Writing Advice: For Those Looking to Improve, Not Argue

Planner or Pantser?

What are you? A planner or a pantser?

You may have heard these terms before or you may not have. Regardless, we'll take some time to cover what these two things are in case misconceptions need to be cleared up.

To start, these are terms that are used to refer to types or writers in the starting stages of their writing.

A planner, also known as an Outlinger, is someone that takes the time to fully plan out their story before they commit to the writing endeavor. These individuals are fully aware of what is going to happen in their book and when. They may also have taken the time to make blurbs or character sheets for all the major and minor characters in their story. This doesn't mean that they do it in great detail by covering twenty pages of scribble(although some do). Often times this is anywhere from a few pages to several cue cards used to order their thoughts. Many authors use software to get their stories in order while others keep pen and paper. There is no one method that works best for everyone, but rather what works for an individual. Some authors, such as Rachel Aaron, outline for the sake of writing faster.

Pantsers are the total opposite of a planner. They sit at their keyboard and let their fingers fly off the keyboard and see where the story takes them. Call them a free spirit, if you will. Pansters do not enjoy the process of outlining and will look down on the process in general. Stephen King, the ultimate panster, can be quoted saying if you have to write down parts of your story before you write it, you're only writing bad ideas.  The good ideas are the ones that stick.

So which one is better? Hard to say. It depends on the person and what allows them to enjoy writing. It is possible to be a mixture of both. A lot of writers will create an outline only to ignore seventy percent of it. Don't be surprised if it happens to you. At the end of the day, we write to have fun and create something to share with others. Don't forget that.

I, myself, am a mixture of both. When I started writing my first story, I started off as a pantser. I sat at my keyboard and told myself to write. I didn't care what came out, only that I wrote something. Fifty pages later, I had something that I thought could be good, but I didn't know where to take it. So, I took a day to outline where I thought the story was going to go and kept writing. Guess what? My story changed despite my outline. This continues to happen to me over the years as I have written short stories and longer works. The only differences is that I will try to outline before I start rather than simply typing with no idea where I am going.

So, which one are you? A planner or a pantser? Why?