Plotter or Pantser? Or me, the Hybrid?
That is the question.
(To be or not to be is so 17th century. We’ve got more important questions here to ask, people.)
Okay, so what exactly is a Plotter and a Pantser?
If you’ve been around the writing community for any length of time—you know, say at least two weeks?—you should already know the definitions. Newbies, however, are probably like… huh? What and… er, what??
The word plotter is probably a given. Most people (all people?) know what plot means. It’s the main events in a novel that defines the story, if you will. Or plotting out the murder of the old grouch living next door who makes Oscar look like Mother Theresa and kicks your dog during daily walks. Steals your mail. Eggs your front door. Listen, I don’t advocate murder (except within the pages of a book) but, hey! To each their own.
Just don’t call me for bail money.
But what, exactly, is the word Pantser you might ask?
The Plotter outlines their novel prior to writing the story (detailed level of outlining is debatable). The writer knows his/her beginning, middle, and end… and pretty much everything in-between. There’s not much about the story that will be a surprise to the author as he/she pecks away at their eighty thousand word manuscript.
Pantser, on the other hand, is a word that probably wouldn’t be found in any dictionary, unless said dictionary was written by a novelist. Pantser is derived from the expression ‘Flying by the seat of your pants’. A person who Pants is quite the opposite of a Plotter. No outline takes place. Writing software of choice is opened and Chapter One is written… and then the writer is off into the world he/she is creating. Pounding away at their keyboard without any idea of where their muse is taking them.
Most writers declare themselves in either one of two camps: Plotter or Pantser.
Truth be told, probably very few people out there are strictly one or the other. I consider myself a Plotter but honestly, I’m more of a mix (hybrid) with a heavy emphasis on Plotter. So the question begs:
Which one are you, and is one better than the other? There’s only one way of solving these types of questions: Pros and Cons!
How else?
Plotting Pros:
- You know your story before Chapter One is typed across the top of the writing software of your choice (or written at the top of your page if you’re going old school) As stated above, Beginning. Middle. End. All three are very important.
- Less chance of ending up with a 100,000 word masterpiece in a 60k worded genre. Especially when 20k of your words are rubbish and you’ve left the ending at a cliff-hanger because your story arc never presented an actual conclusion. This is basic How to Piss Off Your Reader 101. Pro Tip: Don’t do it.
- Less stress. You know where you’re going with the story. What’s going to happen. You’re not writing yourself into corners. Corners = bad. Corners = headaches. Corners should be avoided at all costs with some exceptions. (See below)
Pantser Pros:
- The opportunity for Character Hijacking is most likely to occur.
- Less feelings of restriction with your writing. Let’s face it: Butt in Chair is hard at times. Any professional writer has to do it regardless if they’re “feeling it” or not. Sometimes spontaneity in the writing helps conquering the I want to do anything but stare at a blank word document syndrome <— that includes scrubbing the dishes by hand rather than turning a blank page into dots of black text. Pantsing the story allows some writers to feel more creative, and writing novels is the epitome of creativity.
- You probably don’t know your story’s ending, and that gives your writing sessions a feeling of excitement which leads back into point #2: Conquering Butt in Chair in order to complete a full novel.
The Cons of Plotting and Pantsing are actually the other side’s Pros, which is why I feel that most people fall into a mixture of both groups. It’s just that some (most?) have a heavier emphasis towards one side than the other.
There’s no wrong way to write a novel. However, understanding what works for you leads to the most achievement. So let’s discuss figuring out how you can become a successful novel-writing author.
The very first novel I wrote, Wiltshire —which has not been published, and should it ever, I would probably need to create a new pen name to release it under as it’s a suspense-mystery novel that has absolutely nothing to do with demons, high-heels, or hot detectives.
Like most first-time novel writers, Wiltshire took several years for me to complete. My biggest regret? My love of writing was inherited from my father, and I wrote that novel with him in mind. I never told him I was in the process of writing a book. I wanted it finished, published (traditional), and dedicated to him. I imagined the expression on his face when I presented him with a copy hot off the press. Then he died before I was even halfway through my story. Since I’d wanted that novel to be a surprise, he died not knowing I’d even decided to pursue one of his own passions: writing. I still regret to this day not working harder and figuring out how to be more efficient with my writing. To learn How I Write so that perhaps my book would have been done before my father’s death. And perhaps even if it wasn’t published, and I was still in that whole Agent-Query Hell, I could have at least had a completed manuscript for my father to read. But then, again, it was my very first book to ever write.
Today I have six and a half books written (four self-published) and I still find the hardest thing is getting words written down on paper. They’re entirely too content floating around inside my head, yet that isn’t where they belong. Which I remind them daily. And which they go kicking and screaming onto the pages of the Scrivener document located on my MacBook Air.
With each book I start I analyze the process I’ve begun in order to learn how to write faster and more efficiently. Writing faster = more books published. More stories created = the happier I will be with my writing career.
Determining your plotter vs pantser ratio is only one step of figuring out what type of writer you are, and this may evolve over time as you grow with experience.
For me, I need a basic outline, and my favorite tool of choice in order to put my thoughts in order is Milanote. It allows me to not only put down words of book scenes needing to be created, it allows me to rearrange the different order of things, and to also use images for inspiration.
Not every moment of my scene needs to be thought out on my outline, but using a tool like Milanote helps me to continuously jot down ideas and easily rearrange them at-will.
A great book that I highly recommend if you’re too far a Pantser and realize that you need a little more plotting in order to achieve your writing goals: Take Off Your Pants by Libbie Hawker. An excellent resource so check it out at the link.
So to recap:
1. What is Plotter vs Pantser?
2. Determine what ratio of Plotter to Pantser you are.
3. Use that knowledge to learn how to best write you novel.
Every writer is different. There’s no wrong way to write, you just have to learn what works for you.