It WORKS!

A while back I read through a series of posts on “The Pen Inspired” (which is now the Sword of the PenMaiden) about Reverse Plotting. As an acclaimed Pantser with no sense of direction and stories that didn’t seem to want to pull together, I resorted to try my hand at Reverse Plotting. Joelle came off very convincing with her detailed explanations (not to mention her story idea, who else wants her to write it? Raise your hand!). 

And thus, one night as I was languishing from an unknown sickness (it later turned out to be the flu), I decided I must try it or abandon any hopes of a cognitive plot altogether (just kidding, I wouldn’t abandon anything). So I sat down, opened my document, and wrote: CLIMAX. (Not in bold, but for the sake of dramatization we’re gonna go with it). 

After twenty minutes (eight of which was me getting distracted), I put together the whole third act of this story. 

Lemme explain. 

I do not plot. 

Plot does not me. 

And yet there I was, with the whole third act put together, and brain power enough for the rest of it. An answer to prayer, my friends, because if I’m being honest, I was in a really tight spot writing wise. At this point the only things I consistently write are random scenes that pop into my head. Those don’t form an orderly line of events. In fact, I’ve re-written so much it hurts my brain to think about it. But after my mom suddenly binge-read my blogs and found my little snippet of writing she practically interrogated me as to what I was doing with my stories. When I admitted to her how bleak my writing looked at the moment, she said, and I quote: “What?! You need to just start writing and then go back and rewrite if need be.” 

Eloquent, yet still somehow a slap back into reality. 

Do you know how right she is? 

The reason I have so little to offer when it comes to the realm of actual finished writing is because I don’t have the guts sometimes to write something, rewrite it, and call it a day. (And edit, because while my mom binged these blogs she found typo’s. So don’t read anything else until I fix them, you hear?)

I have an urge to perfection, if I’m not yet a good enough writer I can’t write it. Period. 

Wrong. 

“You just need to start writing.” 

End of story. 

So no, you don’t have to be a perfect writer. And no, you don’t have to wait for the story pieces to fall together. Get up right now, and go write, because those words aren’t going to magically get better the longer you wait. “I’m not good enough” is a terrible excuse. Good writers are writers… wanna know why? Because they write. So go start typing. 

Don’t sit there and wait for the perfection that will never come. Once we cross to the far side banks of Jordan then you can bask in the warm light of perfection, but now? Now you and I must work to bring glory to the One who penned the stories of time. Regardless of our flaws. 

Go on and write those stories… And maybe one day, I’ll share mine. 😉

And with that, I wish you the best!

~Louise