Panster
So, the question is: which is better, to be a "pantser" or a "plotter".
These are writing terms intending to capture the style of writing ultimately differentiated by degree of planning; they are each end of the spectrum.
The plotter knows the route she will take. To some degree, she has mapped the walk. She knows perhaps only the beginning, or the ending, or both. She knows who here characters are ... or who they will become. She will likely will the story into place through conniving a reasonable manner in which the distinct elements she wishes the story to include to connect. The benefit of the plotter is that she can provide any number of salient details regarding the story - for she has given sufficient thought to the over-arching content that she already knows much of the how and why; often the what is a logical consequence of these. She can often, as a result, predict when the story will end, at what point it will be publishable, and can work with others to write the story - even out of sequence - for ultimately the last edit can fix a great many evils.
The pantser does NOT know the route he will take. Perhaps he has left it all to random causality, or he's identified the beginning and initial character, or knows what fictional town in which the events will take place. He knows little - and lets the story do the telling. He is as surprised as the casual reader is when it was actually the butler, or the owner, or the mother. He trusts his characters to breathe their own life into the story - and is willing to simply document their perspective. A mix of madman and prophet, his role is more narrator than craftsman. His skills likes in getting out of the character's way, to ensuring he captures as earnestly as possible the story as he watches it within his mind's eye. He can rarely, as a result, predict when the story will end. Being publishable, being able to work with others, and being able to write out of sequence are all challenges because until he's written the words, he doesn't actually know what will happen.
I've always wanted to be a pantser but was afraid of the result. I don't hold whole worlds in my head - I ultimately craft them on a page-by-page basis. Which means it has always been easiest for me to write as a panster ... but I am perpetually internally cautioned to be the plotter so I will actually complete a story.
So I hereby task myself with earnestly trying to be a pantser. And thus these next posts.
The idea is simple - write a page a day, allowing the story to unfurl as it would. Don't assume the story needs to end, just write the story to see where it goes.
And it will be a leap of faith that there will be anything resembling a linear story.
Story: start here
These are writing terms intending to capture the style of writing ultimately differentiated by degree of planning; they are each end of the spectrum.
The plotter knows the route she will take. To some degree, she has mapped the walk. She knows perhaps only the beginning, or the ending, or both. She knows who here characters are ... or who they will become. She will likely will the story into place through conniving a reasonable manner in which the distinct elements she wishes the story to include to connect. The benefit of the plotter is that she can provide any number of salient details regarding the story - for she has given sufficient thought to the over-arching content that she already knows much of the how and why; often the what is a logical consequence of these. She can often, as a result, predict when the story will end, at what point it will be publishable, and can work with others to write the story - even out of sequence - for ultimately the last edit can fix a great many evils.
The pantser does NOT know the route he will take. Perhaps he has left it all to random causality, or he's identified the beginning and initial character, or knows what fictional town in which the events will take place. He knows little - and lets the story do the telling. He is as surprised as the casual reader is when it was actually the butler, or the owner, or the mother. He trusts his characters to breathe their own life into the story - and is willing to simply document their perspective. A mix of madman and prophet, his role is more narrator than craftsman. His skills likes in getting out of the character's way, to ensuring he captures as earnestly as possible the story as he watches it within his mind's eye. He can rarely, as a result, predict when the story will end. Being publishable, being able to work with others, and being able to write out of sequence are all challenges because until he's written the words, he doesn't actually know what will happen.
I've always wanted to be a pantser but was afraid of the result. I don't hold whole worlds in my head - I ultimately craft them on a page-by-page basis. Which means it has always been easiest for me to write as a panster ... but I am perpetually internally cautioned to be the plotter so I will actually complete a story.
So I hereby task myself with earnestly trying to be a pantser. And thus these next posts.
The idea is simple - write a page a day, allowing the story to unfurl as it would. Don't assume the story needs to end, just write the story to see where it goes.
And it will be a leap of faith that there will be anything resembling a linear story.
Story: start here