Are You a Plotter or a 'Fly by the Seat of Your Pants' Writer?

with Karen M. Davis

Probably stating the obvious here but, to be clear, the definition of "flying by the seat of your pants" is deciding a course of action as you go along, using your own initiative and perceptions rather than a pre-determined plan or mechanical aids. Being a "plotter" is devising the sequence of events in (a play, novel, movie, or similar work).

While visiting rural towns and talking to book lovers around NSW on the Australian Voices in Print tour with fellow authors Jenn J McLeod and Tricia Stinger earlier this year, we were asked numerous questions. Of course that was why we were there - to share our stories and love of reading and writing - and I would say the most common question was about our writing process. Do you write so many words a day? Do you set a routine? Do you plot or fly by the seat of our pants? Interestingly, our three individual answers were different.

 

Jenn explained that she starts with a title, a leading character's name, an idea and then writes by the seat of her pants, goes where the words take her. She calls herself a pantser. Tricia has a vague idea of what the story is about but often doesn't know what will happen until she writes it. She sometimes changes her characters' names when she gets a feel for their personalities and admits to taking pleasure in picking unpleasant names - in her opinion - for unpleasant characters.

I consider myself a combination of a plotter and a pantser. I need a rough outline of what's going to happen because in writing Crime Fiction there is always a crime that needs solving. There are hints to be dropped, investigation details to explain, leads and breakthroughs to demonstrate, and then all loose ends have to be tied up, so some plotting is necessary. However, I don't start with a title, I begin with an idea - usually one I pull from my personal catalogue of experiences, and I build on it from there. I decide early on who my POV characters will be so the story can be told from different perspectives. I start off with a definite on who my bad guy/girl is and that usually changes along the way. While writing my second book, Deadly Obsession, I began to like the bad guy so I switched that role to a character I didn't like. So as much as I do like to plot, I like the story to develop on its own also. Scenes constantly change as the story progresses and often, when I read over what I have written, I wonder where it came from. I'm guessing most writers can relate...

So what are you: a plotter, a pantser, or a bit of both?

I love to love to relax with a good book (when I can)

I love to laugh at funny cat video's

I love to learn about animals doing interesting things