What Furious Fiction taught me about my writing style

In the real world, I’m a planner. I LOVE lists! I even write retrospective lists, just so that I can tick things off. I love setting goals, and breaking them down into manageable chunks. The prettier the planner, the better. (A visit to Kikki.K usually empties my wallet…)
You can imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that in terms of writing, I’m a pantser! For those unfamiliar with the term, as I was until about a year ago, a pantser is a writer who flies by the seat of their pants, who just starts writing to see where the story will lead. I discovered I was a pantser when I began writing in the Australian Writers’ Centre Furious Fiction competitions in 2019. (To take a peek at some of my entries, click here.)
A typical Furious Fiction weekend in my house usually goes something like this:
Friday

• 5.00pm  Read through the prompts sent through via email.
• 5.05pm  Panic.
• 5.10pm  Brainstorm.
• 5.30pm Panic some more. Decide I will never become a writer.
• 6.30pm Order Uber-eats to eat my woes away.
• 8.00pm Consume high fat, high salt, high calories food. Drink a glass or two of wine.
• 8.30pm  Decide I’m too bloated to think carefully, or cleverly, and watch 4 hours of Netflix instead.

Saturday

• 9.00am  Sleep in. Look at the prompts again, while consuming 3 cups of tea. Stare at the prompts some more.
• 12.00pm Decide that I just won’t do Furious Fiction this weekend. Convince myself that not stressing about Furious Fiction is ‘self-care’.
• 6.00pm   Think about dinner.
• 6.30pm   Eat leftovers. Drink a glass of wine.
• 8.30pm   Refer to Friday night 8.30pm.

Sunday

• All day Look at the prompts again. Decide I’m not going to write this weekend. Ask daughters for their ideas. Respectfully reject them. Look at the prompts again. Repeat.
• 7.00pm Be filled with self-loathing that I haven’t written Furious Fiction. Look at the prompts. Decide I’ll write something. Anything. Stare at blank computer screen.
• 7.30pm   Write the first sentence. And I’m away!!
• 11.00pm Log on to Twitter for some warm fuzzies from the #furiousfiction community, and be in awe of those who completed their stories on Friday night.

As you can see, I have a love/hate relationship with Furious Fiction. And yet, it has taught me a few things about my writing style:

• You can be a planner in your real life and a pantser in your writing life.
• Writing a few words is enough of a spark to start the story engine.
• Writing is actually loads of fun when you start.
• Stories can come from thin air.
• Self-doubt does not achieve anything on the page.
• Kikki.K planners do not write Furious Fiction posts, but they’re very beautiful anyway.
• Uber-eats is terribly expensive, takes forever to deliver, and probably not worth it.

Am I destined to be a pantser forever? At this stage, I believe that during the writing stage I will always be a pantser. I love seeing where the characters take me and how I can surprise myself with a twist or with a sense of completion, especially in a short story. However, as I continue playing with my middle-grade manuscript, I imagine the inner-planner will come and attack the story during the editing stage.
Are you are planner or a pantser? Have you entered any Furious Fiction stories? If so, what have they taught you? Please comment below.

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