' actions and I'm very happy with my subconscious because it makes good sense. I consider myself a discovery writer when I draft, because although I know some things beforehand, there're still oodles and oodles of interesting things to discover.

Look at me, breaking the streak and saying that I am, by all accounts, an inductive writer and a pantser.

They described there writing a scene and learning about the plot and characters during that scene. That is me. In fact, I would never suggest I even know what the point of a scene is until I start writing it. For instance, this week, I have to write totally new material for Draft 5 of my novel. I didn't know what to do. So I started writing the chapter and I thought - hang on, I need this exposition to happen and - hang on - I need that exposition to get to characters that aren't in this scene. Boom. I created a chapter by accident, and it filled the holes I needed. That is a common occurrence to me. Neither do I know what the purpose of a character is until after I've written at least a draft. For instance, in Silk, when I started writing Pip Starsfall, I expected him to be a brattish city boy who is going to have to learn how to love others. What resulted was a playboy with a heart of gold, who does use people and has to learn how to not do that, but never has any malice in his soul. It was a surprising change, a much gentler, more layered character than I intended him to be.

Should I plan more? Yes. But, I would also argue, everybody needs to be flexible. You need to say, "hey, let's toss that character out the window, this is the character that the story best fits." You need to be able to say that an outline doesn't always work, that sometimes being creative on the fly just happens, and sometimes it's better. Do I take it too far? 100%. But hey. We all have our flaws.

I usually start off inductive, then I know the project has Stuck when it's flipped to deductive.

Inductive is what keeps me interested in first drafts. Pulling all the pieces, deciding things as they go along. I write with 0 rhyme or reason for why I'm doing something, just this is a Cool Scene and therefore belongs.

But I end up sounding deductive because if I don't have some sort of deductive reasoning/core theme I want to explore (which I get via figuring out what the overreaching arc is over the cool scenes/banter I'm imagining) then the project doesn't get written because inductive reasoning is too open-space-y and I like the little box of deductive reasoning.

At my core, though, I'm inductive for the early stages of an idea and I revert back to inductive when I'm stuck, because deductive ends up too limiting for early drafts.

I think I'm a mix of inductive and deductive, but leaning more toward inductive.

For poetry, I've written deductively by starting with "I'm going to say X about Y" or "I'm going to use Z form to write about Y". I've also written inductively by taking a random thought and then writing until I say something interesting. It's hard to say which one I do more or which one is more successful.

For short stories, I'm mostly inductive. I might have a general premise (usually a prompt and a thought about how I want to fulfill that prompt), but I really don't have an outline or plan. Once I get started, the details just kind of happen.

For my recently-rebooted LMS project, which is a story told in poems, I have to be more deductive. I started out with a stronger outline of the plot and characters, which is what's motivating me to keep going (unlike last time, which I think fell through due to lack of a real plan and interesting plot). Every week, I start out with a general idea of what's happening and what I think this week's entry should cover. Still, a lot of inductive writing is happening because I feel like I don't know what's important until I actually get started. I also feel like my characters deviate from whatever outline I try to give them. Even so, without the deductive aspect of a general arc to follow, I don't think this project would be sustainable or get anywhere interesting.