Pantsing, Plotting and Plotzing
There are three types of writers.
Plotters
These are writers who know the entire story before they sit down to write that first line. They are more likely to have elaborate plot diagrams and character interviews and other wonderful things. They know the goals, motivations, conflicts, where the turning points are, what type of words their heroine would use in sentences.
Pantsers
These are writers who write by the seat of their pants. They sit down to a blank screen, knowing nothing or only knowing that first scene. Their characters lead them. They type as quickly as they can and try to keep up with their characters.
Plotzers
Plotzers are a combination of the first two writers. They might know their characters but they don’t know the plot. They might have one line about every chapter but not much else. They might plot and then throw out that plot halfway through the first draft.
Which Type Of Writer Is Best?
There is no way of knowing, by reading a story, which type of writer wrote the story. There are best selling plotters, best selling pantsers, best selling plotzers. There are pantsers who write the most intricate 10 story series. There are plotters who only write standalone stories.
There ARE a gazillion books on plotting or explaining how a pantser can become a plotter. IMHO…if a pantser can become a plotter, she was likely either truly a plotzer or a plotter OR something happened that caused her brain to change (some of my writing buddies say this can happen during menopause, for example).
I can’t plot. Or, more specifically, I can craft a plot but then the story doesn’t get written or it deviates wildly from that plot or it has zero magic. The magic is in the pantsing for me. I can’t seem to find it with plotting (other writers can ONLY find the magic with plotting).
Why aren’t there a gazillion books on pantsing? Because pantsing is very challenging to explain to another writer and pantsing is also often different for each writer. I see a movie in my head (it is like dreaming). Some writers hear only dialogue. Some writers see text.
The Trad World Is Designed For Plotters
One of the reasons pantsers attempt to become plotters is because the world doesn’t understand pantsing.
Agents and editors, especially those associated with the big New York Trad Publishers, ask for things like partials, for example. Partials consist of the first 3 chapters and a synopsis detailing the ENTIRE story. A pantser doesn’t have this unless she has written the entire story. I would make sh*t up and then go through the painful exercise of refining a plot I knew I’d never write. (This is one of the many reasons I’m so happy to be Indie now.)
Plotters Vs Pantsers And Writing Speed
Another reason pantsers attempt to become plotters is due to the myth floating around that plotters complete stories faster than pantsers.
That’s complete bullsh*t. There’s no correlation between the type of writer and writing speed. I, as a pantser, do one more draft than many of my plotting buddies but I also don’t take a week or more thinking about my plot and characters. It all evens out.
Do I throw away scenes? Yes, I do. But I learned things about my characters when I wrote those scenes. They weren’t wasted scenes. And, thankfully, words are plentiful. I don’t have to worry about running out of them. (grins)
Plotters throw out their diagrams after their books are published and that doesn’t seem to concern anyone.
Forcing yourself to write in an unnatural way also increases the likelihood you’ll get word constipation. If you’re not writing any words, you’re not completing stories quickly.
Which Type Of Writer Are You?
The best way to figure out which type of writer you are is to try a variety of writing techniques. Try plotting. Try pantsing. Try a combination of the two. Try different techniques. Read different books on crafting stories.
If you try 5 or 6 techniques and one way works best for you, use that technique until it stops working for you. Then consider going through the process again.
Stock Art Crafted By And Indirectly Purchased From: grandfailure
Pantsing And Craft
There’s a myth that pansters don’t need to learn craft (learning 3 act structure or GMC or turning points, etc). IMHO…I find it is the opposite for me. I need to know craft so fraggin’ well; I internalize it during the writing of the first draft. I also need to know it when my first draft doesn’t quite work. Maybe my structure is off. Maybe I have to look at my characters again.
Being a pantser is NOT a reason to ignore craft.
Do Whatever Works For You
Do whatever works for you. If a technique is working for you, if it makes you happy, pleases the muse, gets stories written, think before changing your technique.
If someone tells you there’s one ‘right way’ to write, smile and nod and then purge that feedback from your brain. They’ve found THEIR ‘right way’ for the moment and that’s awesome. I’m happy for them.
But their ‘right way’ might not be YOUR ‘right way’.
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Testing Truth
A fun-loving cyborg gets serious about love.
