Plan your story. Discover your journey.
It’s an age-old debate. Which is better, pantsing or plotting? Obviously, there are pros and cons to both. With that being said, some writers choose one method and never use the other. I’m not here to tell you which is the right way to do it because everyone has their own way of crafting a story. What I want to do in this article is explain how I like to write stories. Maybe you’ll discover a new way to do things that you hadn’t thought of before.
The Pros and Cons of Pantsing
Many writers enjoy the freedom that pantsing provides to discover their story and characters. Some may describe pantsing as just making it all up as you go. Writers who use the pantsing method may describe it more as discovering the story as they go. There’s just something a little more romantic when it’s described in that way.
As you discover your story, you may be surprised or excited about plot and character details as they come to you. You’re seeing a lot of things for the first time and that makes the writing process a fun exploration rather than a strict structure.
There are drawbacks to pantsing though. Discovering your story as you go can make it more difficult to set up plot twists. If you don’t know your ending when you begin, you can often write yourself into a situation that brings everything to a screaming halt and you don’t know how to progress. Both pantsers and plotters have to do a lot of rewriting, of course, but pantsers may find themselves doing more rewriting when paths they explore end up leading nowhere.
The Pros and Cons of Plotting
Pantsers will sometimes say that they don’t like plotting because it becomes too structured and less creative, but that hasn’t been my experience. For me, the creative part of plotting comes mostly when the outline is being written. This is when you create your story. This is when you insert your setups and plot twists. This is when you create the ending. When you already know your story, it makes it easier and a lot of times faster to write. You just spend a little more time on the front end laying it all out.
Another advantage to plotting is you don’t have to write your story in order. You can jump between chapters and scenes, writing the ones you feel like writing at the time. So, if you want to skip all the action scenes and save them for the end, you can. This is great because, if you’re like me, you’ll agree that writing action is just so boring. So boring.
Just like pantsing, plotting has its drawbacks. It can lead to rewriting too, but for different reasons. Sometimes, following an outline too rigidly can make things like dialogue or setting descriptions feel a little stiff. Also, if you have a great idea while writing, incorporating it could break the structure you’ve already established, causing a massive rewrite.
The Hybrid Approach
The way I like to write is with a hybrid approach that uses both pantsing and plotting methods. I do this to take advantage of the strengths of each method while avoiding some of the drawbacks.
I use the plotting method to outline the story. I figure out how the beginning will work, character arcs, where the action happens, the pacing, the foreshadowing and setups, and the ending. This gives me a clear view of the whole story before I even start writing the first chapter.
Using the outline I just created, I create chapter summaries. Each chapter gets a summary that tells me what happens in the chapter and where each chapter needs to start and end. It also tells me what each chapter needs to accomplish. I give each scene in the chapter a single paragraph in the summary. If there are three scenes in a chapter, that chapter summary gets three paragraphs. I can then look at the chapter summaries and see how they flow. If I think a scene or even an entire chapter needs to happen at a different part of the story, I move it.
Basically, the outline helps me to create the blocks of the story, which are the chapter summaries. I can then build my story using those blocks. To me, this is a very creative process for building the story. I can see things from an overall vantage point and tell where things slow down, where things are missing, what needs to be added, what needs to be removed, what should be longer, what should be more concise, where the story needs some exposition, etc.
Once I have the chapter summaries written the way I want them and in the correct order, I begin writing the first draft.
I open my Chapter One summary in one window and my Chapter One draft in another. I read the first paragraph, which is the first scene in my summary, and I begin pantsing the first scene. Yes. I begin pantsing. The difference is, I have a guide to keep me on track. The chapter summaries act as a map for my writing. They tell me where I’m going, but not necessarily how to get there. That’s up to me as I’m writing the first draft of the chapter. This is where the freedom comes in. This is where the natural setting and dialogue come in. This is where I breathe life into the chapter. This is the pantsing part of my hybrid approach.
You Don’t Need to Choose One or the Other
Obviously, if you are most comfortable pantsing your entire story and that is working for you, continue doing that. The same goes with plotting. What matters is finding a process that works for you. I just wanted to explain my method to give you another idea to think about. Try it out if you like. Create your own version. Just know that you don’t have to be locked into a pantsing vs. plotting mindset. They are tools that can be used in full or in part in whatever way works best for you and your writing.
