Episode Three: Plotter? Pantser? Does it even matter?
In this episode, I’m tackling one of fiction writing’s greatest controversies - the divide between plotters and pantsers.
I’ll talk about the real difference between plotters and pantsers, how to find a writing process that works for you, and how to avoid the shame that comes from putting too much pressure on what we “should” be doing instead of focusing on what we could accomplish if we just honored our strengths.
Links:
Subscribe to the Better Writer Weekly newsletter here: https://olivia-helps-writers.kit.com/better-writer-newsletter
Learn about my outline critique service here: https://oliviahelpswriters.thrivecart.com/outline-critique/
Learn more about my work here: https://oliviahelpswriters.com
Key Takeaways:
Plotters outline their stories, while pantsers write spontaneously.
The distinction between plotters and pantsers exists on a spectrum.
Outlining can take just as long as revising a draft and ultimately it doesn’t matter how you spend your time.
Readers care about the final product, not the process. No one gives you a gold star for outlining or a free pass if you wrote without one.
Experimenting with different writing methods is essential.
Your writing process may change over time and that’s okay - you have to keep testing and adapting.
Don't let other people’s expectations dictate your writing habits.
Quality of writing time is more important than quantity - don’t beat yourself up about not having enough time, just focus on making the most of the time you do have.
Every writer has a unique approach to creativity. Find yours and make the most of it.
The goal is to create a book that readers love. That’s it. The route you take to get there doesn’t matter.
Transcript:
Please note, this transcript was automatically generated and lightly edited. I apologize in advance for any errors that may have come through.
Are you a plotter or a pantser? Do you even know? Does the difference even matter?
to another episode of the Better Writer podcast. Today, I am tackling one of the most controversial topics in the writing world, the difference between plotters and pantsers.
In episode 2, I mentioned an experiment that I did in my classroom where I basically allowed students to self-identify as a plotter, a pantser or in between, and then choose a set of deadlines that worked for them. And I thought it would be good to talk a little bit more about that plotter versus pantser distinction and what it really means.
whether or not it really matters to our writing and then how we should navigate the questions about plotting, panting, and our writing process in general.
So first off, in case you have not heard these terms before, a plotter is someone who writes their books with an outline. Essentially, they plan their books in advance, they design the plot of their story ahead of time, thus the term plotter. In contrast, a pantser is someone who makes up the story as they go along. They write whatever comes to mind along the way.
The term pantser comes from this idea that they are writing by the seat of their pants. I personally prefer the term discovery writer. I think it makes a little bit more sense because essentially they are discovering the story as they write it rather than designing it ahead of time.
This is not an all or nothing situation. You're not like fully in one camp or the other. In my mind, it is a spectrum and people exist anywhere along that continuum. Some people will literally plot out every single aspect of their story until their outline is like 25,000 words or more. Some people will literally jump in with a single
image in their head and nothing else and then see what comes next. And then most people are in between. I've noticed that in terms of talking to writers professionally, but that also was true in my classroom experiment. I continued to use different sets of deadlines for students for the remaining three years of my teaching career for multiple assignments. Almost universally, middle in between set of deadlines was the one that students chose.
What I have come to realize as an editor, as a writer, as a teacher, is that ultimately this distinction does not matter. At least it does not matter in the way that we think it does or the way that we're often told it does. And again, this might be super controversial, but I will stand behind this opinion. And I think the perfect example,
I was listening to a podcast called How Writers Write. It was hosted by Brian Murphy, great podcast. There are still episodes out there. Unfortunately, the show is not being created anymore, but the back episodes are there. Go listen to them. It's a fantastic show. In one episode, there was an author, very successful author. He'd been writing for years, published multiple books, millions of copies in print. And he went on this long rant talking about how
outlining is the only way. And he is moralizing on, you know, outlining is the only way to be efficient. It's the only way to write a good book that if you do not outline, you are wasting your time because you are going to have to go back and fix everything in revision. And then this man said that it takes him up to eight months to complete an outline. Eight months.
