Pantsing vs preparation

If you’re a novelist who’s got to the end of the first draft of at least one novel, then you already know if you’re either a pantser or preparer.

If you haven’t come across these terms before, they describe writers who plan out what they’re going to write before they write it, and those who might have an idea in their mind but just “write into the dark” and see where it goes.

You only really know what side you’re on by getting started.

But keep in mind that it’s not a fully one-side-or-the-other situation. For me, I certainly lean more on the pantser side of the spectrum. But it is a spectrum.

I have a rough idea of the story, so I write a few notes on that. I have a rough idea of the main characters, so write a few notes on them. And I have a rough idea of how it’ll plot out. As my readers will read in chapters, I like to plot out in chapters. I write a few lines, maybe a paragraph or two on each chapter. And that’s it. That sounds like a lot of preparation, but if you saw it, you’d realise it isn’t.

No, REAL planners are those boys and girls who write 150,000 words of a 100,000-word novel before they have started writing the words “Chapter One”.

Whichever side of the spectrum you sit on, it’s important to just get started.

Then you will find out what kind of writer you are in time.