Plotters and Pantsers

There are all kinds of writers. I'm not talking about the difference in the books, or articles, they write, nor about the style of the product. I'm talking about the way they go about the process of writing. Some wake up in the middle of the night with an idea and hit the keyboard, writing fast and furiously. Others with the same idea may sit on the couch with a notebook and develope that idea into a full novel. Some start with a character, while others start with a scene, or a premise, or a setting.

The two major divisions of writing styles are plotters and pantsers. Plotters create the skeleton of the book before writing. There are those whose plots are so complete they could be considered first drafts, and those who have bare skeletons that scarcely indicate beginnings, middles and endings. Pansters write by the seat of their pants. They get an idea and run with it. Plotters know where they're going before they sit down to write. There's no right way to write. Everyone has to create their own writing style.

I started out as a pantser. And truth be told, I still am. But I'm really trying hard to develop my plotting skills. Here's why. When I first started writing, I wrote a story about several women in the eighteen hundreds. I wrote and wrote and wrote, and before I knew it I had written twelve hundred pages. Don't laugh. Okay...laugh. That is funny. The sad part was that, in no way could it be identified as a novel. It didn't have enough conflict. It didn't have an ending. The middle was slow. There were too many characters, too many sub-plots, too much detail in the description.

I thought it was wonderful, but it wasn't a novel. And I never really turned it into one, though I revised it several times. Every writer has to develop his or her own style. And it will change as your writing matures. Don't be afraid to experiement until you find a comfortable and prolific style. You can learn through discussions with other writers, reading 'How To' books, joining groups, practicing different things you hear or read about. But there are three very important ingredients to doing this: write; write; and write. You will never be a writer, let alone a good one, unless you write.