Now there’s a question that is often posed within the writing community. I am an unashamed pantser.
Q – What is a pantser? A – A person who writes by ‘the seat of their pants’ without planning ahead.
Q – What is a plotter? A – I think the answer is in the title. Someone who plans their novel from start to finish.
Those are the simple answers but in reality we are all a tiny bit of both. However we start, sometimes with a title, sometimes with a character, sometimes with an idea of a plot, even a pantser needs to have a beginning, know where it’s going, and an end. If not our structures will collapse around us; we may literally lose the plot.
Though characters take on a life of their own and push and prod you in the direction they want to go, always have sight of the end. There may be a stand-off with you wanting to go one way and your characters wanting to go another. Compromise is the key. Yes, I talk, negotiate, and argue with my characters. Don’t you? If you are a pantser, I think you do. I love that but it has its drawbacks.
My first book, weighty at 132,000 words, started off as a short story for young children but it GREW…. I couldn’t stop it. Ideas tumbled, all good, all fantastic, sweeping me relentlessly back and forth as new plot ideas surfaced that were just too good to leave out.
Then I had to learn to edit, kill my babies, as suggested by Stephen King in his book On Writing. That is perhaps the down side of being a pantser.
Like most things, the more you do the more you know. I have learned the hard way and do a little more planning, but my heart and writing is still in the pantser hall of blame.
I admire and envy the plotters and planner. I’m not saying they too don’t get stuck, overwrite, etc. etc. but they have a plan – some even down to each chapter – right to the end of their story. They follow the three and five act structure of breaking down the story to ensure there is the ebb and flow of action, emotion. They follow plot points. I wish I could. I don’t think about structure, ebb and flow when I write. That comes later, but perhaps that is for another post.
However you plan, or not, enjoy your process, hone it, adapt it, sit down and do it.
Happy writing to all. End 25.1.2022
P.S I plan to list some books and sites on writing in the Writer’s Cupboard and maybe review a few on the Book Review page of this site.
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