I just sat there in my car and laughed. Because eight months spent outlining is the same exact amount of time as eight months spent revising. One is not inherently more efficient than the other if they take just as long. And I also want to be really clear. There is no specific timeline in which you should be writing your book.
It could take you less time, it could take you more time. I would say especially if you were writing your very first book, it will probably take you quite a long time. You may spend more than eight months revising. That does not mean you're inefficient. But for someone to sit there and say that writing an outline is so much more efficient when it takes him almost an entire year just to produce the outline, has not drafted a single word,
And this is not a beginner. This is someone who has published multiple books for him to sit there and say that pantsing is inefficient, that it is not the way to write a book. When there are authors out there who are pantsing and finishing books more quickly than he is. And again, it's not a race, but he is sitting there putting a moral judgment on the writing process, saying that pantsing is wrong. It's bad. It's inefficient. When his process,
to a pantser probably looks just as inefficient. that pantser is probably sitting there saying, I can write a fast draft of my entire novel in two months and then start revising. Why would I spend eight months outlining when I can do XYZ faster? So again, it's not about the timeline. You are not aiming to write your novel in a certain period of time, but.
There is no difference between spending more time outlining and spending more time revising because ultimately we are all going for the same goal and it does not matter if we get there differently. I think a lot of this kind of like moral overtone of plotting versus pantsing, I think a lot of it comes from that high school mindset of the kids who follow the rules, write the outlines, those are the good students.
and the kids who want to skip the outline, those are the bad students. So this is something that is starting early. It is starting in the classroom in our K through 12 education system. And if you want to hear more about how education is misguiding us when it comes to writing, go back and listen to episode two if you haven't already. But the other thing that I think contributes to this is that a lot of people who are very adamant that you must outline and very adamant that pantsers are just bad writers are people who are trying to sell you their outlining system.
are doing it to sell a particular method that has worked for them. And they are then making the assumption that it will work for everyone else. And that just isn't how it works. People's brains work
In my opinion, and this is based on what I have seen in the classroom, what I have seen in my own writing, what I have seen from clients. It does not matter how we approach the process as long as you are working toward the right goal. At the end of the day, every single writer has the same job. You have to produce an amazing book that meets the expectations of your future reader. And it doesn't matter how you get there.
If you are a plotter, no one is going to buy your outline. No one is going to give you a gold star because you planned that big twist on page 50 in advance. No one cares. No reader cares. a publisher might buy that outline. That's true. But you have to execute on the story effectively. You have to actually deliver a great experience just because your twist on page 50 sounds good in the outline.
If you fail to actually set up that reveal, if you fail to make us fall in love with your characters, if we don't care who that twist is happening to, if there isn't enough emotional processing on the page to actually make that big twist land, it doesn't matter what you put in your outline. It only matters if you deliver and make it matter to readers.
And I think that's something that is sometimes really hard to hear. I talked about this in the last episode, that a book can follow all of the rules and not deliver an engaging experience. I also want say you can also just be working from a bad outline. Just because you have outlined doesn't mean you've done so effectively or that the system or the thing you've been sold is effective for your genre. So I think that's also something to be really careful of is just because you have an outline.
does not mean you're automatically going to create a strong, structurally sound book. As a developmental editor, I have clients who pants, I have clients who plot. And if you were to compare those first drafts side by side, you might not be able to tell the difference. And I know that is gonna be so controversial because there are so many people out there saying that plotting is the magic bullet that is gonna save you from revision. And I'm gonna be honest.
As a developmental editor, can say that's only true if A, you start with a really strong outline and B, you know how to deliver and execute on the story you planned. Total side note, I will put in a quick plug. If you are a plotter and you have a really hard time with revision, you hate throwing out words, you hate redoing stuff, consider getting feedback on your outline. I offer an outlining critique service I know many other developmental editors do. You can get feedback.
on your story plan, on your plot, your conflict, your character arcs, get feedback on that stuff first before you start writing, before you lock yourself into something that you know you're gonna have a hard time changing. I will put a link in the show notes so if you are in that boat, you can explore that service. Again, don't wait until you have a finished draft to get feedback, especially if you know.
