Some writers love to plan out every detail of their plot in advance … but is there such thing as outlining for pantsers?
If you follow writing groups, blogs, or social media accounts online, you’ve probably come across the pantser vs plotter
debate: how much should you plan before you start writing your novel?
If you’ve not come across those terms before, here’s what they mean:
- Plotter: someone who likes to outline their novel in detail in advance. That might mean having a chapter-by-chapter plan or writing out scenes on index cards.
- Pantser: someone who writes “by the seat of their pants”. They tend to write in a very exploratory way, letting the story unfold organically.
Both of these approaches are totally valid, and most writers end up falling somewhere between the extremes.
I’m definitely on the “pantser” end of things, and I still like to have some idea about my plot in advance. I’ll often know roughly how it’s all going to end, for instance, or I’ll at least have some major plot points in mind before I start
writing.
So how does outlining work when you’re a pantser? In fact, does outlining work when you’re a panster?
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