"Normally I work out a general summary of what I mean to do, then start writing, and the details can be different from my anticipation. So there is considerable flow, but always within channels"
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Piers Anthony is admitting to a craft truth most writers learn the hard way: control is a useful illusion, but you can only fake it in retrospect. The line walks a tightrope between discipline and surrender. He starts with a “general summary” not because he worships outlines, but because he understands momentum needs a track. Then he confesses the real action happens once language hits the page, when “details can be different” - a polite way of saying characters misbehave, scenes mutate, and the story’s internal logic starts negotiating back.
The phrase “considerable flow” carries a slightly defensive note. Flow is the glamorous part of writing culture, the quasi-mystical state people like to mythologize. Anthony punctures that myth by adding the governing clause: “but always within channels.” It’s a hydraulic metaphor, not a romantic one. Creativity is water, sure, but it’s engineered water - directed through ditches you dug ahead of time so it doesn’t turn the whole project into a swamp.
Context matters: Anthony is a prolific genre novelist, associated with high-concept series work where consistency, deliverables, and reader expectations are structural pressures, not abstract ideals. “Channels” reads like a professional survival strategy as much as an aesthetic preference. The subtext is pragmatic reassurance: spontaneity isn’t the enemy of planning; it’s what planning is for.
The phrase “considerable flow” carries a slightly defensive note. Flow is the glamorous part of writing culture, the quasi-mystical state people like to mythologize. Anthony punctures that myth by adding the governing clause: “but always within channels.” It’s a hydraulic metaphor, not a romantic one. Creativity is water, sure, but it’s engineered water - directed through ditches you dug ahead of time so it doesn’t turn the whole project into a swamp.
Context matters: Anthony is a prolific genre novelist, associated with high-concept series work where consistency, deliverables, and reader expectations are structural pressures, not abstract ideals. “Channels” reads like a professional survival strategy as much as an aesthetic preference. The subtext is pragmatic reassurance: spontaneity isn’t the enemy of planning; it’s what planning is for.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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