A brief history of (my) writing

Plotters vs. pantsers

I was DMing with another WP writer the other day, and an interesting question came up:

Are YOU (me) a plotter or a pantser?

That's what I'll try to answer in this post.

But first, what is this plotting/pantsing stuff?

Pantsing: Writing by the seat of your pants. If you're 100% pantsing, you're writing without any plan at all, letting the pen take you where it wills.

Plotting: Outlining everything before you start writing. If you're 100% plotting, you'll have every single chapter, scene, and development of plots and characters mapped out before writing anything.

Most writers are somewhere in between, with some squarely in the middle, and others leaning heavily towards either extreme.

Oh, and not every writer sticks with the exact same formula every time. For example, I think it's quite fun to start with only a vague concept when I write short stories, but for novels, I prefer more structure beforehand.

Why pantsing is good: It allows maximum creative freedom. You have your A) main characters, you have your B) world/setting, and a sense of what the C) plot is. When you start writing, these elements come together, and you discover your own story as you write. And yes, this actually works, although you must have at least some idea of A-C, or you are probably going to be staring at a blank screen a lot.

Why pantsing is bad: It's harder to build tension, maintain main plot development, keep track of side plots, ensure solid character arcs are brought to completion, and generally bring the story to a satisfying conclusion. Writers who are heavy pantsers tend to meander, be unfocused, and have trouble tying everything together (in WP terms, that leads to a lot of books never being completed).

Pantsing is great when writing shorter stories and the kind of 1st person POV slice-of-life stories that are so common on WP. For a more traditional novel, I don't think heavy pantsing is such a great idea. Chances are your work will lack the structure needed to tell a worthwhile story that engages the reader from start to finish.

Why plotting is good: Plotting is good because it A) provides a framework for your story and B) makes sure you know from where you start, where you are going with the story, and - in various degrees of detail - how to get there. That means that you can let your creative juices flow freely, but have them directed in the correct... ahem... direction.

Why plotting is bad: Heavy plotting is a lot of work. Time spent plotting could have been spent writing. It sounds pretty obvious, but it's a real "problem." If I spend 100 working hours (or more) detailing my new fantasy world, 50 hours making an outline, 75 hours without writing characters and their arcs, then 100 hours more figuring out how the main plot and various subplots are connected, then another 50 hours outlining a chapter and scene structure... Do you see where this is going? Chances are you're bored AND overworked before starting writing.

Plotting is good for any kind of story IMO. I think you should always plot ahead of your writing. However, how MUCH plotting you should do depends on the kind of story and the preferences of the author.

Editing: Yes, it's a thing. Not so much on WP, where often what's essentially a first draft is also the finished work. But IRL, so to speak, you will NEVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS get to publish your first draft. You probably knew that already... but bear with me. 

In terms of pantsing vs. plotting, if you go the no-planning route, you are very likely to need a LOT of heavy editing, and then more editing, and then... MORE EDITING! The more you plan, the less (relatively speaking) heavy editing you're likely going to need. You'll still need all the "light" edits, but you won't have to completely restructure - or even rewrite - the whole thing. Because you already have a three-act structure, a main plot, side plots, character arcs, conflict, building tension, a climax, and so forth. 

How to combine the best of both worlds:

1. Plan as much as you need to get started, but not more.

This should include start and end points for the plot and main characters, as well as some rough details for the first act of the story.

2. Start writing. 

Write until you get to a point where you're starting to feel "lost." For example, the story begins meandering, you are not sure where to go next or what the characters will do, or you no longer see where the story is heading or how it might end. 

For example, a breakpoint could come before, at, or after the end of the first act.

3. Plan some more.

Look at what you've written, see if it impacts where the story and the characters are ultimately heading, and make necessary adjustments. You should also take the opportunity to more fully flesh out both the second and third acts, look at your chapter structure, and scene composition.

4. More writing!

And so forth, and so forth.

After you have finished your story, it's time for editing, which is both plotting and also a time for more creativity, but we'll talk about that some other time.

The way I do it:

I spend quite a bit of time detailing the relevant bits of the world, the overarching plot & major side plot, and the main characters (who are they at the start, who do I want them to be at the end, how do they get there) BEFORE I start writing. 

I also typically (but not always) structure my stories using the 3 act structure. It's just the easiest, best, most recognizable way of telling a story. 

So, before I start writing, I have a good idea of what the starting point is and where I want to go, plus I got a rough idea of what will happen during each act (kind of necessary to know at the start if you're writing using acts). 

But I do NOT know the details of what will happen, nor is my chapter and scene structure set in stone. However, I'm very conscious about the internal structure of each chapter: it must advance the main lot and/or one or more subplots, and/or must develop at least one character in a meaningful way, and must have some form of conflict and tension-building.

With all that work done, that's where my 1st round of plotting ends, and I start getting creative!

Side note: I don't really like the term "pantsing", because, to me, it's basically just WRITING.

So why don't I plot MORE, I hear you say. Surely, more detailed plotting would be even better!

Well, maybe it would be for you, but not for me.

First of all, super-detailed planning doesn't work for me. I just come up blank. Secondly, I want to GO ON A JOURNEY WITH MY CHARACTERS. I know who they are, I know the world, and I know - roughly - what will happen, but the details of each scene spring naturally from this foreknowledge. Which is the essence of pantsing, really.

I call it pantsing within a plotter's framework. Nah, I don't really call it that - I just came up with the term :-)

Anyway. I hope you found this interesting and thought-provoking.

Until next time.