[Discussion] Prompts vs Planning

[Palamon]

Do you fare better with writing based on a prompt, writing on a whim, or planning everything out in some sort of way?

I write better planning everything out in a very long rough draft that's written in an arrow format point. Writing based on a prompt that's only a word or sentence is pretty difficult for me & writing on a whim can only happen if I have big enough inspiration.

 

[Bay]

I'm best when planning too as I need at least some idea where I want to take a story. Sometimes a story will be longer than expected, but that's fine. I can also do prompts but I'll need at least a bit more info than one or two words (though I have done one-word prompts quite a few times before). Writing on a whim I might be able to but I'll need at least some minutes to think about how I'll approach the idea.

 

[I-read-the-book]

My writing style really just depends on my mood and what's on my mind. If I have a good idea and have been feeling either angsty or happy enough, I'll just start writing. After a good couple thousand words, I'll generally let up and start plotting, but my first novel-length work was written completely and solely off of the one concept, so I can pants my work with the best of them. Now, if my mood isn't right for pantsing, I'll scribble down the idea, and later start developing it. And then there's my odd mix between pantsing and plotting where I have a well-thought-out plot, but this random prompt sparked a major scene idea that I simply have to write then and there.

 

[gimmepie]

I do best when I plan things out and write an outline. I can do fine with prompt work too and I'm not terrible at improvisation either, but there's a marked difference in quality and the ease of writing.