When it comes to being a writer, you’re usually a “pantser” or a “plotter”.
Or you can throw your papers defiantly in the air and refuse both titles and be a “plantser”, which means you have the best and worst of both worlds. And you cry a lot. But don’t we ALL.
The whole pantsing vs plotting debate is usually conducted as a small war amongst writers. You either fervently hate the idea of being boxed in by an outline; you need freedom to let your characters roam and inspiration gnaw at your bones and guide your pen. Or you want organisation, outlines, firm goals, and books you can foreshadow and set up plot twists.
Both are valid. Both will, as we’ve already established, make you cry.
I am a hardcore plotter. I know this. But do you know what I’ve been doing lately?
Yes. I’ve been pantsing.😑 (If you hear a dull thunking sound, oh nevermind, that’s just ME banging my head against the floor.) I thrive with outlines. I usually write ones that are 22,000 words long and basically a Draft Zero or a “script” where later I’ll come back and properly fill in the gaps. Outlining allows me to write fast, fierce, and free. 30K in a day? We gotcha. It’s a roadmap. It’s controlled. I don’t get writer’s block. I know what happens next (something that’s incredibly important to me).
“Ok c.g.,” you say, tossing a corn chip into your mouth, “you’ve made a pretty good case for your love of plotting. are you going to just reminisce pitifully or tell us why you and your outlines divorced?”
Oh mEGHUSGH I am going through a hard time with this break up, I swear.
I’ve had really bad writer’s block for a long time.
And when you get stuck, my top advice is always: shake up what you’re doing. I couldn’t plot. I couldn’t move forward. I couldn’t see the story I needed to tell. So I decided to just force myself to write, to get back into it.
I still plot. The plotting is just 99% in my head and 1% on a sticky note that says “DO NOT FORGET THE KNIFE SCENE” which, ya know, in 3 weeks I will yell at myself for not being more specific about that. I imagine my scenes before I write them. I’m a plotter deep in my soul. But I’ve been pansting so so much of my books and it’s stressed me out SO SO MUCH…
…and I’ve also written one of my best works this year because of it.
You know what? My opinion is 😒 @ myself at this point.
However it leads me to analyse…
which is better? pantsing vs plotting
There’s never going to be a definitive answer for this, but I want to list the pros and cons I’ve experienced while doing both! And yes…these are pros and cons for me, just me. 🤗
PROS
- It was definitely helped shake me out of a funk where I “couldn’t write” unless I knew 100% of my story. And since my creativity had been misfiring…I just wasn’t starting at all.
- Look, you DO surprise yourself and it is quite exciting.
- It feels more relaxed in a way, because if you change something in the spare of the moment, you don’t destroy a 20,000-word outline you just spent a month writing.
- I’ve come up with some fiercely brilliant things that I had NOT planned until I let the characters dictate the story. I am proud okay. This rebel-plotter is proud.
CONS
- There are times when your character drops a “big plot twist reveal” and the secondary characters gasp! And you gasp! None of us KNEW. This is a surprise 🗣for us 🗣all 🗣. And while it makes for some dramatic twists, my main opinion is always: “What the actual frickity frack am I doing next.”
- Getting stuck. Having no idea what to do next. Panicking, just a little.
- When things aren’t well thought through, you can get to the middle of a manuscript and realise you need to rewrite the whole. freaking. thing.
- You just have no idea what is coming up. Could be death, marriage, taxes. I don’t even know. 😑
PROS
- Way way less writer’s block when drafting.
- You can write cleaner drafts because you don’t write yourself into black inescapable holes.
- FORESHADOWING!!! It’s much easier to pull off succinctly if you know 100% what is going to happen.
- For me, there’s always a calmness into delving into a draft you know how to end. You can organise your characters’ themes, motivations, and arcs brilliantly ahead of time.
- You can do those Walls of Crazy. Hush this is a Big Aesthetic pro.
- It’s easier to write a blurb or synopsis before hand.
- If you’re a traditionally published author, or working with an agent, it’s handy to pitch them a solid synopsis BEFORE you begin writing, therefore saving time in case they reject it.
- “Plotter” just sounds better than “pantser”. I mean bold of whoever invented that term to think we are wearing pants.