that you are not going to want to undo stuff.
back to it. If you are a pantsir, the same thing applies. No reader is going to give you a free pass because you didn't use an outline. If your book is structurally unsound, readers are going to put it down. It does not matter that you did not outline on the front end. They don't care. They don't need to know how you got there. They just need to see that
By the end, your final product has a coherent structure and a plot that flows logically and conflicts to develop and escalate as they should. No one cares how you got there as long as you actually make it to that final destination. And I think something that happens is that people try to kind of pick and choose from the process. They try to pick and choose and skip the parts they don't like. But you just need to recognize what your process requires.
So if you start off without an outline, you are going to have to do more work and revision, most likely. Not always, because again, someone can have a bad outline and end up having to do more work to fix it. But as a pantser, you are most likely going to have to throw away more words, you're going to have to rewrite more sections, you are going to have to rethink different parts of your book, because new ideas are going to come up as you draft that you then need to account for by rewriting the beginning. That's just the nature of the process.
If you are truly a pantser, that delights you. For me, for example, I come alive in revision. That is what I'm good at. I am so much better at taking something that already exists and fixing it than I am at trying to kind of, you know, conceive of how to make it perfect from the start. If that's not you, that's totally fine. There are people out there who hate, hate, hate, hate rewriting their words. They hate adjusting the things they've already done.
So for those people, Start with an outline so that you can minimize the amount of rewriting that you're going to need to do. It's not a guarantee. Again, if you have a bad outline, it's still not gonna work. Just because you have an outline does not free you from having structural problems. But if you wanna minimize the chances of having to do massive, massive rewrites because you hate revising, start with a really strong outline. Get feedback on that outline so you don't have to do that.
In contrast, if you are someone who loves and thrives on writing, do not force yourself to outline just because someone said you should. Don't force yourself to go through a process that's going to stifle you. Just accept that I'm gonna write the craziest worst draft I can and then I'm gonna use that and fix it from then on. So, know, again, the idea is to find what works for you and then adjust the rest of your process accordingly. But, and this is important.
you still have to put in the work to make your book work for readers, and that may include parts of the process you do not like. So just because you identify as a plotter, you're still going to have to revise. Just because you identify as a panzer, you might have to go to the drawing board and answer a character bio or something like that at the end of the day.
You have to do whatever it takes to get your book ready for readers. assuming you want to publish and you want people to buy your work. If you don't care if anyone ever read your book, you don't have to do any of this. You can just write for fun. That's also totally fine and amazing. But if you want someone to pay for your work, you have to be willing to do the work to make it worthy of them paying for it. That might make some people uncomfortable when we say that, but it's true. I don't buy crappy products at the store.
I expect products I buy to work. If I can see that it is not well constructed in the store, I'm going to put it back on the shelf. Why is your book any different? It's not. So again, we have to be ready to make the necessary changes to do the necessary work, but that work doesn't have to look the same.
ultimately my theory on where these distinctions come from is just some of us are more creative at different points in the process. Some people can sit down with a blank sheet of paper and start answering character bio questions and discover who their characters are just with that rough sketch. In contrast,
Some people need to actually start writing scenes. They need to see their characters in action in order to start conceiving of who that person is. Initially, I assumed that I was a plotter. I'm a very type A person. I was best known for having color coded planners in high school. I'm a very organized person, very logical person. You know, I hate surprises. I hate making stuff as they go along.
on paper, I should be the ultimate plotter. I am not. Because where my creativity comes out is in that process of making things up as I go along. And the best example of this, I will never forget this moment, I had just started writing first draft of my first book and I had this character who has a really bad relationship with his father and he's basically exiled from the country where he grew up.
And he's on this ship traveling across the ocean and all of a sudden he punches a child, not like a little, child. He punches a teenager, still evil. And all of a sudden I realized that this character was an antagonist.
As I was initially conceiving of this character when they first popped into my head, I did not know that they were going to turn out to be a villain until he punched that kid. I literally surprised myself. I don't really know where that came from in my subconscious, but I think that is the moment where I really understood that I'm a panzer.
