George R.R. Martin famously said, “I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners.” One type of writer plans everything about their story ahead of time, as an architect blueprints a building. The other type of writer, the gardener, plants seeds. They water and nurture these seeds through their writing until they have a story. This metaphor does not illustrate a new concept; there are other terms that point to the same ideas. For example, architects and gardeners have also been called planners and pantsers. Nonetheless, Martin’s metaphor does illustrate the concept well. His quote is a useful starting point for determining whether you’re a writer who prefers outlining or discovery writing.
Outlining
How does one create an outline? This is a difficult question to answer because there are an infinite number of correct ways to do so. Each writer is going to outline differently. What helps one writer in their outline may actively hinder another. A better question would be: why would one outline?
A writer might create an outline so that they can get all of the technical bits out of the way before they sit down in front of a blank page. You already know what’s going to happen, and you already know your characters’ motivations. Thus, you can clack away at your keyboard without worrying about what happens next.
Additionally, an outliner will likely have a more cohesive story by the end of their first draft than would a discovery writer. The gardener will need to do more work on the back end of the story, trimming the plants they’ve grown.
One shortcoming of outlining is that sometimes, it may cause you to get stuck in your pre-writing phase. When does the worldbuilding end? At a certain point, no more good can be done by planning and plotting. You just need to write. But all your outlining might make you feel pressured to write the perfect words and nothing else. Unfortunately, this is impossible. Your first drafts will need work. The sooner you finish them, the sooner you can get to doing this work. Get out of your own way, and let the writing happen.
Discovery Writing
You’ve got a vague idea of some characters. You’ve got a setting, more or less. You know your genre. And you’ve got an inkling of an idea that makes you really excited. If you’re a discovery writer, you don’t need anything else.
Discovery writing is a great way of making sure you get words on the page. The book unfolds as you write. You keep putting your characters in new situations without determining ahead of time how they’re going to get out. This can also keep you excited, as even you don’t know what’s going to happen next.
But what happens when you realize you took a wrong turn some 10k words ago? Will you have the strength to move those words to a separate document (don’t delete them!) and start over? Or will you close out the manuscript, never to touch it again?
Say you do have the strength to keep trucking forward. When you reach the end of the draft, will you have the patience to go back and make sense of your messy manuscript? Editing a full page is easier than editing a blank one. But seeing your story in a state of such disarray can get discouraging, and you may fall into a negative line of thinking. You may abandon what you deem to be a “bad story,” that really just needs tuning up.
Which Method Is Right For You?
More than likely, the answer to this question is… both! In varying degrees. You see, architects and gardeners rarely exist in absolute forms. Rather, these terms should be used to indicate a spectrum. One may consider themselves an architect or a gardener, but they’ll still utilize tricks from the other side as necessary. Even in Martin’s quote, he says he’s “more a gardener than an architect” (italics mine). Not completely one or the other.
In my own writing, I’ve found that I need a basic outline. I need to determine a few qualities about each of my characters. I need an idea of the major plot beats. And I need much of the setting details ahead of time. With these, I can sit down in front of a blank page with confidence. The dots are there; I just need to connect them.
And in connecting them, I discover new character traits and motivations. New intrigues in my plot. Nooks and crannies in my setting that I couldn’t see ahead of time.
Will this work for you? Maybe. There’s only one way to find out. Try it! Or try something else, something that you suspect would work for you. In reading this article, I’m sure you already have an idea what you might prefer.
So write and experiment. Have faith, and keep at it.
– AJG
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