CONS
- For me? Absolute procrastination: if I can’t get the outline “right”, then I won’t write at all.
- It can be so galling to write a whole intense outline and then…divert from it and have it be a wasted wreck. It’s even worse than finding a very old, forgotten zucchini in the back of your fridge.
- So much “Pre-writing”, it feels like you’ll never start.
- I never felt boxed in by my outlines or left without “room for inspiration”, but lately I’d been getting better ideas while I wrote, instead of before I wrote. Again, so much wasted work for these intense outlines.
- I still got writer’s block so what then!!!!!! is the point of all things, Samwise!!!!!
- It started feeling like a chore. My heart is sore. I used to crave the feeling of plotting. I’d basically be bored of writing before I got to the actual writing part.
It’s hard to let yourself change methods when you write. It’s hard to feel brave enough to experiment.
I’m letting myself recover from a very deep depression spiral, which left me unable to write effectively for nearly 2 years. I’ve got a lot of stage-fright to unpack from being published (it is my dream!!! but also affected me in ways I didn’t anticipate!!!). Despite loving plotting and knowing it was MY method: my writing wasn’t working.
Pantsing isn’t a cure-all for me either. I just wrote 30K of a draft I need to now rewrite from scratch. And quite honestly, I still plot out every scene mentally and know where my characters are going for at least that chapter. I’m also generally working off old/discarded drafts. So I’m knitting together a thousand threads in my head, not starting each day with no idea what might happen on my keyboard.
(I know exactly what’s going to happen to my keyboard. BROWNIE CRUMBS AND TEARS.)
My ultimate and professional opinion on plotting vs pantsing is: they both suck.
And they both work. 😂I know which makes me calmer (plotting) and I know which has been working for me lately (pantsing) and I know which one I can’t spell (continually, this whole post, I’ve been typing it panster).
It’s possible writing is just annoying, fulfilling, frustrating, and incredibly rewarding. All of them. Why, world. I’m exhausted.
| what do you say? |
I’d love to know if you’re a plotter vs pantser? have you tried both? do you change your traditional routine if you get stuck?
haha. I like that you mention at the end that ‘they both work and they both suck’. Also there are no steadfast rules in writing, right? Different tips and techniques work for diff people. You’ve always churned up huge novels in days (hours? :D) and I hope you will always do
I’m in a similar problem where I used to outline but I got huge writer’s block and now I’m pantsing and it’s WILD
I’m a firm believer in plotting, haha! I’ve never really met or known of successful pansters… Not that there can’t be of course (!), but writer’s block is bound to hit, and it’s nice to have a crutch to help you limp along. But I don’t do intense, hardcore plotting like some people. I flesh out the main points and leave room for creativity. Plus, I’m not opposed to changing things while writing! 🙂
Oh I’ma plotter. I type up my outline in purple font, split up into little sections, and then right below each purple section I write what is told in purple, but like properly. But I also end up changing quite a bit while I’m going 😛 and then when I get stuck I usually skip it and go on to the next section, and tell myself I’ll come back to it later. *hysterical laughter*
Most crazily, ~Olive
I’ve been a pantser all my life but I dream of using an outline, I’m toying with the idea of doing that for Nanowrimo this year – mostly to rewrite something I Nano’d a few years back. It’s a story that does need foreshadowing so I’m going to have to try it!
I used to be a hardcore pantser, but for my next project I’m trying to plot it out. It’s actually working well for me!
I was so happy to see a writing post show up in my inbox from you. They’re my favourite posts that you make 😄
I agree that there isn’t exactly a right (just wrote that as ‘write’ 😐) or wrong way to write. We’re all our own writer. We shall write however 👏 we 👏 want 👏 Our styles change as our abilities grow. Maybe you can be a pantser when you’ve written for so long because then in your subconscious, you do have the plot line going on. Like, this is the inciting incident! And here is the darkest moment where everything is awful for the character! *insert overly happy smiley face* One of my favorite works ever was one that I made up as I went. I had a very vague idea of where it would go, so I at least was heading toward something the whole time, but I made up everything as I went. And I love that story and the characters to pieces. I struggle to find the right way to rewrite it, because it has to be special.
