Don’t Force a Pantser to be a Plotter

If the title of this article is confusing to you, I recommend an article by The Write Practice on the difference between “pantsers” and “plotters”. That being said, the genesis of today’s writing post is from my own research and revelation. I mentioned it briefly on Twitter.

I’ve been writing for some time. Back in Middle School (age 11-13) I had an idea for a children’s fantasy book I never finished. The story was partly allegorical and filled with dream logic. It was incredibly fantastical and even now when I revisit my ideas from back then I feel a sense of wonder from the words I wrote as a child.

In revisiting some of the work I wrote later, maybe during my early college years, I saw that same sense of wonder and earnestness towards writing. I regret that I seemingly lost that spark.

So what happened?

You’ve read the title. You should know by now.

The revelation struck me like a slap to the face. I should have known better.

I am, in my heart of hearts, a “pantser”. My stories flow better and characters grow better when I don’t have every detail meticulously planned out ahead of time. I have ideas, sure, and I even make a general outline, but when I let the characters tell me their story my writing works better.

Story advice tends to come from the “plotters” though, because “pantsers” can’t easily express what it is that they do. So in researching writing, I was taking advice that didn’t work for me. I was planning out every detail, every minutia, that would hamper my personal writing style.

There are three takeaways from this:

Check Your Old Writing – I mentioned this before in my post titled How to Tell If Your Writing Is Improving. It’s extremely important to read what you’ve written in the past and glean from those stories any changes between then and now. In my case, I realized my stories have become sterile and lacked heart.
Everyone is Different – Easy to say, I know, but there’s a truth here. I shouldn’t have been trying to force a square peg in a round hole. I’m a pantser, and should have written as one. Figure out your style of writing and do it the way that works best for you.
Take What Lessons You Can – Yes, I said that taking plotter advice was difficult for me, but it doesn’t mean it’s all a bad fit. The structure of stories, character changes, foreshadowing… these are all things I found useful to learn about. Find something that catches your eye and if it doesn’t work for you (see #2) then try something else.

Well, I hope that helps you with your writing. It helped me realize my difficulties so I hope to pass it on.

Remember to keep writing!

If you like my work consider supporting me with a donation! http://www.paypal.me/FrankOrmond

My recent poetry has been gaining some attention:

Poetry: Can you Fix It?

Poetry: The House I Used to Live In

You may like some of my other posts about writing:

Going from Outline to Manuscript

Revising Your First Draft Novel

Worldbuilding: Religion and Philosophy

Also check out my book reviews:

Book Review: The Children of Hurin by J. R. R. Tolkien