Plotter or pantser—which do you identify with?

Whether you’re an outliner extraordinaire or draft based on vibes, I think we can all agree that having an idea for a story is the easy part.

Then comes writing. 

At some level, we love writing. That’s why we’re writers, right? But drafting is messy and unpredictable, especially for those of us who call ourselves pantsers. Staring at that blank document can be pretty intimidating. 

It doesn’t need to be. 

As a pantser myself, it’s taken years to hone my writing process. I’ve tried everything, from meticulous outlining to nothing but a blank page. After all of that, I’ve finally discovered the secret to penning a first draft you can confidently complete as a pantser. 

A draft you can finish. A draft you can stay motivated to write. 

Most of all, a draft you can still discover as you go. 

Maybe you already have a tried and true drafting process (I’d love to hear about it!), but I invite you to follow me into the trenches of drafting as a pantser. Together, we might just learn something new. 

Prepare yourself, because the first step is a little controversial…

1. Outline 

Please don’t leave yet!!

I know you’re a pantser like me. Great! 

Outline. 

When “Winging It” Isn’t Enough

Hear me out. I’ve known that I’m a pantser since my earliest writing days in elementary school. For a long time, I thought this meant I should just start writing and wing the whole draft. Actually, this is how I wrote my very first book. I got to the end, and it turned out okay (at least, to my little sixth-grade brain it did), so I thought it would work every time. 

Wrong. 

After drafting several more novels—some of which I finished, but most of which I didn’t—I realized that I needed a better method. At the time, I was throwing things at the wall and hoping they stuck. 

But I knew there had to be a way for the story to stick 100 percent of the time, or at least close to it. 

I was also looking for a way to keep motivation going. While working on a draft, half the time I’d get stuck or bored halfway through and drop the draft entirely for something new. (Sound familiar?)

It took lots of trial and error to uncover the answer.

Minimalist Outlining

So, you’re not good at outlining. 

Me, neither. 

I have trouble seeing the big picture of a story before anything is on the page. I can come up with characters, I can see the rough direction of the story, but I just can’t decide on details in advance. 

I tried forcing myself to, and it led to running out of steam for the story before I even started drafting. 

The compromise? Minimalist outlining. 

Most writers have a favorite way to plot their story. I have several that I like, but for outlining purposes, the 3-Act Structure is the sweet spot. It gives me three distinct sections of the story to aim for, plus a few beats within each act that I know I need to hit. 

Maybe you have a different plotting method you like. Save the Cat, Hero’s Journey, and the rest are useful, but for pantsers like us, 3-Act Structure gives just enough information that we have some direction, but aren’t overwhelmed by it, and can fill the spaces in between as we go. 

2. Don’t Look Back

The Number One Drafting Mistake

Pantser + perfectionist is not a great combo for drafting, and yet, here I am.

As someone who has tried to perfect a draft before it’s finished, let me tell you: DON’T DO IT!!

As pantsers, we need to reserve most of our energy for editing. When we finish our first draft, it might only be about 50 percent of our target word count, and that’s good. It means we got the bare bones of the story down, and now we can focus on fleshing it out. 

Trying to flesh things out during the drafting process usually leads to burnout. (Ask me how I know. Am I the only one who’s tried to do this?) Don’t waste your energy. Focus on getting the basic story on the page, then come back to the details later. 

What Do You Skimp On?

The more you write, the more you recognize the strengths and flaws in your writing. It’s important to take note of these and use them to your advantage. 

For example, I know that when I draft, my story will have zero descriptions. I have to really concentrate on those, and it’s just not worth it to waste my energy on them while I’m drafting. (Besides, many of those descriptions change during the drafting process, anyway!)

You know what I am good at? Dialogue. If you looked at my first drafts, you’d see quotation marks filling every page end to end.

So what’s your strength? What’s your greatest weakness? Answering those two questions will streamline your editing process like nothing else can. 

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What’s your current writing project?

I just started drafting my first new novel in years. Whispers of Worlds—which you can learn more about here—has taken up all my writing energy over the past several years. Now that there’s just a teensy bit of proofreading left on the to-do list for that book, I can finally concentrate on drafting a new story.

Let me know what part of the writing process we should talk about next! And as always…

Happy drafting!
—E.J.

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

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