I’m happiest when I’m organized. I plan a week’s worth of meals on Sunday afternoons, arrange my closet by colors, and alphabetize my bookshelves by author. I’m flexible, but prefer order.
So, it makes sense that when it comes to writing, I’m a plotter, not a pantster. I like to plot my novels before writing the first sentence. It’s time consuming on the front end, but I’m confident it has saved me a lot of time in rewrites.
If you’re not familiar with the term pantster, it describes those who write by the seat of their pants. An idea hits and they pound out their visions, allowing the characters to drive their stories without predetermined scenes. Stephen King is an excellent example of a successful pantster. He’s super disciplined—writing 10 pages a day—but he doesn’t plot his manuscripts.
Not me. I like to know what happens before I poise my fingers over the keyboard. I write using a fairly tight outline. For my first novel, I embraced the Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson. His book is hilarious, and I highly recommend it for new writers. It forced me to examine every detail of the plot and characters.
Because I’m now more confident writing fiction (my background is in newspapers and magazines), I changed course for my second manuscript. I downloaded the Plottr app last week and have been entrenched in creating an outline through “The Hero’s Journey,” one of its 14 starter templates. In a little over a week, I’ve created an outline, plot cards, timelines for the antagonists and protagonists, and character bios. They’re all color-coordinated, which makes me smile. Best of all, the entire completed template downloads into Scrivener, my favorite writing platform.
When you write, are you a plotter or a pantster? Why?