Pantser, Planner, Plantser?
We've probably all heard of these different types of writers or outline strategies, but what do they mean? What do these labels have to do with your style of writing, your success as a writer and are they set in stone?
First, a little trip to the (Urban) dictionary: The terms Planner and Pantser come up a lot in connection with NaNoWriMo and describe the two big types of writers. A Planner is, as the name suggests, someone who plans out every step of the way. They use Preptober to write a detailed outline, character interviews and have binders full of research material. They are the geeks of the geek universe. Pantsers on the other hand are the exact opposite. When you write as a Pantser, you “fly by the seat of your pants” which means nothing other than you don’t have an outline and you don’t have anything planned out yet, except for the absolute basics.
So far so good. Those terms are easy to understand. But what about the people in between? The Plantsers ? Are they a strange hybrid that no one understands or are they the truly smart people who don’t want to be cornered into putting a label on their kind of writing process?
For me personally the whole outlining question is a very difficult one. My first novel I pantsed in a way that I never thought was even possible when writing a book. I just sat down and typed (or scribbled on pieces of paper) and ta-da 15 short months later I had something that one could call a finished novel. Now, that doesn’t sound bad or questionable at all, BUT it was when I went back to edit the mess that I had constructed. It’s now been 5 years and no, I’m still not done with the edits. So as much fun as I had writing it and as incredibly proud I was to have finished my novel, I really regret not taking a bit more time and doing a little bit more outline. Especially because it is actually part of a trilogy that is yet to be planned out and written. My second novel started as a pantsing project as well, but half way through I started taking little notes of events to make sure I remembered when and how they happened when I later referred to them again. It worked out a lot better and I did not struggle with plot holes as much as I did with the first one. Since I liked the note taking idea, I thought I might as well do that before I even started writing a novel, which I did with my third novel. I kept a messy notepad with unorganised About the character pages, scene outlines and event calendars. It was the most of an outline I’ve ever had to that point and I think it was also the best writing process so far. I’ll get to the details in a second.
For my current WIP I’ve tried to go full planner. I have weather charts, detailed outlines of every chapter, very detailed character descriptions and even a map of the little town and I have to be very honest and say that so far I’ve struggled with writing this project the most so far.
This whole little story is supposed to show the main point of this blog post. That I tried all the methods and realised it is all about what suits you. Personally, I can’t deal with the strict outline because as I found out, it does limit me a little bit. Not because I can’t change it while writing, but because I feel guilty when I do. I constantly ask myself if I planned everything this detailed for a reason, if I will mess everything up if I just throw the whole notebook in the bin. And every method has their good and bad sides. With a new idea that I’ve been experimenting around I noticed I will definitely need a little more than two flashcards with my MC’s hobbies, because it is more fantasy based, deals with different subplots and I need the structure to be able to write it.
However, with my last WIP, the one with the detailed outline, that is still not finished, I don’t need it, because it is a relatively simple romance novel with less than ten characters involved.
My message to you is to try it all out and see what works for you. No one can tell you what the one right way is, even if people always try that. I do think it is smart to at least take a note or two to make sure you don’t get lost in your own brain, but if you don’t need it or feel restricted by them, then DON’T.
It is as simple as that. Writing is hard and complicated, no matter if you outline or not and anyone who tells you that with the proper outline you can write a novel in less than a month without having to rewrite it at least once and do some massive edits, is either a wizard and better show me the way to Diagonally, or they are a liar.
So on that note I will declare once and for everyone to hear (yes, you who has accidentally clicked on this blogpost while procrastinating on writing so hard you don’t even want to close this blog again)
I AM A WRITER and I write.
That is all that matters and so I hope you found this inspiring and are open minded enough to try out whichever method suits you. Nothing is set in stone, you can switch around and explore, that is the great thing about it. If you are interested in it, I will do a blogpost soon about how I “prep” for a novel, but again, it is all a question of personal preference.
After all this rambling I hope you are still awake, I hope you liked this post and if you didn't then I hope I at least drove you back to your WIP.
Take care and write on,
Lena
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