Because if I had sat down with one of those character bio worksheets and tried to plan out who that character was, I would have been totally wrong. And then I would have ended up trying to make that character do what I wanted them to do or what I had thought they were going to do when something so much more creative and beautiful came out of me just starting this scene on the ship and seeing what happened. And that scene had nothing to do.
with the kid who ends up getting punched was just him being seasick and then all of sudden he punched someone. I still don't know where that came from. But again, it's just a wonderful example of how my process works that I need to start writing scenes and then I get to see what happens and I get to explore what happens. And I think I don't know, I'm not a plotter, but I think that plotters have those serendipitous moments when they are planning.
And I'm sure, you know, there are also moments that surprise them as they're drafting, but the real difference in my mind between plotters and panzers is where that creativity happens more naturally and where in the process they are able to maximize that creativity. Like I said, I love revision. It's why I'm a developmental editor. I'm really, really good at seeing where something is and then figuring out how to make it better. I am less good at
just trying to construct something great from the start. And so again, it's just how we all work differently and it all works. The problem happens when people assume that their brain works the same way as someone else's. So for example, you might have a friend who says, well, of course I write an outline. I would never be able to just throw away 50,000 words. And they assume that no one else can throw away those 50,000 words because they couldn't.
You can't imagine crafting a character just from bullet points because you're not able to and you assume that your plotter friend is just being formulaic, that their characters are just cardboard cut out stereotypes. We assume that because we don't think a certain way, someone else has the same limitations and it's just not true. We know this in other areas of our lives. We know that people have different learning styles, different learning preferences. We know
that you can have a student who has an A in English and their best friend can have an F in that class. And then they switch, they go to math and the best friend has an A and that other friend has an F. We know that different people gravitate toward different skills, that different people have things that come more naturally to them than others. Why would writing be any different? Why are so many people out there trying to tell us that there's only one right way to write a book?
The answer is they're A, lying, B, convinced that everyone else's brain is the same as theirs, or trying to sell you something that's probably the big one is that if someone is telling you that their way is the only way to write a book and they're trying to sell you a system, my goodness, they are lying and they know they're lying because there are so many other people out there who are successful, who publish books
before that person was even born or published books before they produced their outline
think Save the Cat is a beautiful example. There are great insights in Save the Cat. There are great things to learn. But every single book that is referenced in Save the Cat existed before Save the Cat was written. Otherwise, it would not have been possible for the writer of Save the Cat to analyze that.
Blake Snyder is amazing. Jessica Brody, wrote, the Catwrites novel, is amazing. there are so many great insights to gain from those books, but this idea that it is the only way, the only method, the only one that works is wrong. And I don't think that those authors actually say in their books that it's the only way.
But I think people start to get too attached and they think that if I can't make Save the Cat work for me, then I'm just not cut out to be a writer. And if I can't make this system work, then I'm a failure. When really, if someone is telling you that there's one path to becoming a bestseller, they're lying.
because not all of their students are best sellers, just fundamentally. And if there was really one magic bullet path, then everybody would be making millions of dollars with their books because if it worked for every single person, everyone would just go buy that system and instantly become a bestseller overnight. That's not how it works. You will never hear me telling any writer that I can make them a bestseller. You will never hear me making that promise, whether as your editor, as a writing teacher
because it's just simply something I cannot guarantee. I am not out here selling a bestseller method. I am selling better. I am selling improving at your craft, however you approach it. This kind of turned into a snowbox moment, but I think it's really important to say because there are a lot of people out there who are not marketing their stuff ethically, who are saying, can make you a bestseller, who are selling the bestselling XYZ method, and that's not actually what they're doing, unfortunately. I wish it were that easy. I wish it were that easy, but it is not.
All right, let's talk about how to actually make this actionable. What can you actually do right now to move forward with this information?
First off, I want you to ask yourself, is the method you're using, is your current process actually working for you or is it working against you right now?
