Plotting versus Pantsing: You Don’t Have to Choose Sides
By OFW chief editor: Renée Miller
Published: August 23, 2012
Recently I had the honor of attending an event where Canadian authors Michael Ondaatje and Linda Spalding read from their books and spoke a bit about their experiences writing and publishing. Ondaatje has long been a favorite for me, and I’ve discovered that Spalding might be a new favorite. While I listened to them, I was impressed to see they were genuine, intelligent, and funny as hell. You never can guess what a writer will be like. I’ve found some of my favorites to be as dull as mud or nastier than that bitch that annoyed this shit out of me in high school.
I took a lot away from that evening, but what really stuck with me was their answer to one of the audience questions: Do you outline your novels, or do you just write without knowing what will happen?
Spalding had two answers because she writes both fiction and non-fiction. Obviously non-fiction requires planning and research, but when writing fiction, she prefers to write scenes as she’s inspired to do so. This means writing them out of order, and sometimes without knowing whether they’ll fit into the novel at all. Ondaatje said he writes without knowing what the second sentence will be, and has no idea whether new characters will emerge or how it all will end. He’s had characters from previous novels suddenly entering a scene in a new novel. And it worked.
His thoughts on plotting were simple, and not really new. He said that he basically found it boring to write that way, and he felt that outlining a novel requires that the writer have tremendous faith in himself and his ability. Interesting, isn’t it? The reason his answer stayed with me was that I found myself agreeing with him.
This is shocking because I am a devoted plotter. I like to roll an idea around in my head until I have the ins and outs figured out and every character define. I enjoy mapping the story and the details so that when I sit down to write, I don’t have to stop for petty nonsense like research or a “block.” I’m as passionate about plotting as a born-again Christian or recent non-smoker. You see, I’m a reformed pantser. I have written three novels without any idea where the story would go or who the characters would be. Ondaatje’s right; writing by the seat of one’s pants is the most fun a writer will have. It’s a blast.
…until you begin to edit. And Ondaatje did point this out. He and Spalding went on to acknowledge that although they liked to just write without an outline, the consequence of that fun is in the editing. Properly editing a pantsed story takes a certain type of brain. It takes a brain that likes puzzles and is exceptionally organized. You see, to edit a pantsed story means patching pieces of the story together, deleting unnecessary scenes and characters, adding scenes to bridge gaps, and adjusting the timeline so that it all makes sense. This takes enormous focus and time. The writer who doesn’t do this properly ends up with a nightmare of a novel that would be torture to read. But he’s willing to spend the time editing later to allow himself to write in the manner that best suits his brain: pantsing it.
I’ve participated in discussion groups where writers debate plotting versus pantsing endlessly. It’s a “this camp or that camp” sort of discussion with little room for anyone who might want to sit in the middle. But this discussion with these authors made me wonder why there’s a debate at all. The thing is, as Ondaatje and Spalding pointed out, it doesn’t matter how you write, as long as you reach the same conclusion: a novel worth reading.
My disorganized brain cringes at the very thought of puzzling together all of those pieces, so pantsing simply doesn’t work. I have to outline so that I don’t have a nervous breakdown half-way through the writing. You see, my kryptonite is endings. If I don’t know how I’m going to end the book, I drive myself nuts thinking about it the whole way through. I’ve spent weeks trying to end a book and the experience is stressful. The outline is like Valium, keeping me calm until I reach the end. Nine times out of ten I write a completely different story than I outline, with a completely different ending, but having that plan there is my security blanket because I work on so many different projects at one time.
But that doesn’t mean that pantsing is wrong. The novels I’m most proud of were pantsed. Like Ondaatje and Spalding I had to spend an enormous amount of time editing them. And that is how I learned that outlining was the best method for me. I suppose technically every author does a bit of both. We just do it at different times. I pants it during the outlining phase, while others outline after the story is done. Neither is right or wrong.
So, I suggest this plotting versus pantsing battle be laid to rest. Both have their merits, and both are useful. Sometimes an unplanned, inspired scene makes the best one of the book. Other times, the careful research and attention to detail given to an intricate twist is what makes the difference. Use what is needed, when it is needed. Don’t pick sides. Let’s share the sandbox.
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