5 Signs You Might Be a “Plotser”

I realized something the other day: I’m a “plotser.” I’ve answered the question “are you a plotter or a ‘pantser’” a dozen times by now, and I usually say one or the other, depending on if I’ve actually sat down and outlined my latest book or just woke up at 4 a.m. with a great idea and plowed through until it was over.

But I realize that I’m both; a plotter AND a pantser, or… a “plotser,” if you will. If I start with a plot, a detailed outline with a beginning, middle and an end, character bios, even pictures of each character, about a quarter of the way in I’ll still wake up at 4 a.m. and toss half of it out the window. But when I fly by the seat of my pants and just start writing, inevitably I get turned around, or stumped and have to stop, mid-stream, to plot the ending out so all the loose ends tie together.

So I really can’t do one or the other; only both. Does this sound familiar? Let’s check out the following 5 Signs You Might Be a “Plotser” and find out:

1.     You really enjoy outlining, but can’t wait for it to be over: This sounds like it makes no sense, and it doesn’t, but it happens all the time. At least, it does to me. I always buy a new spiral bound notebook to outline in, and sometimes even a cool pen. And I get all situated and comfortable with the smooth jazz going and a jar candle flickering and boom, two pages into the outline I’m all like, “Come on, already; I want to start writing.”

2.     You write your outline in pencil:Even if you use a Word document to outline, or a spreadsheet, you know what I mean here – you’re not committed, even as you’re writing it. You know that the ending you outline is great, but that if you get all inspired halfway through the book you’ll jettison it faster than you can say “delete.”

3.     You fly past your minimum daily word count: When I’m starting a WIP, I have a minimum daily word count of 1,000-words. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I write for other people all day so when I get a little “me” time, I’m so wiped it can be a challenge to write that much. But when I’m riffing, when I’m digging it, when I’ve hit my groove and am really on fire, I won’t just write past my minimum daily word count, I’ll usually fly by it. The faster I write, the more I’m into it, the easier it is to also fly right past my carefully plotted novel and veer in some direction I suddenly find more interesting. (Again, not always a bad thing.)

4.     You “meet” a great character halfway through the book: This always happens to me. I have this one character, who starts out as a kind of backdrop, sidekick kind of guy (or gal), but when I’m writing him he/she just kind of takes over. This happened with Grover in Vamplayers and Chloe in Zombies Don’t Cry. The problem is, they kind of mess with your plot because you start wanting to spend more and more time with them. Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it may “feel” bad if you’re a plotter and not a pantser.

5.     Your ending becomes your beginning, or vice versa: Lots of times I’ll carefully plot out a book, and it will all look good on paper, and then 5,000- or even 10,000-words in I’ll scratch my head thinking, “This is all back story; this right here is where the story starts…” Other times I’ll get to the end, travel all those pages and words, and think, “I’d rather find out what happens next…” And suddenly I’m starting on page one of an entirely new book, for which I’ve already written the prequel!

So, what do you think? Plotter, pantser or… plotser? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment boxes below, and look forward to hearing how other writers work out the kinks in their plots. Or their pants. Or, wait… that sounded funny. Never mind…

Yours in YA,

Rusty