A Pantster's Guide to Planning a Novel: 6 Tips to Get You Started

I've never had any luck with outlines. I've tried and tried, but I can never seem to stick to my original outline for a story. I'll get everything neatly in place, think, "Yeah, this is good," and then my brain proceeds to go completely off into uncharted territory. And the weirdest thing? The unplanned writing is always 100% better than what I had in my outline.

I wasn't sure what this was all about until I realized: I'm not a plotter. I'm a pantster: somebody who writes their story by the se...