How John Green’s Writing Process Broke My Brain

Is it just me, or is there something in the water right now?

(It’s been a weird time for everyone lately, but I feel like, as a business owner and freelancer, the weird energy has been GIVING DISORGANIZATION AND CHAOS, which I am not down for).

The vibes are just off right now

So, if you are anything like me,

(AKA a person who always likes to be on top of my shit and is the number one fan of organization and pre-planning),

Then this chaos energy is likely making you also feel a little off-kilter and stressed,

(More than my normal amount of stress and anxiety, anyway).

When I get into these periods of less stability and higher amounts of stress,

My first instinct is to scramble and grasp for control, often doubling down on trying to plan anything and everything.

(I have never been a fan of that nebulous and floaty feeling of just “hoping it will all work out,” so I often find myself overcomplicating my work when I feel out of control)

But, as much as this type of stress response may have some perks and benefits,

It also leads me down a vicious path of self-doubt, overthinking, and stress, where I often struggle to start any new project because I don’t have the “perfect” plan to make it work.

OK so Claire, where are we going with this intro exactly?

I’m so happy you asked. I was just getting there.

I will be using the rest of this article to talk about an Instagram video from one of my favourite fiction authors, John Green.

(I promise this will make sense by the end, just roll with me for a minute here)

I am nothing if not a John Green fan

For those of you who don’t know, John Green is a prolific American young adult author who has written some of my favourtie books of all time.

(His first novel, Looking For Alaska, is a book I cannot recommend higher and absolutely changed my life the first time I read it in early high school. It is one of the best stories about finding yourself and your identity as a teenager, and I’ve read it so many times now I have lost count. But I digress.)

If you have heard of John Green before, it is likely because of his novel The Fault In Our Stars, which went on to become a box office smash hit that was seen by literally every single person my age back in 2014.

As one of the most identifiable love stories of my generation, the Fault In Our Stars is based on the unlikely romance that blooms between two teenagers living with cancer.

Anyone who has read this book or seen the movie knows that it is a romance and love story, and yet, when I was going through his Instagram account, I was SHOCKED to find this video of him explaining his writing process.

In this video (linked here if you wanna hear it from him directly), John talks about how he NEVER outlines, plans, or even has insight into what will happen with his characters,

Even going so far as to say,

“When I was writing the Fault In Our Stars, I was surprised to find out that it was a romance novel. I was like, OMG, they are going to get together!”

(LOL JOHN WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT KING, WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN’T KNOW THEY WERE GOING TO GET TOGETHER??)

🤯🤯🤯

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I DON’T HAVE TO PLAN EVERYTHING?

As a person who is constantly seeking ways to stabilize, control, and plan every part of my life and career,

The fact that John, the author of one of the best-known romance novels of the 21st century, didn’t even KNOW that his characters were going to fall in love with each other when he was writing actually broke my entire brain.

After spending an embarrassing amount of time just staring vacantly at my phone with the video repeating itself while I processed this information, I finally came to, and I had one big question:

WAIT, YOU CAN BE SUCCESSFUL EVEN IF YOU DON’T PRE-PLAN EVERY BEAT OF A STORY OR ARTICLE?!?!

Since I started writing, I always, always, ALWAYS feel the need to outline, plan, and organize my work ad nauseam before I even allow myself to begin creating.

(Yes, of course this can be helpful, but it also can be very limiting, too)

And now, in a time where I already am feeling more out of control than I would like,

I am noticing that my constant need to plan may actually be holding me back more than I thought.

So, with John’s writing process in mind, my goal for the next few weeks is to allow myself to embrace the chaos (GASP), trying to jump into more creative work without needing to pre-plan every single detail before I start (DOUBLE GASP).

Not everything needs to be perfectly planned out to be successful

So, I’m dying to know — did you find John’s writing process as shocking and newfangled as I did?

(If you are a fan of control, my assumption is yes, but I would love to hear from you all about this).

There is no one way to be a successful creative person,

But, as I am noticing that my usual go-to tricks for getting through periods of instability are working more against me than for me at the moment,

I think it is time that I allow myself more space to explore my own creativity, even if that means trying to write content without a bulletproof plan and outline (GULP).

So ya, catch me being less structured and embracing the chaos for the next few weeks,

(Keep me in your thoughts during this time, my poor nervous system is in for quite a shock).

Until next week,