Alan Asnen's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing-life"
Keep Your Pants On
For a long stretch those of us who write and spend any amount of time studying the subject have been exposed to the argument between those who promote “pantsing” and outlining.
Now, there are some (and I’ve recently finished reading one slim tome to remain unnamed) which take the outlining argument to an even farther degree, insisting not only that one way is “better” but better for a particular purpose. And it is that purpose which turns the argument ugly, I believe, and which I shall endeavor to use as my counterargument as briefly as possible.
In summary, one woman who has written one rather highly regarded book says one should abandon the idea of pantsing completely and not only switch to outlining but to her particular form of outlining for the sole purpose of earning more money. More money. Period.
Period.
I have nothing against money, and especially not more of it. Believe me. However...
Say you’ve been pantsing all your life. And writing seriously. Why would you stop for any reason? And if you were going to stop for any reason, why would that reason, of all reasons, be money? If, by chance, you considered yourself, in any fashion, a “serious” writer? By which, of course, I mean, you take yourself seriously as a writer...not that you must be writing anything “serious.”
What this woman is arguing, of course, is that, like so many writers out “in the marketplace” these days, you have to compete with their “volume,” and in order to do so you cannot allow your “pantsing” ways—so slow, crawling around, day to day, like cold molasses—to inhibit you. You must speed up—vroom vroom vroom!!!—with her outlining method in order to make your name in the world and make the moola!!
And what does she herself have to says about this? That you will produce—as those other writers do—a bunch of crap.
But that’s okay, she says, because crap sells. And that’s all that matters. Sell, sell, sell.
Okay. Time out. Does every outliner write crap? No, of course not. Does every pantser write Moby Dick? Well, no! That’s only been done once, anyway! And practically no one wants to read Moby Dick, so who would want to write it again???
You want to endeavor to write something rather unique, discovering over time what we writers laughingly call your own “voice.” Naturally, it may be a voice that, like the voice of the old prophets, no one wants to hear. But such is the life of a writer! This woman is trying to convince us that if we write like everyone else (utilizing her outline “formula”) this “prophet voice” problem will never occur. Only the crap problem will arise and that, after all, she concludes (and probably correctly according to The New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists) is no problem at all.
This is clearly the case, as well, if you gander about on Amazon. It appears true, as well, on BookBub and Goodreads. Most people who read prefer to trash about with the once-a-month 150-page serials that have some sort of cartoons or half-naked people on the covers. Good for them.
But does that mean you or I have to write like that? For money or otherwise? Does it mean we have to bow down to those who pan our books for not writing like that?
After all...we may be prophets. Or not. We may simply be pantsers.
Now, there are some (and I’ve recently finished reading one slim tome to remain unnamed) which take the outlining argument to an even farther degree, insisting not only that one way is “better” but better for a particular purpose. And it is that purpose which turns the argument ugly, I believe, and which I shall endeavor to use as my counterargument as briefly as possible.
In summary, one woman who has written one rather highly regarded book says one should abandon the idea of pantsing completely and not only switch to outlining but to her particular form of outlining for the sole purpose of earning more money. More money. Period.
Period.
I have nothing against money, and especially not more of it. Believe me. However...
Say you’ve been pantsing all your life. And writing seriously. Why would you stop for any reason? And if you were going to stop for any reason, why would that reason, of all reasons, be money? If, by chance, you considered yourself, in any fashion, a “serious” writer? By which, of course, I mean, you take yourself seriously as a writer...not that you must be writing anything “serious.”
What this woman is arguing, of course, is that, like so many writers out “in the marketplace” these days, you have to compete with their “volume,” and in order to do so you cannot allow your “pantsing” ways—so slow, crawling around, day to day, like cold molasses—to inhibit you. You must speed up—vroom vroom vroom!!!—with her outlining method in order to make your name in the world and make the moola!!
And what does she herself have to says about this? That you will produce—as those other writers do—a bunch of crap.
But that’s okay, she says, because crap sells. And that’s all that matters. Sell, sell, sell.
Okay. Time out. Does every outliner write crap? No, of course not. Does every pantser write Moby Dick? Well, no! That’s only been done once, anyway! And practically no one wants to read Moby Dick, so who would want to write it again???
You want to endeavor to write something rather unique, discovering over time what we writers laughingly call your own “voice.” Naturally, it may be a voice that, like the voice of the old prophets, no one wants to hear. But such is the life of a writer! This woman is trying to convince us that if we write like everyone else (utilizing her outline “formula”) this “prophet voice” problem will never occur. Only the crap problem will arise and that, after all, she concludes (and probably correctly according to The New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists) is no problem at all.
This is clearly the case, as well, if you gander about on Amazon. It appears true, as well, on BookBub and Goodreads. Most people who read prefer to trash about with the once-a-month 150-page serials that have some sort of cartoons or half-naked people on the covers. Good for them.
But does that mean you or I have to write like that? For money or otherwise? Does it mean we have to bow down to those who pan our books for not writing like that?
After all...we may be prophets. Or not. We may simply be pantsers.
