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Has your writing ever taken you by surprise? For example, a positive and belated response to a submission you’d forgotten about or an ending you never saw coming?

Oh, if only my writing took me by surprise.

Just kidding.

That’s one of the joys of being a pantser – there’s always a surprise lurking around every corner.  I usually know roughly how things are going to go: we start here (ish), this stuff happens along the way (ish), and we’re going to end somewhere in this neighborhood over there (ish).

A lot of times I’ve deleted whole scenes, backtracked and gone a completely different direction, backtracked further and started off again, decided I didn’t like the ending and dumped it in favor of something else, and broken my heart because scenes and plot-points I desperately loved had to be abandoned because they just wouldn’t work no matter how I tried to finagle them in.

It’s like going on the kind of roadtrip I’ve always wanted to do: I’ve got his amount of time, and I’d like to go see that thing over there, and the map is nice so we’re going that- THEWORLD’SLARGESTBALLOFYARNTHISWAY?!?!?!LET’SGODOTHAT!IT’SONTHEWAY! (sorta).

Unfortunately, I’ve never had the opportunity to conduct a roadtrip in that fashion. Either the money or the scheduling just won’t cooperate or the curmudgeon husband gets uptight about directions and maps and time frames and having a firm destination in mind and such like.

A lot of people don’t like roadtrips like that either, for some reason. I suppose their pants look better than mine – nicer fit, no holes, maybe some cute ass embroidery on the hip and certainly no mud or paint stains, but I never could keep a pair of pants looking nice for very long if I wore them with frequency.

Check out the Insecure Writer’s Support Group to see more writers dish about their concerns, their solutions to various problems, or just general anatidaephobia.