If you happen to be a writer, or have spent more than three or four seconds around a group of us, you’ll have likely heard this question before: Are you a Plotter, or a Pantser? If you haven’t, let me explain…
We writers tend to split the approach to writing into two general camps: those who spend time on notes, outlines, and other prep before they actually begin writing the text of a book or story, and those who just sit down with the seed of an idea in their head and start typing. The former group are referred to as “Plotters,” for obvious reasons. The latter are called “Pantsers,” as in writing from the seat of your pants.
It’s weird, I know. But writers are weird, so whatcha gonna do?
My Approach
As implied above, most writers categorize ourselves as one or the other: Plotter or Pantser. I am very, very much a Plotter.
That said, though, there are infinite nuances within each type. Some Plotters create a one-page outline and a page of notes, while others do a page or more of notes and outlines for each chapter, or even each scene.
Likewise, some Pantsers spend enough time thinking about their story ahead of time that they sort of do have an outline, it’s just in their head, while others have little more than a genre and a vague concept going in.
I tend to be a heavy plotter. I used to use a traditional outline format for everything—Roman numerals and all. Later, I used a template based on Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey (Or, more accurately, a version of the Hero’s Journey adapted specifically for writers by Christopher Vogler. (That’s an affiliate link, but a genuine recommendation!)
Later still, after some deeper study into story structure, I developed a grid that broke down the whole book into parts, then each part into sections that labeled certain key scenes/turning points. I still use that grid when plotting a novel, and have developed shorter versions of it for novellas and short stories.
Olive Tree Academy
The Olive Tree Academy books have been plotted so heavily it’s kind of ridiculous. Book One, Apprentice, started with the grid I described above, but then I also did a “zero draft” version where I did a full 1-2 page summary of every scene, broken down into beginning, middle, and end sections, complete with notes about each character’s goals, the conflict in the scene, etc. This “outline” was… let me to check the file… 137 pages long. It was over 42,000 words. For reference, 50,000 words is the minimum for a work to count as a novel.
Ahem.
I have a similar file set up for OTA Book 2, Between the Worlds, but I never finished it. Why? Mainly because I wound up varying from that monster “outline” for the first book a lot. I won’t necessarily say it was a waste of time—it definitely forced me to think through every aspect of the story and how it was being told—but a lot of it turned out not to be useful at all.
That said, though, I did still outline OTA2 very heavily via my novel grid. When I set up Scrivener (my writing software) to start the first draft, I had a scene summary ready to paste into almost every scene of the whole book: 100 of them, in total.
Olive Tree Academy is special, though. The plan is, currently, nine books. (I’ve been toying recently with shortening that a bit, so we’ll see.) There are hints and clues planted as early as OTA1 that won’t come to fruition until the end of the series.
Or even later, because OTA is part of my broader Barrow City world, after all. OTA are the only books I’ve published in that world to date, but the next series, Widdershins, is underway and the plan is to start publishing those about a year from now. And while each series is its own thing, and will be readable and understandable on its own, it’s still one big, shared world and there are things in motion in OTA that won’t play out until this first batch of OTA books is over and done with.
That said, though, I did learn a lot about overplotting from these first two OTA books (Three, really, since OTA3 already has a big, clunky grid in progress as well!) And then, something else happened…
The Nexus
Right in the middle of writing Widdershins, this shiny, sparkly, new idea started insisting itself: The Nexus. A new series, set in a completely different world. I was already wondering how I’d ever get through everything I have planned for Barrow City, and now here was this unrelated other series, competing for my time and attention.
But I’m so, so glad I gave in!
Admitting I have a favorite series sort of feels like I imagine it would be for a parent to declare a favorite child, but it can’t be helped. The Nexus was, and continues to be, my favorite thing I’ve ever written. Season One is complete, but I have plans for a total of five seasons, so it isn’t over by a long shot!
But more than just enjoying The Nexus, I learned something amazing—I don’t have to plot my ass off to create a good story.
And no, The Nexus certainly wasn’t written “pants” style—it was still plotted more heavily than a lot of writers ever plot anything, but it was worlds away from the novel-sized “outline” OTA1 had!
For The Nexus, I knew the general topic of each of the nine episodes of Season One before I started drafting. I already know the broad strokes of all five planned seasons, for that matter. But I didn’t outline the individual episodes until I was ready to write each and, even then, it was really just my novella grid I used. (Granted, you can cram a LOT of words into a grid, but still!)
