#robinfreedomwrites

To plot or not to plot, that is the question. At least, that’s the question for most writers when they decide to write a book. Plotting or not plotting, or “pantsing” as I, and many others, call it, is one of the most basic choices you can make as a writer in regards to your book’s structure. Almost everyone seems to fall into one or the other category, but no one can decide which is better. 

That’s basically because there is no “better” way to write- it’s about which way works best for you and your writing style. But how do you determine that? Well, there’s always the “old fashioned” way- trying out both and seeing which works better. But that can take a lot of time and, in my experience, can actually ruin a book idea for you, which is not a good feeling. In order to help you out, I’ve decided to make this post, in which I will compare both methods. Keep in mind, this is just my experiences/observations/opinions, and I am in no way a professional writer, so take all of this with about one to two angsty teenager’s worth of salt. Alright, let’s get to it!

                                                    Plottting

Plotting can be useful if you like having a clear idea of where your story is going, how it is going to end and how many chapters it will have. It can also help eliminate potential plot holes and mis-characterization. 

Plotting can be limiting, in my experience, because if you learn more about your characters while you’re writing, as I do, you might decide midway through your story that the ending you planned is not in line with what they want and then you have to go back and rewrite you plot (which is better than having to go back and rewrite your whole story, but it still sucks). If you know your characters backwards and forwards and inside out, then this probably won’t happen, but you never know, even if you do have a good idea of who your characters are.

                                                    Pantsing

Pantsing can be exciting and wonderful; you can just let your creativity take over and lead you into new and interesting places in your story. You get to experience the plot at the same time as your characters, pretty much, and it can help you create genuine reactions for your characters. 

On the other hand, when you’re in a creative slump or writer’s block (which I will write about later, as well as ways you can try and break out of it), your story screeches to a halt, and you can become frustrated and angry at your story. Plot holes, changing or mis-characterization and suddenly having no clue where the plot is going are also major problems that can arise. 

I tend to see that new writers (like I was-little baby bird Robin) tend to just pants it because they’re so excited. This can lead to aforementioned halt in the middle of the story because you have no idea what to do with the story and this can cause some people to turn away from writing with a metaphorical bad taste in their mouth. On the other hand, having your first story writing experience be bogged down with formatting and planning and all of the work necessary for plotting before you even start writing can lead to breaking away from a project before you even start it. 

I find a combination of the two works best for me- I can’t just let the story run wild, but I have to give the characters room to grow and wiggle around, so to speak. I’ll make a few main, primary plot points and leave the smaller scenes in between figure themselves out. I try to pull it all together with themes- if a scene doesn’t have one of the main themes of the book, it probably shouldn’t be there. That said, I don’t normally plot out romances (if two of my characters want to be together, they kind of just force me to write it in there, if that makes any sense) but I just did for my novel that’s I’m writing for Camp NaNoWriMo next month (if you’re reading this after the publication, that’s the April 2016 session) and it’s actually kind of nice to know that they’re going to get together because that way I can put in little hints here and there early on.