To Plot or Not to Plot

I know a large number of writers who are self-proclaimed pansters. Meaning that they write their novels without knowing where the book will end up, they just let the characters and the moment carry the story along. They write by the seat of their pants, as it were.

The book is an adventure to them, a journey into the unknown, filled with all sorts of unexpected twists and turns. Very exciting, very creative. And writing this way works well for them. Some of the best writers in the world are pansters, and I admire them.

I just wasn't cut out to be one.

I started off as a panster, but now I'm a plotter--one of those folks who doesn't start a book without an outline. I really enjoy the prep phase of writing: fleshing out my characters, thinking of situations that will test them, imaging roadblocks, trying to figure out what's really going to keep these two 'made for each other' people apart.

Most of the pansters I know say creating an outline--seeing ahead of time what's going to happen--takes all the fun out of writing. Makes it boring. Like reading the last few pages of a book before starting at the beginning.

My experience has been completely the opposite. I find by developing an outline, I free myself creatively. I no longer agonize over whether I'll be able to wrap up all the loose ends, or whether I've given my characters a conflict too difficult to overcome (or one that fizzles out two hundred pages in), or whether my plot will make any sense by the end. I no longer worry about writing pages upon pages of stuff that has to be yanked out because I went off on a tangent that doesn't fit with the fundamental story. For me, the foresight provided by an outline is liberating. An outline keeps me on track, but doesn't take away the surprises. Words still pop into my characters' mouths that I didn't know they would say. They still do unexpected things. And if I haven't done enough peeking into my characters' psyches, they can still grind my forward momentum to a halt by balking at what I want them to do.

What's changed is that now I know how far I can drive off the beaten track before I say to my character: "Enough. Face facts, we're lost. Time to turn around and go back to the main road." I'm not wandering around aimlessly, I'm headed to a specific spot. I don't force myself to stick to the outline--I'm perfectly happy taking a more scenic route when the opportunity comes along--but I do use it to keep me headed in the right direction.

Now, to be fair, I don't believe writers who are pansters are wandering around aimlessly. Some of them, perhaps, but not the ones who use that method successfully. Most pansters seem to have a built-in compass. They may not be driving toward a tidy little dot on the map, but they know they're headed north, and they generally stay on course. Even when, as they like to say, they're flying into the mist.

I wish I had a built-in compass. But I don't. Call me directionally challenged, but without an outline (or a map), I'm soon lost. So, I'm a plotter. And I still find writing my books a huge adventure.

How about you? Panster or plotter?