A ‘no system’ writing system

Perhaps the dirtiest secret of my writing process is that I completely lack a ‘system.’ No strict word count per day. No specific writing times. Minimal outlining. No spreadsheets of character traits or motivations. And no fancy software or virtual assistants.

It’s just me and the ol’ blank page, waging war.

Of course, I don’t want to denigrate other people’s specific methods, nor claim they’re ineffective. I’m sure they can be extremely helpful! But for me? Well, I simply have no interest. Writing feels like an itch that I need to scratch, and all that other stuff — the planning, the notetaking, the self-inflicted rules and expectations — well, those don’t scratch it.

But you know what does? Sitting down and writing a new scene from scratch. Discovering a new setting, or a new character flaw, or an unexpected point of conflict in real time. Those are the moments that keep me glued to my screen, typing away. The feeling of a chapter blossoming before my eyes.

Does this always work? No. Perhaps my biggest stumbling block as a writer is consistency, and where my first couple books were completely ‘pantsed’, I’ve since introduced a basic outlining strategy: vomit out the vaguest of goals for each chapter prior to starting the actual writing. Often times, these are a couple paragraphs describing the scene, the point of view character, their goal for the chapter, and the thing standing in their way. Sometimes I’ll even add a specific line of dialogue or description if it comes to me during this phase.

But really, it’s just the old ‘vomit on the page’ approach in outline form. There’s minimal internal consistency across “chapters” — that gets ironed out later — and I sometimes forget characters or introduce new conflicts at random, messing with my own story-based logic in unexpected ways. But these inconveniences pale in comparison to one fundamental outcome of this no-system approach: I finish the book. Every. Single. Time.

In fact, the only book I’ve never finished was the one that I planned the most. It was a sequel to my first full-length novel, and I wanted to improve on that one, so I spent a ton of time nailing down character traits, plot developments, and setting. But then what happened? By the time I got to writing, I’d lost all interest. There was nothing left to discover, and the writing itself felt dry. I lost all motivation and set the project aside forever.

But I wouldn’t even call that lost book a failure because it taught me something important about my process: I don’t want a “system.” I want to get lost in my story. To discover something new each time I sit down to write.

After all, it’s my world. I want to have fun in it too.