Personally, I now don’t focus as much on plotting or pantsing. I actually am more of a character arc person now. This character will change over the course of the story, and it doesn’t matter to me what the story really is (that’s a lie, it’s going to be dramatic) it just matters how what happens matters to the character and changes them. The story will revolve around them learning something that this big broken stupid-head world needs to hear. Except I still can’t get the plot right.
😁
Who, me? Dying inside? Why would you think that? 😀
I definitely consider myself a plotter- I’m like you in that I have very, very detailed outlines that span at least 20 pages. However, at times an idea pops into my head and I abandon my outline for a few scenes. But I always need to go back and edit my outline to match up with my story. It’s a constant back and forth. I think I like the security of plotting, so I always need to do it in case if I get stuck or lost, but I allow myself the freedom and flexibility to change the story at any point in the draft!
I tend to outline in my head. Whenever I try to write it out on paper my brain’s just like “hahaha, NOPE! We are boooored!” and I just don’t continue to try because zero motivation and I already know this stuff, and I don’t mind rewriting so messy draft are more okay.
This is exactly me; through all my years of writing I’ve developed into a plotser—I pants and plot both in turns. To an extent in the beginning I plot hard-core (mostly world building and characterization and similar teensy details), but overall, I pants because that leaves me room to grow and change and develop the characters (along with the world). I feel like when I pants I get more well-rounded story arcs, even if draft one is an absolute MESS. 😅 I’m sorry you’ve been struggling with depression—that’s no easy battle to face—and I wish you all the best of luck on this new mode of writing!
I am definitely a plantser — I have to have some sort of idea how the whole story will play out from the beginning through the middle to the end. But I leave lots of room for sudden changes — like, which character will do or say what, who gets most affected by the twist, etc. I can’t stand not having at least a rough outline — but if it’s too strict, then I feel like I just wrote an academic essay about my own work, and that just…no. 😛
“I mean bold of whoever invented that term to think we are wearing pants.”
“It’s even worse than finding a very old, forgotten zucchini in the back of your fridge.”
CAIT, I’M DYING. 🤣🤣🤣
But also THIS IS SO TRUE. I’m kind of in the middle (go plantsers!) because I do like to have a fairly clear idea of the ending of the story, but other than that I swing between semi-thorough plotting to “this is where the book ends bUT WHO KNOWS WHAT’LL HAPPEN IN BETWEEN” depending on my mood + the story.
ALSO YES, THAT MOMENT WHEN A CHARACTER SPRINGS A PLOT TWIST WITHOUT ASKING MY PERMISSION FIRST.
Like, eXCUSE ME?? Who’s in charge here??
Ahhh I’m sorry you’ve had a hard time writing I know how much you love it (even though you complain about it xD) (it’s fine we all complain about things we love doing sometimes)
I used to be a pantser until I realized how bad my writing was? Now I’m a mix of both. I get the main ideas and events organised and develop the characters and world building (holy crap i have so much world building and character descriptions that you could burrow up and die in them)
When I get stuck I just switch to another project or just read over my old notes and edit a bit. To remember where the heck I was going with it. But seriously even if you plot your things your characters still do things that don’t make sense (right now I have a scene in my fantasy novel where they’re talking about a new reality theatrical thing where it’s Keeping up with the Kardashians but with swans??? it’s a mess)
I would recommend chocolate and sleep for your stress. (it seriously does work Lupin has never spoken truer words) Anyway I hope you get back in your groove of writing (me @ writer’s block: YOU THREW OFF MY GROOVE) and I’m sure whatever you come up with will be fAbUlOuS.
I totally know what you mean about not being able to write. I felt this way for the past year as I haven’t been able to sit down and write which is a shame because before I felt like an invincible writer then I drastically changed to I can’t write anything. But I am getting back into it now!!
I feel like I am pantser (yes I get spelling it wrong) but I like to pretend I am plotter in many ways. I wrote out chapter outlines for my books where I literally write a sentence or two for each chapter and a feeling for the character. With one book I started writing and realised I wanted to change everything and I want to do a plot the outline in way more detail because as you mentioned I want my foreshadowing game to be strong so I want to plan the next books briefly as well.
But for the other book I just started writing and really getting into and exploring the characters and the situation so pantsing is definitely working well for this project so I think it depends on the project. Being a pantser is great for my personal, emotional book but I prefer plotting for my fantasy, the world is dying book.
