Plotter or Pantster

Plotter or Pantster

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

 I'm often asked when people inquire about my technique for writing fiction. 

For those who are new to the terms a plotter is someone who makes an outline of their story. This outline can be really detailed right down to the beat level which is a moment by moment account of the interactions between characters or a little bit broader as in just a general description of what's going to happen in that chapter but either way that's what plotting is. 

 Pantsers on the other hand  are writers who just start writing and they basically make up their story as they're going along. Everyone makes up their stories whether they be pantsers or plotters but pantsers are making it up on the fly.

 People who are successful using this technique know what the elements of a story are and what they should be trying to get down.

 Plotters on the other hand they make a note of those elements of story and write toward it.

For example in a good fiction story there is a set up in which a character is in a situation at the beginning of the story and then something happens to change their lives and enter them into a new conflict. 

Throughout this conflict they are following a goal and they are faced with setbacks.

The setbacks in this conflict  constitute the exciting interesting part of any story. The conflict does not necessarily have to be action. In romance it's the the ebb and flow of a relationship.

 I guess the difference between pantsers and plotters is that plotters try to get their vision of the story right before they start writing whereas pantsers create their vision of their story as they write and then afterwards they revise it and make it tighter. Both ways have their merits. Stories written by pantsers can be more organic and unpredictable. But they can also be meandering and confused. 

 Plotters overcome this problem by showing a sense of direction in their stories. But sometimes when you write towards an outline you impose a motivation to characters that you haven't explained and that can become glaringly evident for readers. And which can raise the question of why is the character doing this. Both can pantsers and plotters need to revise. I use a mix of both.  I write an outline and then I will change it as as the need arises. 

And of course I will do a lot of editing afterwards to make sure everything is organic and the motivations are natural.