Discovery Writing and Discovery Life-ing
Plan or Play?
Dear creatures of this magical Lagoon we call earth, today I want to explore adding more “discovery” to your work and life. By discovery, I mean a process of undirected exploration and revealing versus planning and constructing.
Discover Writing as Children
Like many writers, I began writing as a child, with no plans and no outlines, starting with journal ramblings about space dinosaurs, body observations, and boys in my class. I moved on to poems and short fantasy stories in 3rd grade and wrote a short thriller book in 4th grade. In middle school, I wrote more poetry and longer fantasy stories inspired by the Black Cauldron series, as well as a graphic series called Naked World about nudists in different states. In high school, I wrote three very emo poetry collections which I had printed and bound at Kinkos using the earnings from my after-school Burger King job. All this writing was written with no advanced planning.
This is still basically how I write fiction, with little to no plan, though I have experimented with making detailed outlines, writing two books with advanced outlines. However, one of these plotted/heavily planned books is unpublished, and the other is my first novella, Cactus Friends, which some readers think is… well… not my best book. The rest of my published writing, including magazine articles, published short stories, this Substack, Mushroom Honeymoon, and Acid Christmas, I’ve written without plans.
See, the trouble is, while I can make outlines and plans, I can’t seem to follow them. Life is sort of also like this for me. I’m a ride-the-waves-until-they-crash kinda gal.
But in some ways, this is good. Many people struggle to make up stuff. Some folks need more free exploration and discovery in their lives and work. Discovery writing can put the explorer into a flow state. I’m discovery writing right now.
Ntuitives live for discovery
There is a name for this type of unplannable person: intuitives or Ntuitives. They practice discovery living. Ntuitives are sometimes neurodivergent, but not always. They are guided by intuition instead of calculated rationalizing, facts, results, or logic. In Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) terms, these folks have Ns and not Ss. For example, I’m an ENTP, an intuitive type, and the N stands for intuition. Like many people with N in their type, we the Ntuitives dwell deeply in the world inside our heads, inside our intuition and imagination, with little ability to SENSE (the S in other types) reality or plan for other people’s real emotions. We are sometimes high on IQ and low on EQ. We live in a dream state of potential, possibilities, exploration, and fantasy, just making up everything or consuming and synthesizing ideas and facts into other ideas and facts.
“Discovery life-ing” or “living by discovery” is not a “life by luck,” though others can mistake it for such. It may also look a lot like an ADHDers life—impulsive to non-intuitive types, but discovery livers are capable of generating highly original material. Discovery lifers may also seem to frequently “stumble into” exciting experiences, unique opportunities, and sometimes vast amounts of wealth. Sometimes the Ntuitives willingness to take unplanned risks and open-mindedness leads to success and other times it leads to homelessness, and this is a gamble many discovery lifers are ready to take.
Discovery living might look like randomly accepting a job in Ouagadougou from a stranger at a party and moving there the following week. Or it might look like writing a 500-page novel about an advanced race of alligators at war with telepathic raccoons instead of folding your laundry because that’s what feels right to you.
Discovery livers are driven strongly by something, but it’s not always clear what that something is. Maybe it’s a big magic spirit in another dimension, or maybe it’s just their gut instincts.
Famous Discovery Writers
Many great writers are also intuitive, discovery people. They discover their stories instead of planning them. They sit down with a seashell of an idea and write an entire ocean. Stephen King writes like this, and so does George R. Martin, Dean Wesley Smith, and R.F. Kuang. It seems most common for horror, fantasy, and sci-fi writers, and maybe this is why these genres are some of the most creative, imaginative genres, versus say romances or thrillers, which can be more formulaic and grounded in realism. Not that these other genres aren’t imaginative or creative, but they usually don’t depict alternate worlds or creatures.
In describing her process, renowned science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin, another discoverer of novels, wrote:
“A story or poem may reveal truths to me as I write it. I don’t put them there. I find them in the story as I work.” — Ursula K. Le Guin, Words are My Matter.
She also liked to write in the morning, when she felt, “most in touch with her unconscious1.”
