A Transitional Pantster

I have always been a write-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of writer, otherwise called a Pantster. A Pantster is a technical term for a particular writing style where the writer eschews outlining their particular story prior to the writing of that story for freely writing as the mood strikes. Pantsters feel that outlining robs them of their creativity or forces them into a particular structure or format. Most Pantsters I know are less time oriented with their writing, less rule driven, less structured. They write their stories based upon ideas bouncing around in their heads and look forward to the surprises they discover throughout the writing process.

The problem with this particular creative writing style, for me at least, is that it can take me an extra, extra long time to get to the end of a story because I have digressed into beautiful tangents of prose. As a Pantster, when a problem arises with the plot, I have to stop writing and take valuable time to let my subconscious dwell on the issue until I have the solution to the story problem, or the character issue, or whatever the issue is that is not working. It is tedious, and the reality is that I spend too much time problem solving after the fact, and too little time writing. This is not a productive place to be.

Also as a Pantster, I have a myriad of story ideas rolling around in my head that have actually never made it to paper. I started making lists but this does not actually solve the problem. The stories remain unwritten.

It is also difficult for me to write consistent story line. I discovered this in subsequent re-writes, and in critique groups. I know that Stephen King can do it, and I know several people who say they are able to do it. but not me, apparently. I get to caught up in the beautiful tangents of prose. I lose the threads of the story sometimes and it takes me much time to find them again. This is not a happy writing place.

So, I did a very terrifying thing. I signed up to do NaNoWriMo. The goal of NaNo is to write 50,000 words in 30 days for National Novel Writing Month. 50,000 words. In one month. For me, it’s truly daunting. But I committed to doing it.

And then reality set in.

The only possible way for me to write 50,000 words in 30 days is to be sure that I have all the story problems solved before I begin. This means I have to focus on structure. I have to have an outline. Me? Really? So I have been working on creating an outline for a new writing project just for NaNo. It’s terrifying. And it’s really difficult. But, I am so glad that I am doing it. I can see the story line from beginning to end, even before I write a word of my draft. I can see the holes in the plot and the sub-plot. I can see the loose ends that I need to tie up. It is rather a transitional moment for me. I am becoming a Plotter. Imagine that. Me. Focused on structure.

I am not now an anti-Pantster by any means. I am just realizing the time saving, valuable tools that plotting offers. I guess that makes me a transitional Pantster.

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