Pantsing and Plotting: How They’re Showing Up Midway Through the First Draft

In previous posts, I’ve disclosed my discovery that I’m more of a “pantser” than “plotter.” This realization catalyzed early progress on my novel’s first draft. But what about now that I’m deep into the plot, approximately the midpoint to completion?

The Problem With Plotting

Don’t get me wrong; plotting is a good idea. Yet, I personally found it to be a slippery slope to over-preparing and never making headway with the manuscript. The issue for me was twofold. First, it became boring quickly. It was too abstract, trying to summarize rich narrative chunks into little bullet points. Second, it felt never-ending. If I had let myself, I could have worked on the plot for a year, maybe more. In the name of being responsible, I would have burned out before even writing the first real sentence.

The Problem With Pantsing

Despite my penchant for pantsing, it has its limitations. Namely, it can take more immediate cognitive power than I may have at a given time. There are more real-time decisions with pantsing. It can feel a bit like starting from scratch every writing session. As a result, there’s potentially less progress made in a writing stint due to time being eaten up thinking of what ought to happen next.

How Pantsing and Plotting are Showing Up For Me Now

I’ve done a bit of both writing strategies so that I have a general sense of where the ship is headed while preserving creative liberties for the journey itself. Generally, this has been working for me. If I can, I’ll end a writing session by jotting down some bullet points about what I want to happen next in the story. Then, when I begin writing again, I already have some plot points to start with. I’d like to say I do this often, because it is a huge help, but I don’t always know what I want to write next. This hybrid plotting/pantsing technique is nice because it’s bite-sized. I’m not dealing with masses of material and getting overwhelmed.

The Challenge of Being a Pantser

I still can’t get over the term “pantser.” It reminds me of the childhood trend of “pantsing” your friend, which, for anyone who doesn’t already know, was when you snuck up behind them and quickly pulled their pants down. Bonus points were awarded if it was in front of their crush.

Aaaand, I digress.

Speaking of which, as I write this, I’m getting distracted by the most epic dolphin acrobatics at the beach. They are so close to shore, jumping completely out of the water, slapping their tail fins on the surface, and surfing in the waves. Holy smokes. Not a bad place to write this blog.

ANYWAY…

Pantsing may be my main method. However, I think it’s partially to blame for poor adherence to daily writing the past couple weeks. In the book Atomic Habits, the author proffers that making a new habit stick is easier when the obstacles to performing the task are decimated. Initiating the task should feel natural and require minimal effort. I mentioned earlier how I’ll sometimes end a writing session by sprinkling some plot breadcrumbs I can pick up next time. This makes the task easier to begin. But when I don’t do this (which is most of the time), my brain gets scared. Although writing for 30 minutes is generally manageable, trying to do it when I have no idea what to write is not. Pantsing without any advance plotting, then, can impede my consistency with writing.

Why Am I Writing Less?

I thought I had struck gold when I decided on committing to a mere 30 minutes per day. It was the antidote to my profuse procrastination poison. Until it wasn’t. I’ve been ashamed by how little I’ve written in the past couple weeks despite not working and having ample free time. A tiny part of me was doubting the feasibility of writing this book. Maybe I don’t have what it takes after all. Well, I confound that notion. It’s utter hogwash (pardon my French).

Maybe I went into vacation mode, and it was harder to sit down and write because it felt like work. Or maybe I’m more efficient and intentional with how I use my free time when there’s less of it. Having an entire day to write allowed me to put it off and forget about it. When my schedule is busier, I have to select and stick to a time slot to write.

So, in addition to an over-reliance on pantsing, too much free time contributed to my recent underwhelming writing progress. Okay, so what do I do about it?

What Do I Do if I Can’t Commit to Even a Small Amount of Daily Writing?

It’s a tad embarrassing to admit I’ve been failing to write even 30 minutes a day. I already made it easy for myself to write consistently. If I’m still not able to get it done, is the solution to further reduce the time duration? I don’t think so. Well, maybe.

I suppose on days when I’m really struggling, I could propose I write for only, say, 10 minutes. This would be a last resort as I don’t want to make a habit of it. But writing a little is better than writing nothing.

What I’d rather do is increase commitment to leaving some plot points when I finish a writing session. It could also be helpful to use my 30 minutes (or more) on occasion to dream and plot instead of forcing myself to write when I have no ideas.

Is There Any Hope For a Pantser?

Let’s indulge in some hope, shall we? I know I’ve dropped the ball recently. And you know what else? I wrote for 30 minutes, filmed and uploaded a YouTube short, AND am wrapping up this blog post all in the same day. Lastly, I plan to package it all up and send it out along with a little newsletter.

Despite recent “failures,” I’m not giving up. I’m still learning the nuances and implications of my writing style. Instead of condemning myself, I’m going to be curious and try to modify my habits so I can keep this train rolling.