This type of writer is so common that the literary community gives them several names:
Pantser (vs Plotter) This comes from the idea of “writing by the seat of your pants.”
Discovery Writer (my favorite of the names, vs Outliner) Not sure who coined this term.
Gardener (like you’re tending the universe to grow stories, versus an “architect” planning your build.) This term is reported to be invented by George R. Martin
The prolific sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, and non-fiction writer Dean Wesley Smith also calls this, “Writing into the Dark,” and I highly recommend his book on this part of his writing process if you haven’t tried discovery writing, but want to.
Discovery Writing Like Dick
Sci-fi prophet and drug-lover, Phillip K. Dick took discovery one step further and would sometimes write around 800 words, then consult the I Ching and pivot his next 800 words based on whatever the I Ching said, truly a process of discovery as he discovered his novel based on explorations inside the I Ching.
He also applied this technique to his albeit chaotic life. Stating in interviews:
“I've been using the I Ching since 1961… first of all it will analyze the situation for you more accurately than you have. It may be different than what you think. Then it will give you the advice. And through these lines a torturous, complicated path emerges through which the person escapes the tragedy of matrydom and the tragedy of selling out.”
“I used it in The Man in the High Castle because a number of characters used it. In each case when they asked a question, I threw the coins and wrote the hexagram lines they got. That governed the direction of the book.”
—From Vertex Interviews Philip K. Dick, Interviewer: Arthur Byron Cover: Vertex, Vol. 1, no. 6, February 1974.
Though later in his life he said he stopped using the I Ching because it told lies, he was certainly a believer in random discovery in both writing and his life for many years.
Hybrid Explorers
Other writers, like Brandon Sanderson, are hybrids, also known as “Plantsers.” He discovery writes his characters and a few chapters then stops and makes outlines using his initial discoveries, which he follows to write the rest of the book.
Though some consider Margaret Atwood and Toni Morrison pansters, I see them as an additional type of hybrid. They both took copious notes and conducted research for their novels, which weren’t outlines, but they also weren’t totally making up stuff. Both grounded their books in historical realities that they extensively wrote about and studied before and while writing their novels.
Perhaps this would be a 4th category, a notebooker or a historian/archeologist or something. I read about some of Toni Morrison’s notes on Beloved recently and it was a fascinating peak into her world. You can see images of some of her notes and research here:
There is no wrong way to write or live, but I think it’s good to test all the methods, and then find what works for you best. And for people who need novelty, cycling through different methods is also a good idea.
Discovery Living, an Invitation
Discovery is an intuitive way of approaching books and living, a go-with-the-flow, the artist-is-a-river kind of way, and this is your invitation to try it for a week. Lead with your intuition. Feel into things. Imagine deeply. Visualize. Let intuition, magic, awe, and wonder arise, bubble, and brew in your mind. Start with a blank page or a blank day and just GO.
Discovery living doesn’t always turn out well, but if you do it for a short time, you’ll likely be fine.
However, discovery living and discovery writing may be hard for some people. If it’s hard for you, add external exploration, like the I Ching, Tarot Cards, or the Bible, or open any book to a random page and move on from there. Ask someone else to go into your closet and pick out your clothes and then commit to wearing whatever they select and allow that outfit to lead your day.
Pretend you’re Rapunzel, finally escaping the tower, and let that premise guide your behavior.
What would Rapunzel do on her first day of freedom?
Your life or your work for one week is an archeology dig and you will simply play in the dirt and see what discoveries emerge. Can you make them into a space dinosaur?
This can be even harder to do when you have a lot of responsibilities going on, but do it anyway!
Have fun!
Now You
Do you think of yourself as leading with intuition? Or concrete facts and plans?
If you’re a writer, are you a pantser? A plotter? A hybrid?
Have you tried discovery living? Will you try it?
https://lithub.com/watch-ursula-k-le-guin-on-her-writing-process/
Total intuitive/discovery/pantster here too.
Intuitive here, too. I’ve had fun following suggestions from tarot cards when I’m stuck. Have a good one!