Like I said, on paper, I should be a plotter. I tried to be a plotter for a long time and I never finished drafts. I finished outlines, I finished world building templates, I finished character bios, but I never actually finished a draft of a book until I let all of that go and I pants my first draft and I finished 80,000 words in about three months. And I think honestly, part of why I am a pantser is because I'm so type A. When I tried to outline,
I got so hyper focused on the rules and trying to make it perfect. And I literally sat down with one of those like 150 world building questions and I tried to answer every single one with like a whole paragraph each. And it just, I was frozen, I was stuck, I couldn't move forward. And so I think again, because that is how my brain works, if you give me the worksheet, I want to fill out every single box. I needed to let go of that in order to actually write fiction. And
just because I didn't do the character bios in world building upfront, it doesn't mean I never did them. I just did them after I already had a draft because I think for me I needed to see my character in action first. need to just start getting a sense of who they were. Then I could go deeper. I could go into the specifics. I could start answering specific questions but
I had to experiment, I had to try something different first before I could figure out what worked for me.
And that's what I want to encourage you to do. Really think about, are you making the kind of progress that you want? And I don't mean that you are writing at a certain pace or that you are, you know, finishing books in my own minute. Do you feel good about what you're accomplishing? Do you feel like you are moving forward? Do you feel like what you are doing is actually helping you become a better writer? Is what you're doing helping you finish books? And if the answer is no, is it time to try something else?
And you have to be careful here I'm not saying that your writing needs to happen on a certain timeline or in a certain way, but really think about is the process you have right now serving you or could you benefit from experimenting and trying something new? The other thing I want to encourage you to do is don't get hung up on what you think writing should look like. There are so many ideas out there that are just harmful.
you have probably been told to write every day, write at the same time every day, write in the same place every day. Or, you know, there are people out there who are having like 5 a.m. writing clubs, and those are all great until we try to tell everyone that they need to do that. And I think also, again, people attach this moral value to the process that if you don't write every day, you're lazier and motivated, you don't really want this, you don't really want to get published. Or if you are not
making writing your priority first thing in morning, then you just don't want it enough. And that's so unrealistic.
You need to figure out what works for your life. So if you have been beating yourself up because you're not doing what you should do. Should is of course in air quotes here. If you have been beating yourself up because you're not writing the way you should be, stop. Let go of that. There is no should. There is only what you can actually do.
Do not let this idea of what you should be doing get in the way of what you could be doing if you gave yourself more flexibility, if you focus on what actually works for you. Stop trying to force yourself to outline. Stop trying to force yourself to write every day. Stop trying to wake up at 430 a.m. because you think that writing in the morning is the only way to do it. You can write great words wherever
you are whenever you have time. there's no one right way. So my next step for you is to start experimenting, start changing things up, trying things out to figure out what works for you. And as you're doing that, there are three things that I really want you to keep in mind. First of all, just be realistic about your constraints. Constraints are not inherently bad.
You are not a bad person or a less worthy writer because you do not have the flexibility to spend five hours a day at your desk and complete solitude. If you have kids or a demanding job or a health condition that makes it harder for
energy or focus, do not fret about what you don't have. And I know that there's so much easier to say than it is to actually do. But the sooner you can let go of what
isn't possible and focus on what is the better. 10 minutes of writing is better than 10 minutes of beating yourself up for not having 30. whatever time you have, use it for the actual writing. And even if it is not as much as you want or as focused as you want,
it's better than wasting that time beating yourself up. Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, or the good enough, or the better than nothing.
Then as you were writing, experiment with different methods. Try pantsing, try plotting, try writing from picture prompts, written prompts. Try out different things and see what sparks your creativity because it might surprise you.
Try writing in different places, at different times, in different spaces, whatever works for you. Try writing in different mediums. Maybe you've only been typing. Maybe you could try handwriting. Maybe you could try dictating into your phone.
