Plotter, Pantser, Explorer #mfrwauthor

One of the first things I get asked when someone learns I am a published author is "Are you a plotter or a pantser?" To avoid the impassioned defense of whatever method the questioner uses or the inevitable proselytizing to change to their side, I've developed a response, "Yes."

How do I justify being both a plotter or pantser? Or anti-plotter, discoverer, or whatever the latest process is.

I write fantasy and historical fiction so a certain amount of preparation or pre-writing needs to be done to get the world fixed in my mind. Shorter works, such as novellas, are usually free-written. However, I do like structure for full-length novels and have a set of forms including a scene storyboard, main character sheets, and a spreadsheet for tracking secondary characters. Depending on the complexity of the works I might create a timeline of who is where.

Because I may storyboard some scenes, I have been called a plotter. A note on the storyboarding. For any given scene it can be complete with dialog and transitions ready to drag and drop into the manuscript. If additional scenes are written, I don't go back and storyboard. And I complete the character forms as the story unfolds. Some plotters create detailed character sheets on everyone in the novel before starting writing. They also outline in detail the entire story before writing a first draft. I met an author who did that and took twenty years to write his debut novel. There is no second. However, because I also write complete chapters without pre-planning/outlining/storyboarding I've been called a pantser.

As to writing process, my advice is "Don't label yourself. Stub and shorthand where need be to work around a block. Use whatever writing process works for you at any given time for a particular project. It's your story to be captured however it will allow itself to be."

~till next time, Helen