Planner? Pantser? Plantser!
Planner or Pantser? That's a common question for writers. No
matter how we answer, we're going to disappoint some readers and, specifically,
other writers.
That's as ridiculous as a marathon runner despising a gym
bunny who despises a daily dogwalker, or vice-versa. As some wise person
put it; the best exercise is the one you do.
I think it's the same thing with writers. If planning
works for you, plan. If you’re better at pantsing, pants.
Mind, I have a caveat or two about this. A
good analogy is cooking.
There are those who follow the recipe minutely, weighing out each
ingredient, and those who follow it sort-of, adapting adlib.
There are those who know what they want to make (i.e. chicken
curry, chocolate cake, scones, or something-with-the mince-pumpkin-and-tinned-
tomatoes-that-need-using) and simply make it up as they go along.
The analogy is not perfect, because of course pure planners don’t use
a plan devised by someone else. However, even inventive cooks sometimes follow
their own created recipe…sort of. It’s disappointing if one makes a splendid
creation and can never remember how to make it again. Take it from one who
knows.
After a few years of following recipes, even if only sort of, some
cooks gain a “feel” for what will work. Cake batter dry? Add milk or fruit
juice or even a bit of oil or an extra egg. Which? Whichever seems appropriate.
Curry a bit watery? Thicken it with mashed potato or some cooked brown rice.
Sponge cake saggy? Okay, we could fill the well with jam or make a trifle.
The caveat comes in with the words after a few years of following
recipes.
I believe writers need to know how to plot and plan in the beginning.
I teach workshops with different approaches to planning. Young pantsers say
they don’t plan. I tell them they do in my workshops.
I began my writing life when I was ten or so and a teacher entered
one of my stories in a state-wide contest. I won.
I was a natural pantser and over the next four years I wrote a lot
more stories and embarked on more ambitious book-length projects. I wrote a
farm-and-family book, and two long fantasies. They worked out although none of
them was ever published. Confidently I set sail on my fourth book ship. I used
to write on a typewriter, standing up in the bedroom. It annoyed my sister no
end, but I clattered away for hours. I was happily writing away one evening… my
characters, two cats and a dog, were crawling through a tunnel which was
closing in behind them. The little dog, who didn’t think she was brave, turned
and desperately jammed a stick into the encroaching earth wall and… at that
point, my sister demanded silence in our bedroom so she could sleep. (She had
every right to do that.) I left the typewriter and got sulkily into bed.
The next day I positioned myself and—nothing. I realised I had no
clue how to get my characters out of the mess I’d put them in. It wasn’t
writer’s block. (I’ve never had that.) I had simply plotted myself into a
corner.
I abandoned that book.
When I started a new one, I wrote a plan. It worked. You see,
pantsing had cost me hours and hours of my free time. I loved writing (still
do) but wasting time on a story that won’t work is not a good use of my life.
I’ve been a planner ever since, mostly. I still plan books I need
to do for deadlines or contracts. However, when I write a just-for-fun project,
such as my short Myra Divine or Bookman stories, I start with
just a few lines of notes. That makes me a plantser, I think.
My advice to young writers thus is:
Learn to plan. If your writing veers away from the plan, amend the
plan. When, and only when, you are confident and proficient and have finished
and polished several projects, have a go at pantsing if you want. It’s
certainly fun!
To see what my friends of the round robin have to say on this matter, check them out below...
Skye Taylor
Victoria Chatham
Anne Stenhouse
Connie Vines
Bob Rich
My first efforts, like yours, were unplanned and poorly thought out. Today I write more pantsing style, but always know my characters as well as I know myself or my brother and I always know where I am going, even if I haven't got all the details nailed down. Do what works is good advice.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. It's the same with speed. Until I got chronic tendonitis in the late 1990s I was a very fast writer. In fact, writing 10000 words a day for nearly a month was what caused the problem. However, being forced to write with less speed over the past quarter century (I stop when my hands hurt too much to concentrate) has upset my rhythm. My brain is still on "fast" but my body is now on "slow". I can manage about 4000 words on a good day and that's not what my brain wants at all.
DeleteSeems to me, Sally, you and I are expressing pretty universal wisdom, which irks me: I prefer to be different. :)
ReplyDeleteI love your example of how you'd backed yourself into a corner with your exciting scene. You mention how you felt you'd wasted hours of time, but you learned something from writing this, and you can pass on what you learned to others. (And now I want to try and think of a way those kids can get out! :D )
ReplyDelete