Plotting

There are two types of writers; “Pantsers” and “Plotters”. Pantsers are folks who “fly by the seat of their pants” as they write, while Plotters are folks who plan what they will write ahead of time. Except I hate the term pantsers. Where I grew up, “pantsing” someone means you jerk down their pants and expose their underwear (or sometimes their privates, depending on the intention). It’s a mean trick employed by bullies or sometimes a practical joke among friends (middle school-aged boys, for instance) who want to embarrass each other. Since that’s the image it conjures, I won’t be using the term. I started there because it seems to be the most commonly used vocab in the industry.

Another way of describing the two methods, and the one I prefer, is “Discovery Writers” vs. “Outliners”. The discovery writer goes with the flow and the story unfolds as they write, while an outliner plots their major story arcs, character flaws, scene structure, etc. before beginning.

George R. R. Martin (author of A Song of Ice and Fire - a.k.a. Game of Thrones) coined the third and final way I’ve heard this described. He calls them “Gardeners” and “Architects”. Wherein the gardener has the seed of ideas, plants them, and watches them grow, the architect has a plan and knows how it’s going to fit together. Let’s be grateful that in the professional construction world, there are no “fly by the seat of your pants” and “go with the flow” type of projects. Architects and engineers are a necessity. Not true for writing, however, because there’s a magical concept called editing, and no one will die if your first draft doesn’t work.

Truthfully, there aren’t only two types of writers. It’s a spectrum, with Discovery Writers on one side and Outliners on the other. Most people fall somewhere in the middle. Folks who think of themselves as a discovery writer might still have a general outline in their head or on paper, even if it’s vague. People who think of themselves as outliners might have plotted most of their novel’s structure or character arc, but not know the minutiae of how the protagonist will react to the antagonist when they meet for the first time in Chapter 3. That might come to them when they sit down to write it.

Both archetypes have pros and cons. Discovery writers have more natural feeling scenes and more vivid descriptions, because they can see it all in their heads as they write. But the rich world in their head doesn’t always translate to a complete story. They may find their first draft riddled with plot holes or inconsistencies. Outliners have a rock solid story all the way through. But theirs can feel stiff and uninspired, like it’s a telling of what happened, rather than an immersive experience. Both methods do a lot of editing; one does more on the front end and one does more on the back end.

Famous, well loved authors fall on both ends of this spectrum. Stephen King is a discovery writer. Brandon Sanderson is an outliner. There is no correct way to write. It’s just what comes naturally to you, or what you teach yourself to do. You can’t tell when you read a book which type the the author is. No matter what the artistic process, editing can make any story into a work of art.

When I did all the writing prompts last month, or when I’m writing a blog post like this one, I’m discovery writing. I know what I want to say, and I type it. It comes out one way or another. Now that I’m planning to write a novel, however, I find myself deep in outliner territory. I am researching and learning effective ways to plot rich stories and interesting character arcs, and trying to apply that to the ideas in my head. Also, my first novel will be fantasy. That’s a heckin’ lot of world building to keep in my head. Inventing a magic system that passes as believable is not something I could do on the fly without planning the basics ahead of time. Where does the magic come from? Are there different types? What are its effects? What are the consequences of using magic? Who can use it? And a magic system is just one aspect of a fantasy novel. I’m learning that for a significant writing undertaking, I’m solidly in Camp Outliner. (At least, I am at this point in my fledgling journey.)

So far, the outlining process has been fun and educational. I’m doing a ton of research, and I’ve been plugging away at it for about two weeks now. But, as a baby author, I’m feeling around in the dark. I may outline for several more months or even longer, before I ever get around to putting pen to paper. That’s okay. I know it will get easier, as long as I keep at it.