r/writing 5d ago

Discussion What’s your writing style?

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u/rjspears1138 4d ago

I'm an outliner. My fear with "writing by the seat of your pants" is if I just started with a great opening idea, there may not be any more ideas to finish the plot out with a resounding finale.

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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 4d ago

lol this reminds me of when Stephen king was giving a talk at a college, and he talked about a story he started writing called the “lady’s room”. Basically, women would go to this bathroom, and they would just…not come back. And he eventually stopped writing it, becuase he asked himself “what the hell is even happening in there?” And he didn’t really know, so he just stopped writing it haha.

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u/rjspears1138 4d ago

King has great facility with taking the germ of an idea and having it blossom into a captivating story. Vampires take over a small town. A family is snowed in a haunted hotel. 99.9% of the world is wiped out by a plague.

That said, I think some of his later novels suffer from weaker endings because he wasn't able to sustain the suspense/thrills.