How Much of Your Plot Do You Need to Know Ahead of Time?
Plotter, pantser, plantser, and everything in between--what's the best way to approach your writing?
More news from my writing world: My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue, released in October, was favorably reviewed in Blueline, the literary journal dedicated to the spirit of the Adirondacks. It was also chosen for Literary Aviatrix book club as the feature for August, and became a finalist for both the 18th National Indie Excellent Awards and the Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award. I worked very hard on that book and I’m so glad it’s getting recognition. My newest novel, Last Bets, is out now, and it was a bestseller on Amazon. “Readers will get lost in Moore's beautiful prose, her impeccable plotting, and her outstandingly relatable and multi-layered characters. Beautifully wrought story of two women artists outrunning their demons,” said Booklife/Publisher’s Weekly who made it an Editor’s Pick.
I get this question often when I’m being interviewed on podcasts. I got it from students. Everyone believes it’s the secret to actually making a book. I don’t. It’s about the plotter and pantser approaches to writing.
You’ve probably heard those terms, but if not: plotters want everything planned ahead. Pantsers write by the seat of their pants. They go with intuition from the get go. When I’m asked which one I lean towards, I say, “Both!”
Because I believe most creative people have both elements inside. The need to go with what feels right, and the desire to get organized. Each comes at different times in the book-writing process.
That timing depends on your wiring, your most natural approach to creating.
Plotters
Do you like to know your entire plot before you start writing? Does this give you a sense of stability and sureness with the creative process, so you are clear on your direction? If knowing exactly where you’re going, before you even start out, is super important to you, you may be a plotter.
I admire plotters. I have a yearning, sometimes, to know what’s ahead, but my greater interest when I’m creating is to follow my gut, to try new ideas, to let it emerge spontaneously. I find plotters often love systems, though, especially ones that promise clarity and certainly about how a book is actually built. They lean on the formulas when navigating the murkier areas of writing something new.
Nothing wrong with this!
There are disadvantages, though. I once had a student who was an engineer in real life—he designed manufacturing systems, so he was all about systems and how they are formed to create exactly what’s expected. No surprises was the goal. And he did beautifully, writing nonfiction about topics he loved.
But one day, he got the hankering to write fiction. He wanted to write a love story. And love stories, and much fiction, must contain surprises of some kind.
Why surprise matters
There’s a saying in the world of writing that the reader must anticipate yet still be surprised by where a story goes. Without that element of discovery (the surprise) the book becomes predictable. My student was unable to make a story that was not predictable.
He knew how to engineer predictability. A great gift in his profession. Death to his fiction writing.
I remember suggesting—and I’ve done this with dozens of students since—that he read and analyze the surprise in great novels. Start with the prize-winning ones, like the Pulitzers or Man Booker or National Book Award winners. What made these stories notable? Where did they go unexpected places?
So that’s the downside of the plotter approach: predictability, lack of surprises, no element of discovery for the writer so no discovery for the reader.
I’m pleased to remember now that this engineer learned a lot about the craft of surprises in fiction from his reading and study. He ended up not only writing a love story but falling in love himself. I thought that a beautiful outcome.
Spirit of exploration
You can enter a story anywhere that pulls you in. And that engagement often translates to the reader as a spirit of exploration.
Plotters who are successful in keeping the surprise element usually spend quite a bit of time thinking about their story and taking notes. The difference between engineering the plot and letting it arise organically is this. I’ve known plotters who are not comfortable beginning the writing process before they know the ending of the book, for instance, but they still work in this sprit of exploration.
One of my students kept notes of his plot as it emerged from his daily walks and mulling-over time. He allowed himself a full year to think deeply about the story and each day a new idea would come to him, which he noted on index cards.
Then, like playing a great game, he’d lay the cards on a big table or the floor and begin to sort them into a flow. This is very similar to the storyboard approach I teach in this You Tube tutorial.
There are many ways to flow a series of plot points, and this is where the writer can find surprises and where plotter merges into pantser. Organization is still present but there’s a more organic approach to putting it all together.
It’s very much like the pauses I might make when I get to an unknown point in a specific scene I’m writing. I take a break to imagine it first, fully, inside my creative self. Then I go to my storyboard to plot it out, to test how it fits, before I write it.
