Story Unboarded: Planner Vs. Pantser

There are two very distinct styles of writing.

There is the “Planner”, also called a Plotter by some. These writers are focused on the structure and pacing of their story. They create outlines and other documents, attempting to have the entirety of the story’s plot figured out before writing the very first word on the first draft. The tone, character names, character abilities, antagonists, and even the big twist are all completely fleshed out from the start. This type of writing lends itself to longer works, especially series of books. The pitfalls with this method are infodumping exposition, forgetting to tell a decent story while doing so, and failing to adapt their story as they go to make character actions believable. Basically, the rigidity of a planner is the thing they must look out for.

In contrast to this, there is the “Pantser”, named such because they fly by the seat of their pants. These writers do not plan their stories out ahead of time, and simply run with a concept and go with the flow. They may have some ideas where they wish to go with the story, but they do not write outlines or character sheets anywhere close to the extent that Planners do. Stories written by Pantsers tend to be very dynamic and unpredictable, with a very organic progression between events. The pitfalls, however, are that these stories can hit a wall via writer’s block, leaving the author stranded for an ending. They tend to struggle with longer series, as they feel continually trapped by their previous events that established a history while wanting to do something new.

I would certainly consider myself a Planner. Except for some short stories I’ve written, I always use a general outline. As I start writing the beginning of the novel, I always have a definite, albeit rough and low resolution, intention for how I plan on ending that novel. I sometimes fudge some things, maybe shuffle a few characters around and adjust the details, but the spirit of the ending is always kept constant, and changes usually will manifest in the outline first before moving into the draft. I try to have a name, description, and other details for all my characters sorted out before I ever introduce them in the story, usually keeping these things in a separate document.

I think this is why I just can’t bring myself to do those writing prompts where you write micro fiction(I think it’s 100 words or less, sometimes shorter) or where you free write something original for five minutes. Sure, the goal is to get past writing block, but to be completely honest… I rarely have that problem. After I published my first book, I never really had any more difficulties with pumping out the paragraphs. But I just don’t enjoy recreating something from scratch if it’s going to be one and done. I really enjoy progression, characters changing and growing over time with larger stories that have escalating conflicts and new challenges for the protagonist…

I dunno. Maybe this is just me making excuses to myself for not doing very many writing exercises.