To Plot or Not to Plot-That is the Question

So, I took a little liberty with Shakespeare, but you get the point. 

I wonder if Shakespeare was a plotter or a pantser.

If you’ve been in the writing world for long you have heard the debate between those who thoroughly plot out a novel (Plotter) and those who fly by the seat of their pants (Pantser)

Both have merit, and both have drawbacks.

My friend Loretta Eidson writes romantic suspense and is also the president of the ACFW Memphis Chapter. I interviewed her for the Storyteller Squad in July. Here is an excerpt of what she said about plotting and what works best for her.

Plot ideas can originate anywhere. The plot for my first novel came from reading a newspaper. I read the headline, read between the lines; then, since the title was about people investing in a new bank, I asked myself, “What if.”

Example: What if people investing in that new bank were actually being scammed, and their money was going toward the purchase of illegal weapons?

Other ideas pop into my head while sitting at a restaurant watching people converse, or not converse, at nearby tables or overhearing the person in line at the grocery store talking about a disagreement they’d had with a friend. Ideas can come in dreams or wake you in the night. Just be ready to jot them down when they come; otherwise, you’ll forget them.

I write by the seat of my pants.

Usually, I know how the story will begin, and I can visualize the ending, but I definitely don’t have every scene planned out before I write. Ideas roll around in my head, but if I don’t write them down, they too can be lost.

So Loretta is more of a pantser. What about me?

I am a bit of both.

When I started writing my first YA novel, Hesitant Heroes, I wrote by the seat of my pants.

I started with a vague idea of kids from different countries attending the same boarding school. Christian students start disappearing. I didn’t know what had happened to these students.

I wrote half the novel not knowing if the missing kids were dead or alive!

I let the story carry me on an adventure and it was a lot of fun! I have never had so much fun writing any of my novels before or since.

For the second book in the series, Relentless Rebels, I started with an outline. Not extremely detailed but much more than I started out with for Hesitant Heroes.  That’s why I consider myself to be a combination of plotter and pantser.

I also think the genre makes a big difference. I recently finished writing a romantic suspense. I discovered pretty quickly that I could not write a suspense novel without a fairly detailed outline.  Some people may be able to, but I couldn’t.

Which are you? Plotter, pantser or somewhere in between?

Please comment below and let me know where you fall on the plotter-pantser spectrum! Do you think genre makes a difference?