From Pantser to Plotter – Not As Easy As You Think #MondayBlogs

Last year I wrote a blog post about how I was changing from a pantser to a plotter.

In simple terms, plotters are writers who plot and pantsers are writers who don’t (instead, they “fly by the seat of their pants”, hence the name).

For years I have been a proud pantser and I have written 13 books using this method.

In 2023 I started interrogating my process. This resulted in me deciding that I needed to become a plotter. Now in life I love embracing decisions and throwing myself into things. The last half of 2023 were spent creating as many novel plans as I could. I became a factory for books plans.

The plans which I created were great to look at and they made me feel like I was on my way to producing something great.

I started writing the books which I had planned and….I could feel the enthusiasm draining out of me. I do love to ignore things which aren’t working so I carried on forcing myself to write a planned book. I now have a lot of unfinished drafts.

More unfinished drafts than I did when I was a pantser. When I was a pantser stories got finished because I think I was curious to see how they ended.

So, now I am going to do an experiment. What happens if I write something with no plan?

Watch this space.

If anyone has any wise words please leave me a comment.