Plotting vs. Pantsing (Writing Community Lingo)

Plotters outline and plan their stories in advance. Pantsers write by the seat of their pants, inventing the story as they go along. And “plantsers” play by their own rules. No matter which way you lean, think of plotting and pantsing as tools at your disposal rather than inherent traits or writing styles. The most successful narratives combine elements of form and structure with unbridled creativity and exploration.

Title and End Music:

Background Music by Vindsvept:
+ “Keeper of the Forest”
+ “The Oracle’s Prophecy”
+ “The Fae”
+ “Reverie”
+ “Wildfire, part two”

SOURCES



Defining Plotting and Pantsing (0:00)
Pros and Cons (1:47)
Types of Plotters and Pantsers (3:41)
Plotting vs. Pantsing Quiz (4:59)
Extreme Plotter (6:44)
Relaxed Plotter (8:17)
Plantser (10:04)
Controlled Pantser (12:26)
Extreme Pantser (14:14)
Writing Exercise (15:15)

[loftilofi]

I think I'm a plantser. I usually write down a loose premise and think about for a day so, imagining scenes and exploring characters. I tend to have many "eureka" moments that way, so I have to bullet point those ideas to keep track. They're broad and often tangential, nothing specific or technical, and when they tie together and form a theme, I can understand the story holistically and start writing.

[sunnysunshine]

I'm definitely a relaxed planner. I have plot, characters and their arcs written down, but small things such as dialogue, character interactions, and sometimes fight scenes are made up as I go. As long as I know how it ends.

[atatajoe]

"Whatever you do, keep writing."

This spoke to me. I've been going through it as a Nigerian writer—the ENDSARS protest, the Lekki massacre, everything—and I stopped writing. I couldn't get myself to write a word.

Thank you! Hopefully, I get my first draft ready before the year is out.

[judiangel]

Extreme pantser. My whole book came out that way...I was the writer and the reader. Delightful. Thank you, Diane, you are so talented.

[bookishclara]

I am a thirteen year old who wants to be a writer. I think watching your videos have helped my writing style more polished and professional. Thank you!

[roseconsumption]

When I began writing as a child, I was very much a pantser but I think it's because I didn't understand story arcs, plots, character development, or senses of movement and pacing. I just had interesting ideas and wanted to explore them on the page. Ultimately my stories became muddy, pointless, just like a painting of a scene on paper with no purpose. I never finished those works, but I always enjoyed writing them.

As an adult, I lean much more heavily on the side of a plotter. As was made evident in this video, knowing the ending is important, knowing the major points of contention, following an "act structure", knowing how the characters will develop over time... and I realized I can't make a story without answering these questions first. I can't trust myself to come up with these plot points on my own. So now I'm a reluctant plotter, who does feel like the whimsy of writing is waning but that the strength of my writing is growing.

[fhpuosn]

I remember, in elementary shcool, they always forced us to plan out our storys and I always hated it. Because I am almost a extreme pantser.. so I guess it makes sense😂 Love your content, really informative😍

[cjpreach]

A-C-C-A-A. I jump around so much I drift back and forth between Relaxed Plotter, Plantser and Controlled Pantser.

[lordcloud]

I've discovered this channel very recently, and it has been very encouraging for me in writing my first book (it's a murder mystery).
Expecting the big reveal/climax/ending is what motivated me to keep writing, but now that I'm in the polishing stage, it's the characters that I want to explore. So I guess I went from a plantser to a pantser :)
Anyway, great video as always! <3

[midwestmatcha]

Guys this pure gold, the content is helping me a lot with my writing! Btw your voice is so calming, sometimes I just rewatch to listen to your voice😄

[thedeadcannotdie]

Your definition of a controlled pantser sounded eerily familiar lol. You described my thought process better than I could.

[muadhquren]

I have been writing my entire life, but always isolated scenes flirting with becoming short stories. I decided this year to make the leap to attempting a novel but found myself uncertain how to continue intelligently after the first few perspective chapters, when it came time to commit to real plot moments. This video was what made it finally sink in that maybe it's okay to be a pantser and explore the plot through writing it.

[abubakarjamro]

Watching all your videos is literally going through a literature course. Keep up the phenomenal work.

[AbeNoSeirei]

I have mostly As and one C. I found that I need to know every beat and every scene or I'm stuck. But that doesn't mean there is no room for creativity. Sometimes scenes develop differently from what I planned them to be, and that's okay. It is more organic that way. And I know I can do as many changes as I want in the edits, too.

[shinyary]

I'm usually a plantser, I guess? Usually in order to write I need to know a character, a theme, a setting, and a goal. The antagonist will follow from the goal either before I write or while I am writing. I usually have a vague sense of the shape of the story, as well--some important moments along the way that may or may not end up happening, and maybe an ending. Then I just follow the character and if I ever get stuck I think about my theme and try to find a way to express it in the scene I'm stuck in. I try to get my protagonist and antagonist into conflict as fast as possible and then just sit back and watch the sparks fly. I may or may not know the ending, but often the ending develops naturally from the theme.

Thanks for the video! I've seen a lot of videos on this topic but somehow you always seem to find a way to make every topic fresh. Hope your channel explodes the way it deserves.

[renab.]

My results: A, B, B, C, A, so I'm a mix. I most closely identify with the plantser and the controlled pantser.

Another writer (Ellen Brocks, in her "four types of writers" video) put it like this: You can be a plotter or a pantser. You can be methodical or explorative (I think, not sure if that was the term she used). Different writing methods work well or not, depending on what type of writer you are. However, everyone is a unique mix of those types, as they exist on a spectrum. Thanks to her video I discovered I'm a methodical pantser. This quiz pretty much confirms that.

[McD]

The words of Asimov spoke to me on how I enjoy writing. I feel having an idea of where you're going or something that needs to happen a goal whether it's the goal of the next scene or the goal of the book is like knowing that you're going to go to the store but not what you're going to buy. I do find it like an adventure like you get to be part of the story, and that other line about reading a book that hasn't been written. As an additional note in affirmation that I am almost certainly a controlled "pantser" is that I do in fact DM and I'm constantly thinking about my books and stories I want to tell even if my pen never touches a page (or fingers a keyboard)

[ashikanwar]

I am a relaxed plotter it seems. I do write the scene and the plots before hand. And just flow with the dialogues that I feel like is the best to connect with the plot.

[TheBeastBandit]

As a recent outliner and plotter, this video is so relevant. I’ve been a long-time pantser and am now, in my ripe old age of two decades and a sixpence, geared more towards wanting to know what I want to write. I have also started writing more complex pieces, so it makes sense that I get all of the intrigue down so that I don’t get confused.

[jorgegarciapascual]

I identify myself more with the term Gardener, because when I write I throw a bunch of seeds throughout the story to see if there's something to collect at the end, like walking into problems on purpose to see if I can solve them.
Then comes the revision to polish everything and make it more coherent without losing the organicity that comes with that pantsing.