(or How I Write Great Books Fast, Every Time)

Plotting vs. Pantsing has always been a controversial debate.

The Plotters can’t stand the uncertainty and wild creativity of the Pantsers.

The Pantsers can’t imagine stifling their creativity so much by having a Plot to stick to.

*shrug*

I sit firmly in the camp of Plotter. In fact, I take it one step further and both practice and preach Story Planning.

Story Planning means knowing your Theme, your Characters, your World, and all the nuances of each Conflict before you even start to think about Plot. (You can read more about the full planning process here.)

But surprisingly, I used to sit firmly in the camp of Pantser.

What I Love About Pantsing

I trusted the muse entirely.

I would sit for hours, out in the sun, with not a care in the world, writing when I felt inspired. I believed that whatever powers that be were guiding me towards the Greatest Novel in the History of the Universe

I didn’t have anywhere to go.

Without a plot or a plan, I could let my characters take me anywhere. We had many unexpected adventures, and plot twists and turns like you wouldn’t imagine. (No, really, you wouldn’t imagine because there was no foreshadowing…)

Writing was totally stress free.

I didn’t have anywhere to go. I didn’t have to get the characters anywhere in particular. I didn’t have to think about deadlines or readers.

I felt awesome all the time.

What Broke My Love of Pantsing?

I read some of my work.

A few years ago, I decided I wanted to take writing and publishing seriously. I had always dreamed of becoming an author, but for various reasons, walked away from it for several years, not considering it a ‘viable career option.’ (Instead I went into vet. medicine, a very different type of creativity altogether.)

I went through some of my other story files, looking for a few things I could polish up and submit.

Now, I have gone down on record saying that no story is ever broken, but some stories end up needing far too much work to save. These stories that I had ‘pantsed’ were interesting, but they made my head spin… and I was the author. Things were entirely random, including the characters, the plot, even the rules of the fantasy world could change scene to scene.

I knew that if I wanted to be taken seriously as an author, if I wanted to put out good fiction instead of fireplace starter, I would need something a little more firm to anchor me. Something like… a plan.

What I Love About Plotting (Planning)

The characters already become real people to me even before I start

I usually spend a day or two designing (aka, meeting) each character. I get to talk to them, know about their families, their hobbies, their wants, and desires. I know who they are before the adventure starts. I know what they’re like under pressure and when things are happy. All I need to do when I’m writing is drop them into place and see what they do.

The world becomes much fuller, taking on a role of its own

Just like the characters, I spend a few days getting to know all the unique quirks of my world. Sometimes the world and its rules can be an ally, or sometimes an antagonist.

My fiction is much more complex and interesting

When everything is planned and plotted, its’ much easier to take care of all the nuances. It means I can have very complex rules and characters and mechanics, and keep track of it all. I’m doing things I never would have dreamed of if I was pantsing.

(Don’t get me wrong, my random adventure pantsing always went to fun and interesting places, but it wasn’t exciting to read because the complexity wasn’t there. There were no rules to make it realistic.)

I get to do the fun ‘pantsing’ work of story telling much faster

Most of the fun of pansting was seeing all the threads of a story come together. It was seeing the interesting parallels, metaphors, and ironies appear that always got me excited. I would have an inspiration for the whole story. Problem was, by the time I wrote myself there, I’d forgotten.

When I plan and plot, I get to write the whole story all at one time.

The story is never short on surprises

You may think that writing the whole story while you’re planning makes the writing particularly dull, but truthfully, there are still plenty of surprises. There are always opportunities for creativity, whether it’s adding in a new twist, or creating a snappy line of dialogue.

I write much faster

Not only do I write a scene much faster having plotting all the major points I need to hit, but the overall manuscript often only takes 2-3 weeks. This is partly because when I sit down to write, I write; my fingers hit they keyboard and don’t stop until my writing time is done because I never have to pause to think about what happens next (I’ve already thought about it). And partly because I don’t have to backtrack on scenes that don’t work; I’ve already ironed out all the details of how my plot is going to work.

There’s nothing work than getting 2/3 of the way through an 80k word first draft, and realizing you need to change something way back on the third page… That doesn’t happen to me anymore. *grin*

I really get to flex and stretch my creativity

I think this will surprise many die-hard pansters… When I am working within a structure, whether it’s knowing my character, my world, or sticking to plot structure, and I force myself to stay within those bounds, I have to be far more creative.

Creativity isn’t about being able to make things up, it’s about being able to engineer unique and surprising solutions to complex problems. What would be more complex than a dozen characters with their own personalities, a world with its own laws of nature, and a plot structure that needs to be adhered to?

And speaking of the muse, she comes through me a lot more clearly when I’m writing all the time, and not just waiting for inspiration to strike!

I spend less time editing

Because I always know where I’m going, and because I know the hard and fast details of my character and my world, and I’ve had a chance to look at how all these things interact with the overall plot, the first draft usually comes out pretty clean, logically-speaking.

I still have to spend time working on prose and grammar, but the heavy Developmental work of opening up and performing brain surgery on your book, is usually not needed. Or if it is, very minimal.

People like and pay for the books I write

This might be the best bonus of all. When I plot, the books I write are interesting and fun to read, instead of mis-mashed accidental random happenings. I also write faster, meaning I have more titles to put in front of people. This all ads up to one ideal fact: people buy my books. I get paid to be an author. And what is better than that?

So, How Do I Write Great Books Fast, Every Time?

You can read my full process here, and here.

It’s as simple as:

1. Think about what I want to write (Inspiration and Theme)
2. Plan / meet my characters, world, and the conflicts they experience (Planning)
3. Fill events into a plot structure (Plotting)
4. Write
5. Edit
6. Publish
7. Repeat

You can download my FREE Story Planning Workbook here, and try it for yourself!