Trust the pants (if you're a pantser)

[Cagivagurl]

I knew nothing about writing when I started.
The rules, the requirements, grammar, punctuation. How to construct sentences.
I knew nothing. The only things I'd ever written were technical reports.
I'm still pretty hopeless with the technical aspects, but writing is sheer pleasure...
I love strolling down the twisted path as the story grows.

 

[StillStunned]

My stories usually begin with an image, or an idea for a scene. Then I'll conceive of one or more characters to fit in there, and start writing. Mostly I have no idea where it's going at that time.

But as the story progresses it takes shape - forwards and backwards. I develop the ending, or at least where I want the plot to go, and I go back and rewrite what I already have to fit that storyline.

I've often thought about plotting out an entire story, with beats and plot points and all that other Save the Cat stuff, but it just doesn't appeal to me. It might change in the future, but for now I just like writing for the sake of writing.

 

[intim8]

What I think, though, signals being a "pantser" writer is that this isn't always required before writing and can change as the story is being written or even right before it's posted.

Yeah, pretty much, though not jost the ending. Characters too, and even setting.

Even the beginning can be changed later if the author finds one to like more. What gives a "pantser" his/her little writing thrill is the writing journey.

Yeah, it's not like once you put something down on paper, it is set on stone. Editing is still a thing, even rewriting.

The thrill of the journey for me is that writing a story can be a lot like reading one. For me, at its best, it's like a movie I've never seen before is running in my head, and I'm just transcribing it. I get to watch it. Frequently, I don't know what is going to happen until I'm typing it.

That's not always the case, it is often more conscious and analytical. But the key essential is that whatever happens next is what makes sense given the plot and characters that have emerged so far. And the characters emerge from being in their heads and understanding what they wan't or don't want, and how the would respond to whatever is happening around them.

Whether that comes from conscious analysis or subconscious pattern recogniyltion and insight doesn't matter a whole lot.

 

[Areala-chan]

I guess I'm a mix of both? My basic story ideas always start with an idea of things I want to see happen, and where I want things to be by the end. But this will be a very generic idea, maybe even just a line I want spoken, or "the scene where they go out clubbing", or something like that. But I never outline how I want specific things to go, so once I get to that scene, I let it grow organically how the characters decide it goes. Often this will lead into subsequent scenes I didn't have planned, and I love that. I'm happy to toss out or re-work earlier bits of the story so there's something to foreshadow later events, or if a character's actions later don't conform to how I had originally written them and now there's room for a growth arc.

I write the same way I road trip: with an ultimate destination in mind, and notes of potential diversions and interesting scenery along the way, but never with an itinerary locked in down to the hour. More like, "as long as we get here by Wednesday, we'll be fine."

 

[CarmineBlancheJr]

Many times I start my stories with an idea of how I want it to flow, but only a general idea of the end and a clear start.

I usually find that my characters tell me where they want to go and what they want to happen. They, in their own way, become part of the writing process and guide me. Most of the time the person I start with is not the same person that I end up with as the story progresses.

I have tried to create detailed outlines for my stories. But more often than not, the characters just change as the story moves on.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I've done lot's of pantsing, and those seem to be hit or miss. Matter of fact I think everything I have on this account, and probably everything on my other account is pantsed. I plot too, though. I guess one could say that the story ideas I've been writing out are pantsed so I can plot them into stories.