Plotter vs Pantser

“Are you a plotter or a pantser?” It’s a question most writers are asked at some point.

Do you like setting up outlines and developing your plots before writing a single word or do you prefer jumping into your book and ‘flying by the seat of your pants’?

There’s no right answer, and your answer may change depending on where you are in your writing career, or even the book you are currently working on.  

But since it is pretty crucial to how you write, I thought I’d take a look at these two techniques.

Full disclosure here: I’m a plotter. It just seems to work better for me with the kind of non-fiction books I write. Though whenever I’ve tried my hand at fiction, I completely pants it.

PLOTTERS

Plotting is exactly what it sounds like: you plan the book ahead of time. There are a million variations of plotting, from a basic outline to something incredibly detailed. Everything from spreadsheets to pictures, notes, and red twine linking them around a room can be used. 

PROS:

• Plotting events ahead of time makes it easier to maintain consistency throughout the book, and gives you a greater chance of not dropping subplot threads. Or minor characters! 

• If you plot things out you probably plot your characters, at least a little. So there is less chance of inconsistency in characters as the book goes on (like brown-eyed Sally and David are married in chapter 2 but by chapter 8, Sally has blue eyes and is married to Jean).

• The best thing about plotting, in my humble opinion, is that it lets you easily juggle more things. You can handle more storylines, more character arcs, etc. Are you writing a mystery? If you have everything plotted out ahead of time it becomes easier to see where a little foreshadowing can fit in without giving too much away, or where a red herring can pop up without being too obvious.

  
  

CONS:

• It is absolutely possible to overplot something. This may mean you plot so much that you are sick of the idea by the time you’re ready to actually start writing. Or that while you’re writing, you’ve structured everything so much that you feel like your writing is stale and uninspired, or you worry the readers will think the plot is too rigid.

• Part of that last con can turn into being afraid to deviate from the plan. If your characters start to try and take over the writing, or you get a burst of creative inspiration that takes you in another direction: do you go with it? Or are you afraid because that isn’t the plan? This can create a writer’s block of indecision, stifle your creativity, or leave you with flat characters who don’t want to cooperate because your plan isn’t their plan.

PANTSERS

An affectionate nickname from the phrase “fly by the seat of your pants”. Pantsing doesn’t (usually) actually mean the writer just jumps in and starts randomly writing words to see what happens. It really refers to a writer who has started without a predetermined plan or outline and is letting their creativity flow.

PROS:

• The most obvious pro, as you might guess, is (potentially) more creativity. You’re exploring your world and your story “in real time” and side adventures can turn into amazing subplots you hadn’t expected when you started, or new characters pop up and suddenly you realize you are actually writing book 1 in a series because that new character absolutely is going to need his own book. This kind of creativity can keep readers enthralled (and guessing) the whole way through the book- and often surprise you at the same time!

• You hear authors talk about characters “taking over” the book, and giving yourself the freedom to just let that happen means your characters will probably end up reading as more genuine, and grow in a more natural way than if you had planned where they were on their journey chapter by chapter. 

• This kind of flexibility probably makes your writing experience more fun, especially if this is your natural approach to writing anyway!

  
  

CONS:

• Without a preset plot, you risk losing your direction and focus, dropping subplots or secondary characters, and may have a harder time getting everyone to that satisfactory conclusion that you and the reader want.

• There’s a very good chance that you will need to do more rewrites after your first draft is done. You’ll need to make sure you don’t have plot holes, or that you haven’t changed scenes or memories from chapter to chapter. There is definitely more work on the back end this way!

• Sometimes a lack of clear focus can lead to questions and writer’s block just as much as overplotting can. Too many choices or too few, both ways can lead to trouble!

How about a middle path?

PLANTSER:

Balancing the structure of a plot (plot-lite) with the creative freedom of pantsing = “plantsing”. Because that’s what we do with words these days. It isn’t a trend I’m a fan of, but this isn’t a rant on the murder of the English language.

Basically, the idea is to give yourself a light framework, or some general milestones: you know you want certain things to happen at or around certain times in the book. Maybe you know what your basic three-act structure is (think beginning, middle, and end, like in a movie. I’ll try a blog on that sometime).

But everything that happens to get there is freeform.

PROS:

• This approach gives you some guidance and can help keep you enough on track that you don’t lose your way entirely. While it keeps you moving forward, there’s a lot of room for creativity and letting your characters have a say in what’s going on.

  
  

CONS:

• You need to be adaptable here. Along the way your milestones may have to change if you find yourself writing something really incredible that has taken your characters on a bit of a side adventure, but you’ve just realized how much better it’s going to make things later on. That’s ok! Revise the goals to adjust for the new ideas. Just don’t let yourself get too distracted and off track, because that way leads to aimless wandering and lots of revisions in later drafts. On the other hand, maybe those scenes will come in handy for a later book. 

  
  

Each way works for different people, and not everything I’ve said here will apply to everyone! As with all things writing, think of these as possible guidelines, not rules. I’d love to hear how you write: what is your process (if you have one) and why do you think it works for you?