There are pros and cons to either type of writer, but which one are you? 

I'm more of a panster 'cause I like the feeling of having the story tell itself. The unpredictability of it all excites me. Now mind you, that comes with A LOT of rewrites and edits afterward. But, there's something refreshing about developing an organic plot that tells itself. 

I think Stephen King was (or still is) a pantser. I remember watching a Q & A of his and he said something to the effect of "Our lives are essentially plotless so why the f**k would I plot any of my stories?" 

Totally paraphrasing there, but it was along those lines which I thought was kinda funny. 


Anyway, Happy Sunday everyone, and happy writing! 

All the best! 

I have found that any non-planning I try eventually turns into me planning anyway. I can’t not know what hapoens next.

I usually plot out my stories—but there are a few cases where I only partially plan them out (if I plan on making it more slice-of-life, for example). I usually end up deviating from the written plot anyway, though, but at least I try?

I'm starting a new story. 
Planned the whole thing and packed it into 12 chapters. 
I'm 20 chapters in and I haven't passed the second chapter originally planned, adding details, characters, references, etc.

I am a planstter

And regarding Stephen King, it's hard to plan anything under the infuence of MOUNTAINS of coke.

I am pretty much a pantser, since most of my stories come to me in my dreams. And then after that, the stories of mine that do not come to me as dreams come via the use of prompts given out in contests and challenges. So I have a picture perfect image in my mind of the ending and the beginning of every one of my stories.

It's that middle-of-the-story-stuff that gets me in a bind. ❤😼🐉😸❤ 

Space Wrote: And regarding Stephen King, it's hard to plan anything under the infuence of MOUNTAINS of coke.

Mr. King has a mountain that's made out of Coke? Wow. What a lucky guy.

Do you think it's diet, or the regular kind? 😹

ArDeeBurger Wrote: Do you think it's diet, or the regular kind? 😹

The one that makes you a best-selling author

I have some overarching plans for big plot points in my story, and usually I have an idea of where I want a smaller episode to go, but when it comes down to it, I usually do very minimal planning. More recently, I've started to plan more out, so I guess I'd say 50/50 on planning and pantsing.

Pantser, for sure. I love diving headfirst into a blank world and watching it build itself around me as I go. I write the same reason I read, to explore fascinating situations, worlds, and characters.

Plotting tends to kill my interest.

I'm a pantser myself. My characters do all the work, I just write. :)

Personally, I like plotting out my stories and making a general outline of events that I can have in front of me. Although, I do deviate from my outlines anyways later on, or I change my outline in my head without really writing it down. So, maybe a mix of both.

Neither.

I'm a hybrid writer. I take things I like about both and combined them together because it's a little easier to adjust one's writing process when you don't think you must adhere to one or the other. I need to know where I'm going and I like leaving certain things for me to discover. The way I write a novel is a little different from the process I take to write something shorter, like a novella.

Pure plotting makes me not want to write and I end up changing my plans if I do too much of it and pure pantsing makes me stall and not finish a story. So either one is terrible for my production. I like results. I like finishing what I start.

And I used to be a pantser, but I wanted to write tighter stories that don't end with me editing and rewriting over half my chapters so that the story matches the vision of what I want. It's hard enough to convey my thoughts into words, so making it hard for myself in the story department makes it a lot worse.

Plotting bores me to death, so I wing it most of the time.

I outlined 55 chapters under the guidance of Allanther, the author of Wizard's tower. I named each chapter, wrote down three bullet points for each chapter, and came up with a mood/emotion for each chapter. 

From there, its all random baby! Who knows how it actually plays out or where I diverge from the outline. 

Definitely a mix of both.

I know generally what I want to happen in the story, I know the main story beats, the battles, the deaths, the emotional high points and lows.

What I don't know is how the characters will interact with the situations as they are presented with them.

In this way, I'm basically playing a solo D&D campaign that you guys get to read about.

Of course, I'm not rolling dice... although that's possibly not too terrible an idea for another book.

AuthorMarcel Wrote: There are pros and cons to either type of writer, but which one are you? 

I'm more of a panster 'cause I like the feeling of having the story tell itself. The unpredictability of it all excites me. Now mind you, that comes with A LOT of rewrites and edits afterward. But, there's something refreshing about developing an organic plot that tells itself. 

I think Stephen King was (or still is) a pantser. I remember watching a Q & A of his and he said something to the effect of "Our lives are essentially plotless so why the f**k would I plot any of my stories?" 

Totally paraphrasing there, but it was along those lines which I thought was kinda funny. 


Anyway, Happy Sunday everyone, and happy writing! 

All the best!

What the mixture of both is called? I am maybe that,lol.

Definitely pantser, except I have an end in mind to keep me on track.

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Yay! I'm not alone!

I've been writing for 5 years-ish (some of my earliest writings will never see the light of day, and never even planned to share any of my writings, but a pesky sister changed all that) and did not know what a pantser was until a favorite author said they wrote without a plot. Great. I wrote without a plot for years and didn't realize I needed one.

I typically start in the middle or end of a book, and let the characters tell me how they reached such a point. The first time I tied a beginning to a middle, it made me giddy. Now I'm working on tying up an entire story to an end which grows farther away the more chapters I write. It is driving me nuts. Which is probably why I needed a plot. 

Maybe someday I'll try such plotting, but for now I just enjoy writing and letting the characters drive the story forward.

Like you mentioned, there are definite advantages to both. I think it's all about enjoying the journey, whichever way you choose to go. <3

Rhea Wrote: I just enjoy writing and letting the characters drive the story forward.

If the characters want to drive the story forward they betta start writing it !