Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I am both a pantser and a literary Calvinist. ;-)

By "literary Calvinist" I mean when I'm pantsing I'm still usually writing toward a specific ending, and I have clear and definite ideas about characters that I pre-define and stick to unswervingly. But no outlines. Occasionally vague notes.

 

I'm a plotter, definitely. Pantsing gets me nowhere.

 

I plot, but the characters do not always cooperate. For instance, one of my peripheral characters in my WIP decided that she wanted to be the MC, and she was taking over.

 

I'm a pantser when it comes to coming up with ideas and synopses and then getting started. But once it all gets under way, I shift into plotting mode.

 

Sometimes I start a story knowing only how the first scene is going to progress, but once I write that the rest of the story unfolds in my head and I write according to that mental outline. I don't know whether that would be considered pantsing, plotting, or a combo. Whichever, it works for short stories.

That said, pantsing has definitely led to dead ends for me on multiple occasions, especially when I attempt whole novels instead of short stories. The issue is that I reach a point where I don't know how to continue the story. This is especially likely to happen when I'm in the middle act; I may know how the story begins and ends, but the middle is murkier.

 

Pants for the most part, though I do usually have some idea of the general plot. Once I get going the characters tend to hijack the story and I (mostly) just go along for the ride. Forcing a story never works for me.

 

Hmm, tough question. I guess I'd say on a "macro" level I'm an outliner, I spend a ridiculous amount of time in the ideas/pre-writing/world-building frame of mind rather than getting down to the nuts and bolts... but on that "micro" level I pants it. I don't suppose that really makes sense... Okay, look at it this way, a lot of you guys are saying "mental idea of what I want to happen" and pants from there, well I just write that bit down. I'd forget.

Technically that would make me a plotter. Technically. I'd hesitate to call my rambling prose "structured", or anything

Perhaps this matter isn't clear cut black-and-white? I prepose that it could in fact be said that there's a pants-plot continuum and any given writer sits somewhere along it... doing their thing.

Pants-plot continuum... haha!

 

I have an idea for certain scenes or what nots that I want to include, but I mostly just write and try to make my way there without too much plotting. I mean, I want to be entertained by the story too! Of course, having never successfully completed a story, my method might not neccesarily be the best one...

 

@Christopher Wright: Literary Calvinist... love it.

I am a hardcore plotter. I use an excel spreadsheet to sync up all the different plotlines, characters, events, and major groups. It works up and down (timeline) and side to side (relational). My problem is that sometimes I have to remind myself to actually write... and not just spend all my time plotting.

I do also enjoy pantsing, but only for short stories, or as an exercise.

 

I tend to avoid pants when I'm writing - I like to feel a bit of fresh air.

Joking aside, I tend to mostly know the plot before hand, but never in so much detail that I don't have room to play around within that plot.

I usually write a first chapter and a very rough draft of the final chapter, then try to work out how my characters got from the beginning to the end. Knowing how I want the story to end gives my writing a goal and some direction.

 

It's a bit like the wave/particle nature of light - you sort of have to do both. BUT, I never finished a novel until I discovered plotting.

What tends to happen for me is that I always have a million ideas rattling around in my head, then all of a sudden one day I'll have what I call the framing idea. This is some sort of motivation for action which manages to incorporate one or more of my random ideas - I'll suddenly see how how two or three ideas go together to make a good premise with a jumping off point for the action. Typically, I'll write about 30 pages straight away, and then I'll sit on it and let the ideas percolate.

I'm usually working on three or four projects at once so the ideas for a particular project may take a while to come to fruition - but one day I'll be in the mood for a that story, read over it, and the ideas will start exploding. Then I plot, plot, plot. I don't have to have a fully fleshed out plan but I must know what the end is and what the main milestones are. Then its all pantsing within that plan, working my way scene by scene towards the conclusion. It's really important to know how each scene will end and what information you want to reveal/where you want to get to before you start writing.

Funny thing is, for all this careful plotting, I am still constantly surprised by the antics of the characters and plot twists that even I hadn't seen coming. And yet, when it happens I can see how the story was leading me to there.

Weird...but good!

 

I guess...both?

I usually have a fair idea where the story is going, and my scenes are definitely planned, but I've been taught (more like had it bashed into my brain) that you have to stay fluid and flexible. So, if something unexpected happens, I just go with it and see what happens.

 

Both. Depends on the time of day, phase of the moon, and how energetic I feel.