There are so many different ways to get the words down and it doesn't have to look a certain way, it doesn't have to sound a certain way, as long as the words are getting on the page, that's what really matters. I also recommend paying attention to the quality of your writing time. is a qualitative measure. We are not talking about word count or how much time you're actually spending, just
Pay attention to when you're more productive. When does it feel easier? When does it feel lighter? When do you feel more creative? Notice what those times are that are more productive and adjust accordingly. For example, when I was still teaching, I never wrote on Mondays. Didn't matter if it was a Monday holiday. This was true during COVID when we had a four-day work week. I never wrote on Mondays because Monday for me just wasn't a day that I was productive. And I started to notice that I would sit down on Monday and I would just waste time. I would feel bad about it.
So instead of continuing to try to force myself to have a productive Monday writing schedule that wasn't happening, I just canceled Monday and all of a sudden I doubled my output on Tuesdays. I skipped the day that wasn't productive and then the rest of my writing days went better. you do not have to write every day just because you hear on the internet that you should be, if that doesn't work for you, great, find what does. Maybe you do best when you have one long writing sprint a week, but you'll never know.
if you don't experiment and try and find out.
I do also recommend listening to what other writers do. Not so that you can find the magic bullet, the process that you're going to copy completely, but I think it's important to listen to a bunch of different writers talking about their process. Listen to a bunch of different voices. Start stealing little bits and pieces. That's how you discover what to experiment with, by listening to other writers. Hear their process, and then take what works for you, leave the rest. Try it out. If it doesn't work,
Don't put a value judgment on it. Just move on. I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, the How Writers Write podcast. In addition to that one man who was very, very adamant that you have to outline, there are countless other interviews with writers talking about their process, how they create books. And you can learn so much from listening to how different people work, how different people write. And again, start experimenting, start testing their methods, take what works, leave the rest.
And make sure listening to a variety of sources. Don't just listen to all traditionally published authors. Listen to interviews with indies. Listen to people who write outside of your genre. Listen to interviews with a bunch of different writers. You can also read those interviews, find them in other places. Look expansively so that you can actually find different methods, different processes to experiment with. Otherwise, you're probably just going to hear the same old thing. The other thing to keep in mind is that
your process may not remain static. You will change, your life will change, your writing will change, and something that has worked in the past may not work in the future. You might be a pantser right now, but you might have a project that you just need to outline. You might be someone who is a die-hard plotter, and you might just realize that actually you need to spend some time experimenting your draft with a bunch of prompts. Just because your process worked.
for one book or has been working does not mean it's going to work forever. And that's okay. The goal is not to have a perfect process. That is not your job as a writer. Your job as a writer is to create great books that your readers love. Your readers don't care if you write on Mondays. Your readers don't care if you write for 45 minutes or 10, as long as they eventually get a book in their hands that they can enjoy. So, don't get hung up on the process.
Do not spend the next year of your life crafting a perfect writing ritual with the super special pen that you can only get at one store that takes you two hours to drive to. That is not the point. And I think if we get too attached to the ritual, then that can be harmful too, because then it becomes a crutch and then, you know, it becomes more about the process than the product. And that's not what we want. It's just about figuring out how do I work best?
can I work in a way that feels good, that is efficient, not always easy, but that the process is not hampering or making my life harder. That's your goal. And again, we are always working toward that destination of a great book our readers love. The process isn't the point. It's about how we get to a book that readers can enjoy.
right. If this episode has you feeling some type of way, I would love to hear from you. You can find me on Instagram at Olivia Helps Writers.
If you want to come yell at me about the importance of outlining, if you have a process you love that you would like to share with someone else because you're so proud of yourself for discovering it, come let me know. DM me on Instagram. I would love to hear from you. I would absolutely love to connect and talk about the writing process because every writer is unique and I love hearing about how other people work. And as I've said at the end of the last two episodes, this show is still brand new.
If you enjoy this show, if there's something here that you think is worth sharing with other writers, please, please, please leave a review, share this episode with a friend, post about it on your social media. Anything that you can do to help get the word out, I would very much appreciate. My dream is for the show to reach as many writers as possible, to help as many writers as possible. And I would just love it if you could help me do that by sharing this show with someone who needs it.
All right, thank you so, much for listening to another episode of the Better Writer Podcast. a great rest of your day. Keep writing and keep getting better one word at a time. See ya.
