Architects and Gardeners

Hi Reader,

I binge-watched the first few episodes of House of the Dragon season 2 last week.

The showrunner, Ryan Condal, has a background in pharmaceutical advertising.

Then, he broke into screenwriting and met George RR Martin at a book convention.

George and Condal divide writers into two types: architects and gardeners.

Architects plot a story in advance from A to Z.

They know where they’re going and how to get there.

Gardeners plant story seeds, like personality conflicts and inciting incidents.

Instead of writing with the end in mind, they allow these seeds to grow.

George RR Martin is a gardener.

He lets his characters and stories evolve over 1000s of pages, following an exponentially increasing series of paths.

Condal, on the other hand, is an architect.

He starts plotting a new season with his team once production wraps on the current one.

And he plans out the entire season of House of the Dragon in advance before filming.

In an interview about his writing process, Condal told The Big Think:

“A dramatic writer is almost by necessity a structuralist, and I very much fall into that camp.”

The same mindset applies to non-fiction too.

For years, I created bullet point outlines for blog posts, articles, and books.

I used these outlines to write a first draft.

Then, I started planting more seeds.

When I come across an interesting idea on a podcast, YouTube video, book, or article, I’ll note it down in my Zettelkästen.

I don’t really care if the idea is usable or not… only that it’s interesting.

The act of writing down an idea is sometimes enough for it to take root.

Later, when I’m writing a newsletter or an article, I scan through the 1000s of ideas and notes inside my Zettelkästen.

I sometimes stumble across an old idea that I forgot about.

And BOOM!

I can spot an instant connection between that idea and whatever I’m writing about.

Gardening and architecture are two fun ways to write. Try both and see where you end up.

Write on,

Bryan Collins

P.S. If you need help working like an architect or a gardener, check this out.