Plotters v Pantsers: pick a side!

[EmilyMiller]

If you find yourself setting up a false dichotomy and then relying on somebody else to rescue the situation, you need to learn to plan better.

I have no plan to reply further to this thread

Like most binary choices, it’s kinda silly.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

I’m a plotting panster. I know where the story is going, but that doesn’t mean I know how it gets there.

I am also very bad ad following directions.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Plot like fuck!

Those dumb pantsers are incapable of thinking more than two sentences ahead. ; )

 

[anthrodisiac]

Plot like fuck!

Those dumb pantsers are incapable of thinking more than two sentences ahead. ; )

I think that might be the most generous thing a plotter has ever said about pantsers Two whole sentences ahead? Wow, what ambitious pantsers are YOU running into?

Hell, I'm lucky if I can even think five words BEHIND.

 

[Erozetta]

Plot like fuck!

Those dumb pantsers are incapable of thinking more than two sentences ahead. ; )

two whole sentences is basically plotting.

 

[WCSGarland]

No sitting on the fence in this one: two camps only. Which side are you on?

Bonus points for throwing a witty insult at the enemy. Although I suppose the plodders plotters will have to plan their insults first.

In case it wasn't clear: I'm Team Pantser!

Nope... not picking a side... You'll just have to guess.

 

[Actingup]

Plot like fuck!

I think more properly, this 'debate' is best summarised as:

Plot the fuck!
vs
Fuck the plot!

 

[pink_silk_glove]

When you plot, you know the outcome, which for me defeats the purpose of writing, which is the discovery.

For you that is the purpose but it is hardly the only purpose. For me, the purpose is to tell a story, the best story that I feel that I can offer.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

The collation above surprises me a bit, to be honest. From prior threads over the years, I'd have thought being a pantser was the exception rather than the rule.

Oh, I KNOW that the pantsers heavily outnumber the plotters, because while there may be few true pantsers, there are a lot of folks who falsely cling to the label of pantser as an excuse to just jot down some stuff and not have to edit it. True pantsers discover their plot through the writing itself and aren't too lazy to edit it and still tell the best story that they can. If you include all of the lazy impostor pantsers there are FAR more pantsers than plotters out there.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

If you find yourself setting up a false dichotomy and then relying on somebody else to rescue the situation, you need to learn to plan better.

Hey, there's always deus ex machina. ; )

 

[StillStunned]

Why did the chicken cross the road? - I don't know, let's write the story and find out!

 

[Bazzle]

I am team Pantser

Because of this I have many stories in plot cul de sacs because I didn't plan my route.

 

[TheLobster]

True pantsers writes their stories letter by letter. If you already know how the word ends before you start writing it, you are just one of those stuck-up plotters in denial.

 

[Seurat]

Sometimes a scene (or scenes, or even so little as a piece of dialog) pops into my head and I have to build things around it (pantser, I guess) and sometimes an outline hits me like a truck and I have to fill in the details (plotter, I assume). There are times when I think of specific scenes and how they work together and have to fill elements as my imagination goes wild (both) and others when I don't have any thoughts and decide to just enjoy the shower (neither).

 

[Candy_Kane54]

I usually start out with an idea for a beginning and an end. How I get from one to the other is completely out of my hands ...

 

[Andreas_Kreuz]

Plotting is so much fun. Creating mind-maps, character tables, story cards, once you have done that you don't even need to write a story. Just to scare the shit into your pants. This is my story card structure:

global:
- Overview of Characters
- Backstory
- Conclusion
- Payoff for reader


Per section: as defined, by a different time or a different location, or is separated by a key event, information, announcement, or statement.
- location,
- visceral description of the location and of emotional contribution
- plot-action,
- tone,
- progression of the narrative arc,
- the conflict being negotiated
- emotional payoff,
- the interests of the participants
- a list of visceral elements that can show what is going on in the scene's tension and the characters.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm a plotter, definitely. I almost always prepare an outline of my story, start to finish, before I start writing it. But I also often deviate from the outline as I write. I enjoy plotting and outlining. I often write the last paragraph of the story not long after beginning it.

 

[Cagivagurl]

No sitting on the fence in this one: two camps only. Which side are you on?

Bonus points for throwing a witty insult at the enemy. Although I suppose the plodders plotters will have to plan their insults first.

In case it wasn't clear: I'm Team Pantser!

I don't believe it's that simple...
My assumption is... Even the most ardent plotters must get derailed occasionally. Part the way through they may see another avenue open up that had gone unconsidered...
The flip side being, even those (Like myself) Who start with nothing more than an idea, sometimes get so tangled in their twisted web that they have to take notes to untangle the plot if it becomes to complex...
The road is never straight...
As it is with most things in life. Nothing is ever simple...

 

[EmilyMiller]

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/challenges-in-writing-longer-works.1638688/#post-101362574

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't believe it's that simple...
My assumption is... Even the most ardent plotters must get derailed occasionally.

Oh, all the time. I'm a plotter in the sense of the bad criminal who plots and plans to blow up a wall to get to the bank safe and ends up blowing up the wrong building.

But still, I keep on plotting.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Why did the chicken cross the road? - I don't know, let's write the story and find out!

>> Knock knock ...
<< Who's there?
>> Pantser
<< Pantser who?
>> Pantser? I barely know 'er.

 

[old_prof]

>> Knock knock ...
<< Who's there?
>> I don't know yet. I haven't written that far.
<< Why did you start this joke before you knew?
>> I'll fix that in the revisions

 

[Statius]

>> Knock knock ...
<< Who's there?
>> I don't know yet. I haven't written that far.
<< Why did you start this joke before you knew?
>> I'll fix that in the revisions

Fantastic

And hilarious

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

The flip side being, even those (Like myself) Who start with nothing more than an idea, sometimes get so tangled in their twisted web that they have to take notes to untangle the plot if it becomes to complex...

I feel seen, as the kids say.

I don't write plots, I write erotic situations, but it's the same.

I think we need a third category: editors. More than anything else, I'm an editor.

 

[caleb35]

Plotter, all the way. Although, I'll add that this is a false dichotomy -- good writing is usually a combination of plotting and adapting as you write.