Or you can pants it
Every few years, I like to rearrange our rooms. We may get something new, which requires finding a home, or we get rid of a piece of worn-out furniture. The configuration is open to change.
My method is probably unique and makes no sense to anyone else, but here’s how I do it: I stand and stare for a while, I get nudges of what changes might work, but until I actually do it, I can’t tell. My spouse has gotten used to leaving me along, except when I need help shoving furniture around. I need that inner time to “see” the new options in my mind then try them out.
Many times, the idea works. When it doesn’t, no worries. I just stand and stare some more and try another idea. That’s pure pantsing.
It’d drive many people crazy. I garden that way too. I had a friend who drew detailed maps of her garden and researched every aspect before she planted. I go outside and do it. I rotate the vegetable beds each year, a sound gardening practice that defeats bugs (most times), but that’s the only planning I do ahead.
With my writing, I have an idea. I sit down and try it out by writing a scene. It’s an experiment, a testing of what inside and whether it has sufficient life to generate more ideas.
Everything for a pantser is an experiment. Nothing is impossible. It all comes as you write.
Downside? A mess, of course. Redos. The extra time they take. I’ve met many pantsers in my writing classes who bring in 300-500 pages of manuscript that is all over the place. I honor their pantsing ability and show them how to storyboard.
I tell you, the relief they experience is life-changing. As it was for me.
We are all both—maybe plantsers?
Most writers I’ve worked with—and myself included—find something worthwhile in both approaches. I’ll never be the writer who details every step of their novel on cards or in an outline before sitting down to write a scene. I’ll never write a book without some system of organization either.
Rather than responding on podcast interviews that I’m a pantser or a plotter, I just say I’m both. I’ve been writing and publishing for over three decades and I’ve learned the pros and cons of each approach.
Your Weekly Writing Exercise
Check out this fun article from The Write Practice, which says more about plotter versus pantser and also shares a name for those in between. Or this from Medium, which gives another view.
Which are you? What advantages and disadvantages do you notice about your writing style?
Shout Out!
A hearty shout out to these writing friends and former students who are publishing their books! I encourage you to pre-order a copy to show your support of fellow writers and our writing community.
(If you are a former student and will publish soon (pre-orders of your book are available now), or have in the past two months, email mary[at]marycarrollmoore[dot]com to be included in a future Shout Out! I’ll keep your listing here for two months.)
Jim Hight, Moon Over Humboldt (Black Rose Writing), August release
Jan Skogstrom, The Light Shines in the Darkness—A Spiritual Journey (Itasca Books), August release
Megan Lindhal Goodrich, Beyond Terminal: Processing Childhood Trauma to Reclaim Self (Wise Ink), September release
Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, The Release: Creativity and Freedom after the Writing Is Done (Skinner House), October release
I’m a lifelong artist, and I love to inspire and support other creative folk, which is why I write this weekly newsletter. My goal with these posts is to help you strengthen your writing practice and creative life so it becomes more satisfying to you.
I’m also the author of 15 books in 3 genres. My third novel, Last Bets (Riverbed Press), was published in April, after becoming an Amazon bestseller during pre-orders. My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue (Riverbed Press), was published in October 2023 also and became an Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release from pre-orders. For twelve years, I worked as a full-time food journalist, most notably through my weekly column for the Los Angeles Times syndicate. My writing-craft book, Your Book Starts Here, won the New Hampshire Literary Awards “People’s Choice” in 2011 and my first novel, Qualities of Light, was nominated for PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary awards in 2009. I’ve written Your Weekly Writing Exercise every Friday since 200
The first class I took with you had the words organic writing in its title and I knew it was the class for me. I do a lot of curriculum writing and much of it happens organically, which frankly, takes a lot more time than if I wrote in a structured way. I can drive my clients crazy because they insist on an outline up front and I produce one. But the final product often doesn’t resemble the draft outline. Enough so, that I give my clients a heads up about what Is likely to happen.
But I really want to underscore how unbelievably helpful storyboarding is. I use sticky notes, well because, it changes! But I use it religiously. It helps me think about the rhythm of the work, it guides transitions of chapters, and helps me keep the storyline alive throughout the book without being an obstacle.
Thank you for the decades of wisdom you have shared with me. Ever grateful.
This was very informative. I never thought about being wired to write a certain way. Thanks for sharing.