What the Pejorative...

This year, I am aiming to bring things back to basics. As one publisher informed me recently, the simplier the better.

So back to the start in a grammatical way (I know, don't yawn). I thought we'd take a look at
The Pejorative.

Now we've taken a look at it. Let's put it away and instead take a look at this...

PANTSING -  Yes we have often given in to it, but don't know what it is. Think of the time you said 'argh, if only I had a pen on me. That's something I should write down'. Or what about the time you are possibly in Tescos and get inspired in the queue? That person? That mannerism? No? Just me? Don't think so. Most writers are on the job, so to speak, all the time. If they are not thinking writing, they are working towards writing. They revel in the solitariness of it. The cut-off reality and the time-travel affect. Well, maybe if you are that way inclined - you have been pantsing about for years, possibly generations.

Pantsing is a term used to describe writing done with the least amount of pre-writing possible. It's the sheer act of writing, of capturing something ephemeral and turning it into something concrete. Not logically but rather through emotional surrendering to a greater idea. It's what we call giving in to the muse, or a good bottle of wine. It's not to be undervalued either because it leads the suitable agents to say - "I just know it, when I see it." Kinda like knowing when Mr Right is The One.

The blog ends here today with a  little bit of mental encouragement to those of us facing into a New Year with promises of no chocolate, more writing and less coffee. Here goes...

Get pantsing everyone.

Book for this Month - Try Coraline.
"The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter." Neil Gaiman - the "rock star" of the literary world. Author of Coraline and The Graveyard Book.