Game of Thrones, seeds vs. architecture, and the joy of writing.

With all of this trending surrounding Game of Thrones I got to thinking about this quote from George R.R. Martin. For whatever reason it really stuck with me over the years, and I want to take a sophist's jab at deconstructing it.

“I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they're going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there's going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don't know how many branches it's going to have, they find out as it grows. And I'm much more a gardener than an architect.”

Growing up I was always instructed to use outlines, perhaps because I was mostly writing expository essays. But even on creative writing assignments teachers would emphasize the NECESSITY for an outline, for proper planning. And it's funny, my teachers used the same 'house' metaphor that Martin does here. You need to have your thesis, the entryway, and this must connect to the logical rooms that will optimize your readers' comprehension. It wouldn't make sense, for example, if you had them cross through a bathroom to enter the dining room.

Is this a weakness in education? Why would it make sense to force children into using such an organized approach, or is that a fundamentally stupid question to even ask? Seriously, I want to know what you all think (comment!).

By structuring our writing with an outline, we have more time to think about our work and make sure that our argument stays consistent throughout the piece. More time, that is, during the planning phase of the piece, when it may have not yet taken on its real form, its tone, voice, or meter in our mind's eye.

Then sometimes you finish your outline, write 75% of an essay, and realize that a different thesis seems more attractive. Was all of that effort spent outlining a waste of time, if you could have come to this realization quicker if you had just started writing? Do you see what I'm getting at? The human mind, does it favor a system of flowing until it bumps into ideas, or is an idea best approached with acuity. I suppose it depends on the person...

One advantage that Martin speaks of in his strategy: the excitement of the process. If you decide on the major plot points before you start writing the story might you might get bored with your work before finishing it. I personally agree -- especially when writing fiction -- because how can you know exactly how a character will act in major plot points if you haven't spent a sufficient amount of time with them on the page, experiencing their words and actions, developing their character?

So perhaps in the end it has more to do with form than style, more with specific personalities than a *proper* way for humans to write. And as for genre, the fantasy authors probably benefit from journeying alongside their characters and breathing the air of their worlds before deciding any outcomes, while an expository writer might die from a fit of anxiety if they just tried to start writing to see where they wound up.

Does this mean that some of us are meant to be creative writers and some logical writers? Indeed it would seem so...

Makes sense to me... What do you guys think? Do you write outlines for your creative work or do you prefer to just get the words down in your essays and then move them around in the editing process?

I'm curious because I want to optimize my own writing process and I'm guessing you do too. So let's hear it Prose!