This is a really interesting discussion and I definitely think there are benefits and drawbacks to both methods but at different times they can work well.
Best of luck with your writing!!
This was such an interesting post to read! As a fellow plotter I would have never considered trying out pantsing, so it was great to see that such a change could be so helpful for you 🙂 I feel like sometimes I ‘overplot’ and procrastinate actually starting my story, but I need some kind of plan or I’m lost 😅
I do kind of a mix. I plot a general outline, then just go for it. Sometimes I end up going off script and need to change things. I don’t think it works, tbh, since I’ve never actually FINISHED A DRAFT. I’m hoping to do NaNoWriMo this year with an actual PLOT outlined. I want to finish this time and pantsing I don’t think will work for me. I like schedules and deadlines and organization too much lol
I think I started out as more of a planner, but with my current WIP I’m doing more of a plantser thing now. XD I just basically outlined the plot to make sure I could get through the beginning middle and end, but kinda forgot to really think about my characters motivations? And so now I know it’s going to be a huge mess and I don’t understand anything that’s going on and my logic is just pretty much nonexistent. XD But I’m making myself finish it anyway cuz I keep hearing YOU CAN FIX A HOT MESS BUT YOU CAN’T FIX A BLANK PAGE! XD XD So yeah I really get the struggle now. XD
I’m still so proud of you though! You’re one of my biggest inspirations and when you’re honest about your struggles it’s still really encouraging to me too. I had to take a whole month off from my book cuz I was just struggling so much and I’m slowly trying to get myself back into it. I’m glad you’re trying new things to see what works for you. Just remember to take care of yourself! <3 I need to remember that too. 🙂
So far, I have, very, just barely, dipped my toe into the world of fiction. And by that I mean that I have a very vague, nothing of a plot idea, and I have written only around 3 paragraphs. I think I’m definitely going to be a pantser–at first. I’d like to think that plotting will be mode, more often than not, in the future, but if I’m honest, I don’t even make outlines for the papers I write now :’) As long as I got my thesis, I’m good to go, and I’d rather not plan. As of right now, I prefer writing non-fiction pieces: braided essays, personal essays, lyrical proses, etcetera. I really enjoyed this post!! I feel like I was far more enlightened about both of these methods, so thank you 😉 <3 (& sorry for the paragraph haha!)
So whenever I have attempted to write stuff, I am a pantser. And the reason is, I am garbage at actual plots. Like I can come up with a whole world and characters and such but I haven’t a clue what I want them to actually DO. So I kind of hope it’ll come to me along the way? Spoiler: it hasn’t. Well, there is one thing (that goodness knows at this point I’ll never actually finish) that I had an actual ending in mind for but. We’ll see. I mean, I had to put the whole darn thing on the back burner for now anyway (writing in general basically) so maybe I’ll give the ol’ planning a try someday when I am able to get back to it! I think the idea of changing it up is a really good one- keeping things fresh is essential!
I’m definitely a plotter. I was a pantser as a wee thing, back before I had the internet or had ever heard of these terms and all my writing was done by hand in freebie notebooks from library programs and then shoved under the bed forever. But as soon as I started… I guess I’d say “taking writing more seriously,” though I’m not too serious about it, I started outlining and making notes. The more I plan and plot beforehand, the easier I find the writing process and the better the first draft turns out. Which just led to more and more plotting. But my stars, 20K word outlines??? I can say I’ve never gone that far. My outlines and notes usually average 4-5K, maxing out below 10K for sure.
With plotting, I love the idea of just being able to fill in the gaps, as you describe it. I hate the idea of not having control over a story (yes, I admit I am a complete control freak 😏). But for my current WIP (and in my mind, the most competent piece of writing I have achieved so far), I just had a very vague idea of what happens at the beginning, and it kinda wrote itself after that. But now a minor character has suddenly become very important, and I have to re-plan and rewrite the whole thing! 😭😭😭
I honestly fall somewhere in the middle. Both have managed to make me rip out wads of hair, but then again, they’ve both been quite useful before. I like to TRY to outline, but it typically doesn’t happen very smoothly. I wind up pantsing my way through the rest of the story. Haha! Great post! <3
I am a pantser! I wish I could plot detailed outlines and everything, especially when it seems like that’s what every published writer I admire seems to do, but it’s just not me, so I’ve learned to just roll with it. My problem is if I sit down and try to plot, I just don’t come up with anything, and will sit there for ages trying to plot. I find it much easier to work out where my story is going once I’ve already got something down. I have suffered from writer’s block, but I feel like that will happen no matter what you do? And even taking time off from my project to try and work out what was causing the block, it only really stopped when I sat down and forced myself to just write again. I did write out some story beats for the sequel to my first WIP, but even then it was only a few bullet points and nowhere near a detailed outline!
