Plotanser: The Dynamo That is the Writer Who Both Plots and Flies by the Seat of their Pants, or Writing Processes and Why They Matter

The best way I can talk about process is to talk about my own. Maybe you’ll identify with something I bring up and it’ll open up new doors for you. I know realizing how I work has helped me start pieces much more affectively and with a better chance of getting to the end.

For anyone who doesn’t know the major categories of process types or what they refer to, they are:

Plotter: a writer who plots out their pieces and writes guided by an outline
Pantser: a writer who literally flies by the seat of their pants and lets the story take over and lead them
Quilter: a writer who writes scenes individually and later pieces them together.

And then there is me, who had to devise a category so crazy, so new, that it’s mind-blowing! Ok, it’s not really and it’s in one of my subtitles. Talk about anticlimactic. Still, I am a …

Plotanser: a writer who writes a very scanty outline and otherwise lets their piece grow organically, essentially an organized way of flying by the seat of one’s pants.

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Now, my definition there pretty much explains what I’m all about. I usually start out with the spark of an idea that I need to get the details down for asap. I’m not a good mind-mapper, but I’m a heck of a list maker. Hence, I write down the very basic info I need to get my story rolling. For me, and maybe for you, they are:

Characters
Setting
Very basic beginning, middle, end OR Why? What’s going on? –essentially the BIG QUESTIONS

I can start a story with a scene, or two scenes, but if I try to work long term like that I completely fizzle out. However, I never ever throw a scene away because who knows? Maybe that scene with Francois battling a depraved lunatic fits perfectly in the story about Stacy who’s found herself in the middle of a vampire war? You really just never know.

Anyway.

In order to see a story to its end, I need to know the fundamentals of what’s going on to whomever, where they are, and why I should care. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of pretty words pieced together for me. Don’t get me wrong though, starting with a scene you really want to write and then plotting afterwards is never a bad idea. I’ve done it. The awesome thing about being a plotanser is you get the best of both worlds (and who’s going to care if you quilt a little while you’re at it?)

After you’ve got the big questions out of the way, letting the story take the lead then going back to plot an outline if you get stuck works really well as a writing formula. I should add in a big ol’ BUT here because they’re inevitable. I’m talking story here, not world building. Right now I’m in the middle of starting what I know is going to turn into a long urban fantasy series, and that is requiring some serious world building. Which means planning. Lots and lots of planning. I want my world to be real, strong, and I don’t want to look back and ask myself what the heck I was thinking.

There you have it, all the info you need to be the best plotanser you can be! Or the necessary details for you to start figuring out what your process is. Try them all once, it never hurts, because working with a process that isn’t really working right for you is going to be stilting beyond belief. Write smarter, not harder!

 

P.S. If you feel that you identify as a quilter and want some more info, Kate has an excellent post on the topic here.