I added characters I hadn’t planned on, plot twists, connections. There was a lot of spontaneous storytelling going on; things not even considered during the plotting stage. The Nexus flowed so fast and easy: I started outlining at the end of April 2023 and the first book, Arcanum City Secrets, was published on June 14, 2024. By that time, all nine books were in at least a third-draft state, ready to release after one more good edit, meaning I wrote all nine books in 14 months.
And yes, the first Nexus book is really more of a long short story at just over 10,000 words, but the last one is over 40k, making it close to an actual novel. The full season is around 200,000 words, and it all flowed beautifully with very little (by my standards) outlining.
Different Projects, Different Needs
Does that mean I’ll go super light on the plotting when OTA3 comes back up in the rotation? Honestly, probably not. Like I said before, those books have a lot of long-game clues crammed inside, and that sort of thing requires a ridiculous level of attention to detail.
But that’s fine, because now that I know I don’t have to take that exhaustive approach with everything I write, it makes doing it with OTA a lot less overwhelming.
Widdershins is something of a hybrid. It’s a season/episode series, like The Nexus, but it’s also part of the Barrow City world. Like OTA, there are a lot of connected, ongoing storylines and structures I’m setting up in Widdershins, some deep seeds and clues being planted, so it’s still more involved than The Nexus. But, so far anyway, it’s less intense than OTA.
Meanwhile, The Nexus continues to be pretty lightweight, plotting-wise. I’m about to finish a bonus short story to go with Season One, and it’s flowed as easily as the rest of the season did. I’ve begun working on ideas and structure for Season Two, and there’s going to be some research and some planning involved, but I again think the individual episodes are going to flow well.
Fingers crossed!
Everyone Is an Individual
In case you’re also a writer, or are considering trying your hand at writing (and, let’s face it, if you weren’t, you’d have almost certainly bailed on this overlong post a ways back!) I feel the need to add this: your mileage may vary.
Just because I feel the need to write outlines longer than some people’s finished books doesn’t mean you have any need to do the same. Just because I outline at all doesn’t mean you should necessarily do the same.
I’ve known plenty of Pantsers, and they’re as baffled by us Plotters as we are by them—and both groups are equally effective as writers.
I think it’s clear by now that “Plotting” vs. “Pantsing” isn’t all or nothing: how much you plan or don’t plan can vary widely on both sides. I’m a heavy plotter. Even my “light” approach to outlining The Nexus is, honestly, more detailed than most other writers I’ve known.
I had a writer friend who was as much a Pantser as I am a Plotter. One year, while preparing for NaNo Wrimo, she created what she called her “outline” for her book: a few hand-scribbled notes on a Kohl’s coupon. It was a running joke all month as I flipped through my pages and pages of outline and she occasionally peeked at her coupon.
The next year, also during NaNo Wrimo, she decided to try her hand at plotting. She wrote a real outline, though it was only a page or two. Once she started writing, she felt so stifled and frustrated that she scrapped that book about two days in and started something brand new out of the blue. And she finished it.
Conversely, I tried my hand at pantsing when I started writing Mercy’s Season, the one book I have currently published under my other pen name, Miranda Crowe. Mercy’s Season is an expansion of a short story I’d written that almost got published then didn’t, thanks to the planned anthology never happening.
My dumb ass thought because the story was finished, it was all the outline I’d need. By chapter two, I knew I’d been very, very wrong. I wound up outlining after all, and the book finally managed to come together.
Not everybody needs that, though, and it isn’t just people doing fun things like NaNo Wrimo. That writer friend I mentioned earlier eventually became our local Municipal Liaison for NaNo—she was very much in it for the community and the challenge, and was not writing with the intent to revise or publish. But that’s not true of all Pantsers. There are bestselling authors who are Pantsers. I know for a fact author Charles de Lint is a Pantser, as I’ve heard him talk about it in interviews. He’s said when it’s time to start a new book he just sits down and writes something he’d like to read.
Shudder.
But his books are great—it works.
Shutting Up Now
So that’s enough of me rambling. I didn’t outline this post, and see what happened? I ran over to about twice my usual post length! Ah, well!
Talk soon,
