The Plotter and the Pantser: Two Styles, One Journey

One of the things that has surprised me most on my writing journey is how many assumptions I’ve carried without realizing it. For a long time, I simply believed the way I write was the way everyone writes. You plan. You notate. You carefully outline the bones of your novel, and then you fill in the blank spaces as you go.

But I quickly discovered, through friendship and networking, that this is not the only way.

My friend is a pantser.

For those unfamiliar, “plotter” and “pantser” represent two different approaches to the same end. A plotter does just that—plots and plans, outlines and sketches, builds the framework before laying in the detail. A pantser, on the other hand, “flies by the seat of their pants.” They sit down and write based on instinct, intuition, and the pull of the story as it unfolds.

That’s not to say pantsers don’t plan. They do. But their planning often lives internally. It’s not always written down. It’s not always visible to anyone but them.

Because of this, it can sometimes be difficult to give or receive writing advice between the two of us—even as close as we are. Our goals are the same, but our processes are radically different.

Neither is lesser than the other.

In fact, I sometimes envy the trust pantsers have in their process—the instinct for character and conflict that allows them to discover the journey as they move through it. Me? I write it all down. I map the road. I plot the path before I take the first step.

Pantsers uncover the story as they go. Plotters, like myself, risk becoming hemmed in by our own plans, struggling at times to let the characters lead.

And yet, there is beauty in the contrast.

I’m grateful for my friend’s partnership on this journey and for the way she shapes my methods simply by being who she is. Perhaps that’s what good creative partnerships look like—not sameness, but mutual respect. Leaning into one another’s strengths. Learning from one another’s blind spots.

Different roads. Same destination.