Plotting vs. Pantsing (Writing Community Lingo)

all the excitement of discovering what will happen to the characters and how they will get out of their problems, but constantly working towards the known resolution, so as not to get lost along the way. When beginners ask me for advice, I always emphasize it. Know your end, I tell you, or the river of your story may finally sink into the desert sands and never reach the sea. Ray Bradbury simply noted, "First, find out what your hero wants and then follow it." For the underpants, it may be enough to simply decide the main character's goal and how the story ends, and then they can hit the ground running.

Extreme Pantser: This occurs when there is no mental scheme or clear future ahead. You don't know what happens in the next moment until you write it, let alone the end of the story. Each sentence is an act of discovery: you are simply

writing

and letting your subconscious drip onto the page. Margaret Atwood says: “When I write a novel, the first thing that appears is an image, a scene or a voice. Something quite small. Sometimes that seed is contained in a poem I've already written. The structure or design is developed in the course of

writing

. I couldn't write backwards, putting the structure first. “It would be too much like painting by numbers.” With panting, it can be good to keep the seed of an idea in mind.

What is the essence of the work, your main objective in telling this story? Do you want to tell a fun adventure story or make a comment on a certain social issue? Is your goal to show the main character going from being a hero to being a villain? You can use that single flower bud to guide you as you write. As a writing exercise, try one of the strategies mentioned in this video and reflect on how well it worked for you. Did it help you organize your thoughts and motivate you to write? If you're

plotting

, you can write a beat sheet;

If you're panting, just decide the end of the story; and if you go the planting route, you can create a bulleted list of scenes. No two writers are alike. When I think about how different authors can be in their approach to producing brilliant works, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien always comes to mind. In her book Bandersnatch, which is about the Inklings writing group, Diana Pavlac Glyer captures the contrasting writing habits of the two authors: “While Tolkien wrote things to discover what he wanted to say, Lewis tended to reflect before committing. to paper. As Tolkien produced draft after draft, Lewis completed his work quickly once he settled on a clear idea and the correct way to express it.

And while Tolkien reconsidered every word on every page, when Lewis finished a story, he was eager to move on." You can be a great writer no matter what process you use. Find out what works best for you and the story at hand. All that matters is that you put words on the page, finish projects, and create stories you're proud to call your own. What were your test results? I'd love to see them in the comments. Whatever you do, keep writing.