***
Truth lives each moment as though it were his last. The cyborg warrior rushes into danger, teases beings he shouldn’t provoke, accepts every call of adventure he encounters.
When a prissy little human princess floats into the Rebel structure Truth is occupying, seeking a mercenary to assist her and her unusual entourage, he volunteers to be her warrior. She claims their assignment is dangerous, warns him he might not survive the task.
That is exactly the type of fun he has been seeking.
Princess Nanette of the planet Royaume must rescue her estranged brother from an enemy prison ship. That is her duty, and she has been trained to always place the needs of her planet and her subjects before her own. Nancy doesn’t have the freedom to indulge her passions for a certain dark-haired, gray-skinned cyborg. Not permanently and not publicly.
But she is unable to resist the warrior. Truth, with his laughing eyes, smiling lips, and rough hands, tempts her as no one else ever has. He could be her one fleeting act of rebellion before she’s matched with the powerful ruler her planet requires.
If they survive their current mission.
Their love is doomed. Their lifespans are at risk. This cyborg and his princess will need the help of every ally they have if they wish to see another sunrise.
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The Pantster’s Guide To Writing A Series
I’m a pantser, a writer who writes by the seat of her pants. Before starting a story, I usually know my characters, (maybe) have a glimpse at a first scene, know it will be an erotic romance, and that’s it. Yes, I can feel my plotter buddies twitching. It is chaos, I tell you, chaos! But I can’t write any other way.
I also write series, three or more stories set in the same world with characters who know each other. Sometimes there’s an overreaching story arc (defeating the big baddie or finding a man for Camille – grins). Sometimes it is a sexy brother type of series (there are three friends and I want them all to find love).
How do I write series when I don’t even know what the next scene in a story is?
It is similar to how I write a single story. With a single story, I know the ending. The two (or more) characters will find lasting love and be together. I don’t know how they’ll get there but I know that’s where the story is heading.
With a series, I have additional goals or destinations for my first (or second or third story). Yes, the two (or more) characters will be together but, in the case of the sexy brother series, at least one of the other characters will also be introduced.
In He Watches Me/He Touches Me/He Claims Me, Anna and Blaine end up together and are gloriously happy (well, as happy as our rather serious billionaire can be) but Camille, the heroine of Breaking All The Rules, is also introduced.
A story in a series with an overreaching story arc will have a third goal. At the end of the story, the two (or more) characters will be together, the main character in the next story will be introduced, AND there will be progression in the bigger mission.
How much progression?
It depends on how many stories I wish to have in the series. In the Warlord four story series, I knew I wanted all three brothers to find love. This meant at least a three part series. I also eventually wanted one of the Warlord brothers to face Tolui (the brother was supposed to kill him in the third story but Tolui refused to die). I chopped up this big end goal into smaller goals, progressively escalating the conflict and the stakes.
And this escalation is important. We’ve all read a toe curling first book in a series and wondered “How will the writer top THIS?” That’s what readers expect. If you blow up the Death Star in the first installment, you should do something even bigger or more shocking (like, say, announce that the big baddie the hero is trying to kill is dear ol’ dad) in the second installment. The conflict in the third story will be even BIGGER.
I’m a fan of circular story telling so often when crafting the final story in a series, I give a nod to the first story. Maybe I’ll mirror a scene or refer back to the first story. I also like to bring back or mention the previous couples (or more), giving readers some updates on them. This usually isn’t planned though. It is part of the pantsing magic.
Do you have some tips on writing series? What do you like about reading stories in a series?
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Nathan Lawford, Blaine Technologies’ chief financial officer, is known as the Iceman. He conducts his personal and business affairs without emotion, never allowing himself to become involved with anyone. When Nate sees something or someone he wants, he negotiates, paying a simple, set monetary price.
Now he wants Camille, the company’s green-haired intern.
Camille Joplin Trent never expected to be paid to pleasure the man of her dreams. She can’t quite figure out why this is a bad thing. Nate is intelligent, handsome, sophisticated, everything she’s ever wanted in a lover and never thought she could have. Their contract is for a month, thirty lust-filled days of making every sexual fantasy they’ve ever had come true. At the end of this month, the rules state their relationship will end.
Of course, Camille has never been good at following rules.
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