Plotter vs pantser: why I think they’re not exactly different (my hot take)

Pantser vs plotter is the most current “identity crisis” in the writing community. Here’s my hot take: I think they’re just two phases of the same process.

There’s this whole “identity crisis” happening on the internet where writers proclaim themselves either a pantser (someone who writes the story as they go) or a plotter (someone who maps out the story before writing it).

I have a hot take that may gain me some sympathizers, haters, maybe one person will comment “well, actually…”, or someone may finally feel seen.

(If you consider yourself a pantser or a plotter, stay in for my hot take. Would love to hear your thoughts!)

What this article is about:

• Pantser vs plotter: my hot take

• Do you need to outline a novel before writing?

• Can you write a story without an outline?

Author’s note ✍️

I keep seeing the terms plotter and pantser all over the writing community. In the beginning, when I was starting out my book, I considered myself a pantser. I was invaded by a burst of inspiration to get into my novel. But it turns out that some habits are difficult to fight.

As a former SEO writer, outlining was the bread and butter of my work (this article was outlined too!). So, after writing a few rough chapters of my novel, I did the boring part. Outlining.

The result was a very ugly outline. Not perfect at all. With a bunch of grammatical errors. But it covered the main points of my story and helped me visualize the pacing.

Then, I didn’t look at it again for months…

Until I got to the messy middle, that is.

I was disoriented, having a slow week, and the chapter I was currently writing kept dragging. So, I decided to check my outline. Maybe there was something worth saving from all those scribbles.

And there it was, my messy middle. The “inspiration”.

That ugly outline contained ideas I didn’t even remember. Without looking at the outline the first few months, I was making good progress. I knew my beginning well. I was doing worldbuilding, introducing characters, and writing that inciting incident.

I knew what I wanted to achieve.

Until I got lost.

But going back to my outline gave the pacing back.

Now, am I saying that being a plotter is better than being a pantser?

No, I think it’s much more complicated than that :)

Pantser vs plotter: why I think they’re not exactly different

Here’s my hot take.

I think pantsers and plotters are not exactly different people. They’re different terms, yeah. But I would argue that they’re two steps of the same process of writing your book.

The pantser is the first half. The dreaming part. Where you get all that creativity to converge into this one project. Where you’re bursting with ideas. And well, you have to let them out, so yes, you better write them.

I think I wrote many scenes of things that I wanted to include in my book before I even put an outline down. Some of those scenes aren’t going to make it to my book. But it was so much fun!

Then there’s the second half.

The plotter is the planning part. You have this fragmented story with all of these wonderful ideas. It’s time to organize them, so when those ideas go out into the draft, they come in a steady flow instead of bursts.

With that first ugly outline, I was more conscious of making sure things were happening. That the plot was moving and if that wasn’t the case, then character relationships were being developed. I’ve come to realize that a chapter is valuable when it moves the plot forward or gives the reader new information.

So, when someone asks: are you a pantser or a plotter?

I would think the real answer is “both”. Just at different points.

And yes, you can still be a pantser within the chapters of an outlined novel. As long as it gets you from A to B. Or if you want to completely change directions.

Writing a book, I believe, is a beautiful project of trial and error.

Now onto a few questions.

Do you need to outline a novel before writing?

No, go ahead. Be a pantser. Let the demons, the muses, or your characters take control of the keyboard.

Great ideas often come from a single breeze of inspiration. You just have to keep pulling at the thread to see what happens next.

Organizing them so it makes sense?

That comes later when you’re in your plotter phase.

Can you write a story without an outline?

Actually, yes. It requires a lot of skill, years of practice, or maybe you knowing your story too well. But apparently there have been cases in which some writers produce great work without an outline. From beginning to end.

There’s this writer Shirley Jackson, who wrote The Lottery (1948). A famous short story in literature, that she claimed she wrote in one of those bursts of inspiration. From beginning to end. With minor edits.

But I would argue it was pure skill, rather than luck.

Shirley Jackson had been a writer for years before The Lottery (1948). She worked at a literary magazine and allegedly wrote a thousand words every day during a focused year.

So, yeah. It’s possible.

Now, I don’t have a decade of writing daily behind me. Or that much trust in my bursts of creativity to go from beginning to end. Not yet, I guess.

I’ll keep going back to my ugly outline for the time being.

Pantser, plotter, or whatever you want to call it, I think they’re names for different points of the writing process. Some writers get to skip the planning stretch and some of us don’t. And that’s completely fine.

And scene

If you made it this far, you’re probably one of those readers that 100% their book. So, thank you for bearing with me until the end :)

If you found this article helpful (either as a writer or a lurker), consider following along as I figure out how to actually write that book.

And if there’s a writing topic you’d like me to write about, drop it in the comments.

Do you consider yourself a pantser or a plotter? Was I able to convince you of my take?

Take care and keep writing. ✍️