Are you a Pantser?
Pantsers ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ when writing with no outline or idea where the story will take you, you just let it flow from your imagination.
Are you a Plotter?
Plotters outline the entire story including key plot points, the climax and the ending before you begin writing the story.
There are many examples of successful writers who fit into each category. Stephen King is a pantser, J.K. Rowling is a plotter … just to name one of each.
You can find a ton of articles online which debate which method is best and why… but I feel it’s a personal preference really and obviously both methods work for different reasons for different authors.
Do you use one method over the other… or a combination of the two?
What I’m really wondering with this article is:
- Are YOU a Pantser or a Plotter?
- How long did it take you to write your book?
- How long did it take you to edit your book into a publishable format?
- Have you ever thought about collaborating with someone who can compliment/compensate your strengths/weaknesses?
As a side note:
I happen to be a Plotter, but I can get distracted into so much outlining and pre-writing that I get little actual story written.
My brother happens to be a Pantser, he can finish a story in respectable time, but it has some plot holes and somewhat flat character arcs.
So we both think that maybe we can compensate for our weaknesses and amplify our strengths by collaborating on a story. We both create the character arcs and story arcs, but I create the outline and he writes the story. Then I’ll edit what he writes and make sure it contains the story’s key elements and let him do the rewrite to close any plot holes. This is our first attempt at a collaboration so wish us luck 🙂