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Tags: writing

The gardener and the architect

Sanderson sees a scale of the types of writing styles a new writer will settle into.

The heavily-outlined, well-planned structure and bones of a story. The architect. The “water it and see where it grows” Gardener.

Either is fine, the processes are different but both are trying to make a good story.

The gardener might lose track of where he is growing and need more trimming. The architect may plan so much he forgets to surprise himself, he’s trimmed too much serendipity.

One secret is that no one can fully be an architect. Whether it’s words or a life, the structure still needs to be filled in.

I find myself leaning to architecture, as I need more structure or planning, but I do enjoy the generative nature of “gardening”. See Dave Perell’s Practice analytically, Perform intuitively

Reference

Brandon Sanderson’s writing lecture notes.