4 Reasons I’m a Plotter, Not a Pantser
Like many aspiring writers, I spent a lot of years talking about my plans to write, as opposed to actually writing. I had hundreds of ideas, lots of short stories and opening chapters, but I’d never actually written “The End.”
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As much as some writers thrive on letting their characters lead the way and making split-second decisions about what happens next (also known as “pantsing,” aka flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants), I know now that I’m not one of them. Here’s why I’m a plotter, not a pantser.
1) I’m less likely to quit
At the start of my writing journey, I’d get to a tricky point in the story where I needed to do more research or where I didn’t know how to get my character out of a sticky situation, and I’d just grind to a halt. Soon, months would have gone by and picking the narrative threads back up felt more and more insurmountable. Eventually that novel would slide away into an archive folder on my computer, forgotten forever.
If I’d known what was going to happen next or what I was aiming for, maybe I could have continued writing. If I’d understood what research I needed to do before I started writing, perhaps I wouldn’t have had to pause and lose momentum.
I know now that I need to plot my novel before I start writing, so I’m less likely to quit.
2) I can see the big picture of my novel at a glance
One day I decided to try a new approach: plotting! So I turned to Writer’s Digest and found an article which has taught me skills which helped me write four novels, and which I’ve shared with countless other novelists who needed help to plan their novels: Use a Spreadsheet to Outline Your Novel.
Using the spreadsheet template in the article, I tore apart an early draft of my debut novel and laboriously plugged every scene into each row on the sheet. Suddenly, I could see everything: which scenes weren’t doing enough work, which scenes could be combined together to do double work, and which needed something extra to really sing. That spreadsheet helped me get to “The End,” and that novel became my published debut, Secrets of a Serial Killer.
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3) I find more space for creativity
Some writers—Stephen King included—believe that plotting removes spontaneity and creativity. I disagree. I’ll maybe concede it changes when you can be spontaneous, and yet creativity is just as abundant throughout the process.
The plotting phase is full of fun and creativity, and is my favorite part of writing. I love sitting at my desk, staring into space and letting these new people wander around in my brain poking at stuff until they have a goal. The writing phase is a different and equally fun phase of creativity for me. I have the scope to ask questions like, “What kind of character might do the things I’ve plotted for them in future chapters?” To me, that’s hugely creative.
Sure, if you already know your beginning, middle, and end, then it’s unlikely that your characters will unexpectedly win the lottery and jump on a flight to Barbados when that wasn’t what you intended. But many writers find that knowing your major plot beats and where you’re heading enables you to play around more creatively within the space you’ve invented.
4) I get the structure right
No matter what genre you write in or what plotting advice you follow, structure is a key element of writing good fiction. I write psychological thrillers, and readers of this genre expect key things: inciting incidents, little twists throughout, a big midpoint twist, and a climactic final act. Often these elements need to be carefully placed, especially the midpoint twist—and plotting these things out in advance really helps me, both at the writing stage and in the later editing stages too.
After the early draft I still have to go through structural edits where some things will change, but the amount of work I have to do on rewrites is significantly reduced if I have plotted in advance. And I think the books I write are better for it, too.
Since learning to plot and writing my debut novel, I have written three more novels: The House Fire, The Baby Monitor, and my newest release, My Husband’s Ex—out May 3rd from Bookouture. Each of these benefited from what I learned from Michael and his spreadsheet, and for the rest of my writing career I will be wholeheartedly a “plotter,” and never a “panster.”
Check out Rosie Walker’s My Husband’s Ex here:
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