Plotter vs. Pantsers: Which Road Did You Choose?

[Gamal]

Are you a writer who creates a plot before starting your book, or do you write from the seat of your pants? My latest essay has my thoughts on these two styles.

Plotter vs. Pantser: Which Road Did You Choose? http://bit.ly/10GC7dK

Have fun.
G

[K.A.]

I'm a plottypantser. Some kind of combination of the two. I often don't know exact details, but I usually know where I need to get to and who's going to get me there.

By the way, all I could think of the first time I saw the term "pantser" was a nasty trick kids used to play on other kids that involved yanking the underwear up...

[Gamal]

I didn't even think panster was a real word the first time I heard it. But in the age of Urban Dictionary, anything can become a word.

Do you have a loose plot for each chapter, or just a loose plot for the overall story?

[Joan]

I'm a pantser, though I do write a "paragraph" outline and then, after 4-5 chapters, I might do another paragraph outline.

[Gamal]

Joan wrote: "I'm a pantser, though I do write a "paragraph" outline and then, after 4-5 chapters, I might do another paragraph outline."

So you alternate between a plot outline and pants writing and then go back to a plot outline? Interesting. I never heard of that method before...

[Kate]

I do an outline and chapter plan before I start writing. I spend a lot of time getting to know the characters and the story first - it's probably equivalent to a first draft. It changes as I write, but it gives me something to work against.

I wrote my first (unpublished and unpublishable!) novel using the pantser method (pantserly?!). It didn't work for me. I think if you have a strong intuitive sense of structure it's good but I didn't - and I still have to really work at it.

If I don't have a structure beforehand I feel I could waste a lot of time writing prose which will only get cut later. Better to get the shape right first and do the crafting later.

[David]

I'm a pantser.
I get an idea for the opening chapter, write it, then ask myself, "What happens next?" write Chapter 2 then ask the same question, write Chapter 3 and ask it again.
The closest I come to plotting is jotting down 1 sentence ideas for future scenes.

[Melissa]

Dave wrote: "I'm a pantser.
I get an idea for the opening chapter, write it, then ask myself, "What happens next?" write Chapter 2 then ask the same question, write Chapter 3 and ask it again.
The closest I com..."

As a reader, I can spot 'pantser' authors a mile away. Lee Child, Patricia Cornwell, etc. I think they use the first draft as an outline.

[Gamal]

Kate wrote: "I do an outline and chapter plan before I start writing. I spend a lot of time getting to know the characters and the story first - it's probably equivalent to a first draft. It changes as I write,..."

I feel the same way Kate, but based on the responses I've got from Goodreads and Linked In on this subject, I feel we are in the distinct minority...

[Gamal]

Dave wrote: "I'm a pantser.
I get an idea for the opening chapter, write it, then ask myself, "What happens next?" write Chapter 2 then ask the same question, write Chapter 3 and ask it again.
The closest I com..."

Dave, the technique you're describing is what screenwriters I know call a step outline (one sentence description of plot direction) based on an inciting incident (the "What If" in the first chapter) so you might be a closet plotter and not even know it. ;-)

[Gamal]

Melissa wrote: "Dave wrote: "I'm a pantser.
I get an idea for the opening chapter, write it, then ask myself, "What happens next?" write Chapter 2 then ask the same question, write Chapter 3 and ask it again.
The ..."

Some pantsers said that their first draft and a plotter's outline are essentially the same thing. I've just found it easier to deal with the structural 'bones' of a story first and then worry about description, setting, dialogue and other 'meat' portions of the experience.

Does that make sense?

[David]

I don't do first drafts. As I write, I try to make every scene as complete as possible as I write it. I do go back and make small tweaks as I progress, but that's it.

[Gamal]

Dave wrote: "I don't do first drafts. As I write, I try to make every scene as complete as possible as I write it. I do go back and make small tweaks as I progress, but that's it."

What happens after the first draft? Do you hammer out any structural issues with your editor or is that something that is more of a back and forth with your beta group?

[David]

Gamal wrote: "Dave wrote: "I don't do first drafts. As I write, I try to make every scene as complete as possible as I write it. I do go back and make small tweaks as I progress, but that's it."

What happens ..."

Then its both of those, what a friend calls buffing and polishing.

[John]

Started off as an outliner, but wrote my last few novels without a solid outline and have been happier with them. I might never go back!

[John]

Gamal wrote: Some pantsers said that their first draft and a plotter's outline are essentially the same thing.

Interesting! I'd never heard this before, but I like this idea. Several writers have talked about the importance of rough first drafts (Anne Lamott famously); this lends weight to that idea.

[Gamal]

Thanks for the input John.

What made you decide to switch styles from plot to pants?

[John]

Gamal wrote: "Thanks for the input John.

What made you decide to switch styles from plot to pants?"

A willingness to experiment, really. I started writing the second Mara Cunningham mystery, Too Hard to Handle, before I had outlined it. I had a general sense of the arc and the setpieces I wanted to include, and I knew the characters already, but that was it. So rather than stop writing in order to outline, I just kept at it. I'm very satisfied with the results (I think it's better than the first book), but wonder if I can keep it up.

[C.]

I'm a dyed-in-the-worsted-wool pantser. Writing in that style is kind of like starting a road trip without a map. You don't know where you're going, you don't know how you are you are going to get there, but you have rubber on the road and you take the bumps and dips as you hit them. I'm currently writing a series of weird detective novels. They are written in first person from the point of view of the detective himself. I think this style of writing works for this particular genre. As the story develops, the main character doesn't know where he is going next or what might happen. The fact that I don't know what is going to happen either lends a certain level of reality to the story. The reader is in the car, the car is on the road and you kind of just have to go along for the ride.

[David]

Yes, C.! That's why I write that way, too.

[Gamal]

I'm really glad writers are willing to discuss this aspect of the craft. I think I'm learning quite a bit. Thanks to everyone for responding.

I wrote another essay about inspiration and how much a writer needs to start writing. If you get a chance to read it, please let me know what you think.

http://bit.ly/12XsHih

Have fun.
G