Today I like: Homemade ice cream
Not so much: Sponge Bob’s laugh. “Hehehehehehehe…” Shoot me.
Darlin’ do not fear what you don’t really know…
–Brett Dennen
Writers generally fall into two camps: Plotters and Pantsers. Those who plan out their work (plotters) and those who wing it (pantsers). There’s sort of a tradition amongst writers to look down upon others who don’t follow your individual mantra. Plotters think pantsers are undisciplined. Pantsers think plotters are rigid. Blah Blah Blah. It’s like a literary Mommy Wars. Anyway, I fall into the plotting category. I’ve been thinking about this lately, and I’ve come to the conclusion that my “plotter-ish-ness” is really a reflection of my personality.
I like to know what’s going to happen. In my own life, I tend to plan things out. Lists, schedules…love them. So, it makes sense that I plan my work. It’s comfortable to know where my characters are going, and have an end goal. I write a detailed outline before I even write one word of a scene in a new novel.
Sometimes, however, this doesn’t work out, and that’s where I drift away from my outlines…and sometimes even my end goal. Where the flow of events in the story, the characters’ evolutions and plot points, decide that my plan is not where it’s at. This can be a little disconcerting…having to reorganize my thoughts and wrap my mind around a new direction. Usually with a good run and some serious mulling over, the new path takes shape. Cue re-write on the grand plan…but still, there is a grand plan.
That’s the great thing about fiction. You can always change course, and it’s like the original course didn’t happen. Ugh, plot hole. This scene is just not working. Guess what? Delete! Whoo hoo! It’s gone! New scene…all better. Things are back on track. Rolling toward the end goal.
Unfortunately, real life isn’t like that. You pick a course, write a scene, and you’re stuck with it. There’s no time to figure out the perfect reaction or bit of dialogue. No ability to control the other characters. One scenario can lead to another, and you feel like you’re trapped in the most poorly edited film ever recorded. When it’s all over, you can’t believe it happened…and you have absolutely no idea what to do with it. Where to take it…if mistakes have been made, how to fix it. The end goal is invisible…or at least seems out of reach.
Not knowing frightens me. I don’t do it well, in writing or life. I try to keep in mind, however, that sometimes in my books, the scenes I never saw coming teach my characters the best lessons. Even the most dedicated plotters have to be pantsers once in a while.
So are you a plotter or a pantser? In writing, life, or both?
Actually, I think it’s exactly like life. No, you can’t go back and redo things, but those planners among us certainly are forced to grind to a screeching halt and redirect without warning. As I learned this December, when my perfect plan for getting everything done before Baby arrived derailed into a November delivery and two weeks in the NICU. :/ It’s a good lesson, I think, that life isn’t always in our control and neither should our writing be.
Girl, I do not know how you do it…four kids, and with your special circumstances…you have my utmost respect and admiration.
My plotting is often the first draft. That makes me a pantser I think
Hmm…I guess it’s all open to debate…and we all plot plot here…pants pants there…depending on the muse.
I am JUST like you, Steph… always wanting to be in control, always having a plan. My husband is THE exact opposite and laughs when I ask, “Should I just wing it with this novel?” To which I get, “You don’t ‘wing’ anything.” Touche. BUT, like you, while I start out with a general outline (mine is deliberately holey to make room for new discoveries) — which is still A plan and a direction, as you aptly point out — I’m often amazed by the organic changes that reveal themselves through characters. You are SO right that, in life, these same principles apply. Sometimes the best lessons emerge from the scenes we never saw coming… Good luck with those life lessons; I hope you can embrace them in the same way as your fiction.
Thanks, dearest! I sometimes wonder how non-writers self-reflect. We put so much of ourselves into our work…and we need to remember what a gift that really is…to have such an outlet. Wishing you much success with whatever you decide to “wing” xoxo
I am a hybrid of a plotter and a pantser. It makes the writing process a whole lot easier when I know where the characters are going to end up, but getting there sometimes takes me down a completely different road. I also tend to think through plots in my head or verbally before writing them down in a loose outline (which is so ‘loose’ it would make most plotters cringe). Hey, but what matters is that we get to the end, right? In writing and in life. Great post, Stephanie. Xx
I’m a planner by nature but I start getting bored if it takes too long… so sometimes I start with only a partial written plan. That said, I almost always have a pretty good idea in my mind exactly where I’m going — with my current WIP, the writing came out so fast that I ended up being a pantser and it felt great at the time but now I’m making up for it as I re-plot as I revise. As for life? Definitely out of my comfort zone if I don’t know what’s coming next…. fortunately my husband is almost the opposite and that helps me relax and enjoy the unplanned journey! Great question!
Looks like we’re all a combination of Plotter and Pantser in the end.
I like to plan things. For my writing i keep lots of notebooks, and i write all sorts of thoughts down in them for months about whatever I want to write about. Then, at some point, I feel like I know enough of the story and what the characters are like to actually begin writing it, and I just sit down and get to it. At that point I hardly even look at my notebooks, since I already know what’s in them. They are just to organize my thoughts and explore ideas.
In life I tend to be the same; I think about some undertaking for awhile. Then at some point I act on it, whether it’s moving across country, taking a class, or starting a blog. Once I’ve thought about long enough it I just do it.
Dealing with things ‘on the fly’ is what makes life, and writing, exciting. As much as you say you like to know what’s going to happen, Stephanie, (and i do know what you mean cause I would have to say the same about myself) surprises can be fun and exciting, can’t they?
Good question, and thoughts, in this post. You’ve made me think