Tag Archives: Being a pantser

A blog about the topics of writing, Writer's platform

Do you know any pantsers?

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How cluttered is your workspace where you write?

I like my office organized. But a small part of me is okay with the mess. I can say the same for any WIP I am working on.

I attended a local writing conference a few years ago. The speaker asked if there were any pantser in the room, and a writer raised her hand and pointed at me.

I, to that point, never heard what this word meant. Looking it up, I liked it. I liked it a lot. Granted, this has gotten me in some bit of a jam on certain WIPs, making me go back and do a brief outline to get myself unstuck.

Did I learn my lesson? No, I did not. I am the writer who likes to sit down and go for it, writing page after page, knowing there will be work to get done on getting the timeline correct.

So, why don’t I bite the bullet? I love the freedom of writing. My juices flow better, and the ideas come faster. It works for me. I know very few pantsers. Wait, that isn’t right. I can’t think of a single writer that, like me, without an outline. It would be cool to find some so we could have that connection.

An outline gives you direction, a timeline that will be adjusted and adjusted as it gives you focus on the material. It can help you with plots, characters, and scenery. It might help you look up in the air less as you try to work out a problem that you are having. From everyone I have talked to, this is the route they feel flows.

And that is what it is what flow works for you.

I never knew my style had a name. I like it because it describes my writing style to the letter. It works for me and my characters. Why change that up now?

A blog about the topics of writing, Writing ways

Are you a pantser or Plotter? : Be proud either or

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“Are you a plotter or a pantser?”

To be honest I never knew what those terms meant until I attended a local conference a few years ago. I knew about a fourth of the people in the room.

The speaker of the class I was attending asked our group that question.

Those around me pointed to me. The speaker chuckled.

“Which one is she?”

“Pantser!”

I was at a lost. I’m a pantser? What the hell is a pantser?

That is when I was educated on the two terms. Plotters are those who make an outline and plot their entire novel. Pantsers are writers who write by the seat of their pants. Also know as we don’t plot.

Yep, that is me. I rarely plot out a book let alone write a full outline for it. I will have in my head the general format of characters, plot lines and sceneries I need to get into. Nothing in great details. Just thoughts. I will generally know the beginning, the middle and the end to some degree.

I just never knew there was a term for people like this. I like it. I like it very much.

I just want to write. I love the feeling of writing without restrictions and rules of engagement that can come with writing. The freedom to take a book in any direction or to let characters decide for you and not be restricted to some outline is freeing. My best books come when the characters take over.

To be perfectly honest I just don’t want to be bothered until I am done the first draft of any novel I am working on. There will be plenty of time for edits, revisions, synopsis, naming the book and the whole kit and caboodle that comes with creating a book.

The pure joy that fills me as I write does not want to be interrupted. It is hard enough to get a novel into shape that it needs to be in. That is not so much joy. Why ruin the moment for me? More importantly why ruin it for my characters?

I’m a pantser. I wave that flag proudly.