Pantser or Plotter?

Are you a pantser or a plotter? Where do you stand?





I'm a plotter--a major plotter. I have a very detailed outlining system. It's so extensive, that when I get to the end of my first draft it's very clean, as in, very few character inconsistencies, very few plot holes, very few problems of any kind.

Now that's not to say that as I'm writing I don't face jam ups or ideas that I thought would work and now don't. There's always something that has to change on the fly, and I'm totally down with that.

BUT I wasn't always a planner. For years and years, I was a pantser. And I really enjoyed it. I liked not always knowing where my story was going to take me.

The problem I found in pantsing and the reason I started plotting was because no matter how fun pantsing was, I'd get to the end of my story and it'd be in complete shambles. I'd have to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite. I hated that.

I even had one book that I couldn't finish because the plot strings that I had all the way through were so convoluted I couldn't tie them together at the end. And, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so the idea of putting out a book that didn't have a solid plot or character arcs, was totally upsetting to me.

Enter, the 7 point plot system, and then a couple years later, K.M. Weiland's "Creating Character Arcs."

I can't recommend these systems enough if you want your first draft to be as clean and solid as it can possibly be.

In the end, plotting to me means that I have more to write other books.

So, where do you stand? Are you a pantser or a plotter? I'd love to read what you think in the comments!