?

Are you:

  1. Planner (80-100%)

    5 vote(s)
    16.7%
  2. Neutral with Planner Tendencies (60-80%)

    9 vote(s)
    30.0%
  3. Neutral (40-60%)

    3 vote(s)
    10.0%
  4. Neutral with Pantser Tendencies (60-80%)

    5 vote(s)
    16.7%
  5. Pantser (80-100%)

    6 vote(s)
    20.0%
  6. Still experimenting with both to see which works better

    2 vote(s)
    6.7%
  1. Simpson17866

    Simpson17866 Contributor Contributor

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    How much of a Plotter or Pantser are you?

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by Simpson17866, Oct 22, 2016.

    Pretty much everybody agrees at this point that "planning ahead with an outline" versus "creating the narrative on the fly from one scene to the next" is a spectrum, not a binary yes/no, so I thought I'd start a poll about how much everybody is of each rather than having to focus on the binary.
     
  2. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    I plan each chapter, down to the event, but I don't plan it all. I leave dialogue and reactions to the event for when I'm actually writing. I also leave a little room for my characters to grow and expand. So I'd say I'm neutral with planning tendencies.
     
  3. thedrunkenwarrior

    thedrunkenwarrior New Member

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    I plot out the overall arc of the story, but I can't tell you what's gonna happen between point A and point B. It's mostly just.... winging it. :superyesh:

    Definitely neutral with panster tendencies.
     
  4. DrtraumaTy

    DrtraumaTy New Member

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    I do like to do an basic outline of the general idea of my longer works; such as the base introduction to the novel, vital characters, chapter outline, etc. However, if I plan too much of my work I end up feeling chained; and, in consequence, I loose my inspiration to write the work at all.

    When it comes to shorter stories and/or my essays, I just freewrite.
     
  5. Necronox

    Necronox Contributor Contributor

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    I'm with drunken on this one, I plan my overall story, and chapter events and all the likes. but all the minor stuff, dialogues, etc... I do on the fly.
     
  6. Lifeline

    Lifeline South. Supporter Contributor

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    By inclination i am pure pantser but I have to wrap my head around that it will not be possible to write my story this way ;)
     
  7. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    I have "planned" the world in which my story takes place , and have a rough outline idea of what happens - beyond that i tend to pants the detail and/or plan a chpt or so ahead in my head

    for example in recent chapters my MCs and associates attacked a base belonging to a mercenary force working for the antags - my plan for the attack was that it would be based on the SAS/LDRG ops in the western desert in big mistake number 2 - ie it would involve disguise, daring and having balls like turnips , and that my good guy team need to suffer casualties during the attack and the E&E that follows as i need to reduce numbers for plot reasons to follow.

    That was pretty much the extent of my planning , and i pantsed the actual raid after reading lots of source material about similar attacks.
     
  8. Zombocalypse

    Zombocalypse Member

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    I'm a pure pantser.

    I like turning blank pages into magic. It's like a disease, almost...
     
  9. doggiedude

    doggiedude Contributor Contributor

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    I've tried to plan. But usually when I think... Okay, what's gonna happen in chapter one? I just end up writing chapter one. Same goes for chapter two.
     
  10. taariya

    taariya Member

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    I wish I could write that way! For me I feel compelled to know exactly everything that's going to happen in a scene and a chapter overall before I'll write anything.
     
  11. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Who is kidding...I bullshit everything. :supergrin:

    Though I kinda had Marckus figured out, the other characters and the story just kinda showed up out of thin air.
     
  12. CrossWiredGarden

    CrossWiredGarden Member

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    I'm pretty strange on the whole thing. I tend to have the character's first and play around with them. Making small little stories to get to know them better. Then I actually try and put them into a story, so I'm pretty neutral on the whole thing.
     
  13. Rosacrvx

    Rosacrvx Contributor Contributor

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    I am a planner. I only start writing the beginning when I already know the end. This takes a long time to make up the whole story in my mind but I think it's worth it because I like to play with forebodings and metaphors throughout the entire story. I can use the same metaphor at key points as a sort of "refrain" throughout a long novel, a reminder for the reader that things are going "this way" from the beginning. It's also useful to leave some juicer parts for the end, or very near the end. I don't write thriller/suspense but that doesn't mean that I cannot write the story in a way that keeps the reader wondering what's happening next. (I didn't know I was able to do this when I started writing.)
     
    taariya likes this.
  14. Ebenezer Lux

    Ebenezer Lux Member

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    Planning is my kryptonite. It sucks the life out of my writing. Seemingly. But I need a healthy dose of it every now and then to keep my writing on track. So consider me a gardener with an architect's sense of boundaries.
     
  15. Neural

    Neural Member

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    Right now, in life, definitely neutral with pantser tendencies.

    I formed what is likely a bad habit many years ago, in that I do all my planning in my head, but that generally only happens after a short story has been written that I then decide to write "sequels" for.

    This plotting and outlining on paper/software/post-its/whatever is new to me, and I'm poking at it with a stick to see what happens.
     
    doggiedude likes this.

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