Writing Styles: The Discovery Writer

This style  is essentially writing without a plan. Some novelists tend to write in this way; for all intents and purposes discovering the story as they write it. Most stories start with an idea or a question.

For example I am writing several novella length works that are written using the discovery method. I did not make a plan for them but rather had an idea pop into my mind as the muse inspired me and started to write from the scene that caused me to think that the story would be interesting. Indeed my novel, Castlebound, was mostly written using the discovery method.

One might consider with my experience that I would recommend against using the discovery method for writing and I will say that to a certain degree using an outline will help you become a better writer. However the only time that you will not be using some form of the discovery method of writing is when you are writing work that is entirely nonfiction… and then all of the discovery will be done in researching your topic.

Therefore while using an outline can tell you who, when, where, what, and why. It still leaves a lot of room to discover how at the very least a story will get beyond the point of who the main character is, where they live, and what about them or their times is interesting enough to write about, and why they are doing whatever it is that has brought them to your attention (whether they are a fictional character or someone you have read about and research in order to write about them) that you believe will interest your audience. From this experience I can say that it may be easy to discover the beginning of a story but it is often very difficult to discover the end of a story.

If you wish to discover new worlds however this is the way to do it, therefore go and discover new worlds in your mind and write about them and the people that live there!

© 2012 Vic Jones