Plotter or Pantser?
AKA Outline or Wing it
When you sit down to write, is there an outline by your side, or do you just place you fingers on the keyboard and have at it?
Someone who plans their story before actually writing it is often called a ‘plotter’, while someone who just starts typing is known as a ‘pantser’, as they write by the seat of their pants.
wot?!I’ve been both, and both methods have have resulted in finished, written stories for me. Regardless of whether I am creating a detailed outline or just going with the flow, the likelihood of a story being completed is directly proportional to whether or not I know the last scene.
If I know what I am writing toward, I get there.
Eventually.
And that’s the important part – actually making the time to write the story and finish it. It doesn’t matter if you get to the end because you followed a map or wandered through the land, or did a bit of both.
Write your story completely to the end.
Alfred Hitchcock: I knew we’d finish that story if we kept at it.
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents, “I Killed the Count: Part 3″, Season 2
Sep 10, 2009
Categories: writing
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