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.
I just winged* a murder mystery. It’s been sat in my head for years but I finally started writing it last year.
I had an idea for a gang of con artists and one of them is dead on the beach. When I started I did not have the first clue who did it, why one of the characters was naked, what was in the storage locker, or who had the real painting (all details in chapter one)
I have had to do a lot of editing. Lots of editing. But I winged the whole thing. Beginning to end. I kept notes while writing, that became my outline, but only to keep track of where anyone was.
It’s just been shortlisted for an award. So it does work.
I don’t think you are wrong. Insert a picture of a bell curve. (you won’t let me!)
I think most people tend to one side or the other.
And some will be either right or left depending on any given day.
I can launch into a story with a hot idea, and pants my way along.
But there reaches a point when I have to think about the plot.
I prefer to think about plot now, then write, but even with a heavy-duty outline, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Choices get made, and the story pants its way along, sometimes despite the outline.
I’m sure there are outliers who need to plot every beat—at one extreme —and, at the other, authors who can juggle a dozen subplots and never need to revise any part of their work in a significant way to maintain plot logic.
I think most folks are in the middle, plotting nearer the middle of that bell curve.
I agree it is not either or. I plan and outline the beginning, but not much further than that. I discover more of the details as I go, and I can't "see" the ending until I get there. When I heard of something called the flashlight method, it resonated.
Even though I don't fully outline first, I don't consider myself a pantser. The structure is in my head. I can tell by the word count how far I am and which major plot points need to happen next. I outline as I go and plan a few chapters ahead of where I am. It is a combination.
I might need to write an article on my structure and process also.
I just winged* a murder mystery. It’s been sat in my head for years but I finally started writing it last year.
I had an idea for a gang of con artists and one of them is dead on the beach. When I started I did not have the first clue who did it, why one of the characters was naked, what was in the storage locker, or who had the real painting (all details in chapter one)
I have had to do a lot of editing. Lots of editing. But I winged the whole thing. Beginning to end. I kept notes while writing, that became my outline, but only to keep track of where anyone was.
It’s just been shortlisted for an award. So it does work.
*winger: coined by a friend who doesn’t want to think about pants
I don’t think you are wrong. Insert a picture of a bell curve. (you won’t let me!)
I think most people tend to one side or the other.
And some will be either right or left depending on any given day.
I can launch into a story with a hot idea, and pants my way along.
But there reaches a point when I have to think about the plot.
I prefer to think about plot now, then write, but even with a heavy-duty outline, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Choices get made, and the story pants its way along, sometimes despite the outline.
I’m sure there are outliers who need to plot every beat—at one extreme —and, at the other, authors who can juggle a dozen subplots and never need to revise any part of their work in a significant way to maintain plot logic.
I think most folks are in the middle, plotting nearer the middle of that bell curve.
I agree it is not either or. I plan and outline the beginning, but not much further than that. I discover more of the details as I go, and I can't "see" the ending until I get there. When I heard of something called the flashlight method, it resonated.
Even though I don't fully outline first, I don't consider myself a pantser. The structure is in my head. I can tell by the word count how far I am and which major plot points need to happen next. I outline as I go and plan a few chapters ahead of where I am. It is a combination.
I might need to write an article on my structure and process also.