What's in a name?

Hello Writers!

First, thank you all so much the support and good wishes on the launch of Story Genius this week. The writing world is such a generous, caring, and insightful community it takes my breath away. I am so proud and honored to be part of that community with you.

But I’m not the storyteller – you are. You’re going to change the world, one story at a time. My goal is to help you do it. We’ve been in this together for a while, and we’ve upended some of the most popular – and damaging – myths about writing.

Like, for instance, that there are only two schools of writing: Pantsers and Plotters.

There is a third way, based on what the brain is really hungry for in every story we hear, I’ve been an evangelist for it for years.  It’s what Story Genius is all about.

But geez, I don’t want to call it the Story Genius Writing Method (‘cause sheesh, that sounds so damn formal, kind of like a correspondence course of old). So I need your help.

Here’s the question: If we’re not Pantsers or Plotters, what are we? What should we call this third school of writing?

Here's what I'm thinking at the moment: We’re Seekers. Because we're always seeking the defining WHY behind everything in the story, digging down to the real reason the protagonist does what she does.

Hey, wait, maybe Diggers is good. Or Divers.

But does it matter that the Diggers were a group of Protestant radicals, sometimes seen as forerunners of modern anarchism in 1643? (Thank you Wikipedia!)

And does it matter that there was a sixties folk group called The Seekers? (Hey, Georgy Girl has a catchy melody.) Or that a Seeker is a position in Quiddich? Or that Seekers, kind of like the Diggers, were an English Protestant dissenting group that emerged around the 1620s, many of whom subsequently joined the Religious Society of Friends, aka Quakers. (What would we do without Wikipedia?)

So, Divers, maybe?  That just brings up images of Lloyd Bridges with a scuba tank (and only for those of us of a certain age who grew up on old reruns of Sea Hunt).

And does it matter that none of them start with a “P”? Hmmm. What about Planner? Naw, too generic.
Pilgrim? I kinda like that, if only I didn’t always hear it in John Wayne’s voice, “Howdy, Pilgrim!”

Or what about, as one writer suggested this morning, Pathfinders? That’s not bad! Or Plumbers? (I really like that one, but I can’t shake the image of a guy crouching under the sink, wrench in hand, his work pants dipping dangerously.)

What do you think? Any suggestions, ideas, advice, will be greatly appreciated.  Next week, we’ll look at the top contenders, and maybe even pick one. Can’t wait!

Till then, here’s to the power of story: yours.

Onward!
Lisa