Oh, I am so much a plotter. I have tried pantsing, but every. single. time. I get 20-30K words in and then… stall. I have tried a number of different methods of outlining, some more detailed than others, and sometimes I’ll let myself go plantser (which as a word I hate even more than pantser, TBH) and have a vague story shape and then come up with the details of each chapter as I go along. But it’s 100% clear to me that I have to have some form of outline, even if making it up as you go sounds a lot of fun. And even if there is nothing more soul destroying than the moment you realise your entire plot is going to veer away from that outline you very carefully spent the last month putting together.
I also have to say, I am making my very first actual physical wall of crazy right now, for this year’s NaNo, and it is So. Much. Fun.
This is such an interesting post, Cait and I’m sorry you’ve been struggling a little bit with your writing and figuring out how to write it all and change your method. you’re doing amazing and always, always rooting for you <3
I think I'm kind of a mix of plotter and panster? I need to have something, a basic outline, when I'm starting a new project. I need to know what happens in all the 3 acts basically, the climax, how it starts and how it ends so, in that I'm a big plotter, i guess. Still, I'm letting myself be surprised by my writing, too, I mean I created two different subplots I never planned out while writing my current WIP haha and I'm pretty happy about it, in a way, even if I never saw it coming?
I think there's no right, or wrong when it comes to writing, just feelings, some books will need more plotting – I know my previous wip I've worked on needed way more plotting in order to put it all together than this one and some books just…. go other ways. Writing is strange haha.
Loved this!! <3
I’m a planster and I feel ATTACKED. But also, I cry a lot anyway, so maybe it’s a little true ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I tend to have the major plot points outlined, and then I wing the rest of it. Which works splendidly until, like you said, you hit the middle and you don’t know what’s going on anymore, but for some reason everything’s on fire. I like to think of my first draft as basically a really pretty outline, because draft two is almost always a massive rewrite, as I just make notes as I go of things I need to rework and fix. But I always feel like I NEED that first unplotted draft in order to get to know my characters and voice and really feel comfortable with both.
“…and I’ve also written one of my best works this year because of it.” — I don’t know whether to scream with glee or weep for what remain of my feels. They obviously stand no chance.
I’m glad that switching things up worked for you, and I hope you continue to enjoy it! I’m experimenting with more plotting for the next book I’m working on, which is ambitious for me, and which will require much coffee and chocolate and tears, but it’s nice to try new things (or so I’ve been told).
I used to be a hardcore pantser, but I’m currently working on outlining a wip of mine that I’m really excited about. I don’t know how it’ll go just yet but it’s been fun!
I love this post, as always. And your absolutely right, they both work and they both suck. And I definitely cry a lot no matter the method. I’ve always been more of a pantser but that also resulted in me never finishing a book. I always get stuck in the middle. I have a beginning and an end. But no! middle! It’s so frustrating. So maybe I’ll try your advice and try my hand at being a hardcore plotter for some time.
Bit of both, to be honest. Too much of a plan and I’m just not excited anymore. :’) At the same time, I usually have a fair idea of where I’m going and how I’m getting there and I usually write it down. With my current story, I knew where I was going and what I was doing up until I hit the climax beneath the house. I knew there were four rooms down there, four “challenges”, and then I pantsed one of them completely because I had NO IDEA what it was. Two, I had solid plans, a third I had a vague idea, the fourth one, total blank. :’)
I’m a plantser 🤣🤣 I couldn’t fully be a plotter… I loathe outlines. We’ve never really been the greatest of friends, not even when I built my new classes to teach. I keep the broadest possible outline, and follow my intuition for the rest.
Stay strong, Cait! You can get through this break-up!