Pantsers and Plotters
Which Are You?
A brief definition
“Pantser is a term associated with a writer who doesn’t outline a story in advance. A pantser takes an idea and runs with it free style, basically allowing the story to dictate its direction.”
“Plotters are the exact opposite of pantsers. Plotters use outlines. They prefer to think ahead and outline their stories before they write the first word.”
I am a pantser. When I’m writing a first draft, I don’t plan and I don’t outline. I simply don’t have the vision to do that. I usually stumble onto an idea for the personality of my protagonist and go from there. Sometimes, I can envision a scenario that I could fit a pre-defined character into, but even that is rare for me. I develop my stories on-the-fly. This approach sometimes means I may get into a few chapters and have to backtrack to make something earlier make sense. I have not experienced it nearly as much as plotters would like to think. My preference is having the freedom to make the story flow on its own. I feel the rewards of that method far outweigh the rigidity of the plotter’s approach.
I use mind maps to show relationships between characters and scenes they share, but I do even that on-the-fly. It’s more about helping me keep track of prior scenes than plotting for future ones. I like to get lost in the story, let it guide me rather than me guide it. I have always found that the main character will dictate the way the story develops. He or she will define their antagonist and supporting characters as the story unfolds. Mind maps help me keep that whole thing in check while I continue on a path as dictated by the characters.
For me, being a pantser has always helped with writer’s block. I’m not locked into a pre-conceived storyline. As a result, I spend very little time staring at a blank page. I have the freedom to go in any direction I want. If one of my characters pisses me off, or I don’t see a way forward with his role, I simply write him out of the story and move on. Some people see this as a drawback to being a pantser. I don’t. I believe your style of approach, be it pantser or plotter, is determined by the way your brain processes data. Mine has limited foresight. The only thing I see before I write is an opening scene and the story’s conclusion. I can’t envision all the stuff in the middle, so outlining is simply not an option for me.
I’ve tried the plotter method a few times. I couldn’t make it work. It was too confining, too structured. My characters lost the privilege of input, and my writing slowed to a crawl. Plotters may say that pantsers spend an inordinate amount of time rewriting. I’ve never found that to be the case. I think I’d spend just as much, if not more, time staring at a blank page as I try to outline an entire story. No sir! I’ll take the unrestrictive pantser approach any day. Could I be better as a plotter? I think not as I’ve never not finished a novel I pantsed my way through. Hey, if the pantser approach is good enough for Stephen King, it’s certainly good enough for me. So which are you? Pantser or Plotter?
