Plantser Pantser Plotter
- Lizz Duivenvoorde
- Jul 11
- 2 min read
Hey, Hi, Hello!
I want to go over the difference between the three writing styles of Planner, Pantser, and Planster.
Plotter
A planner is someone who plans their novel out before they start writing. The extreme of this is someone who uses templates—either premade or of their own design—to plan out their characters, world, magic system, story beats, etc. These types of writers like to feel prepared and know exactly what is happening in their book/world before they even create the book document.
Software that is helpful to these types of writers includes Scrivener, Dabble, Campfire, Pinterest, and Notion.
Pantser
A pantser is the opposite of a plotter. They “fly by the seat of their pants” and write their stories without any planning. Many novels written in this way end up not getting finished because the writer gets stuck because they don't know what happens next in the story. These stories often also need a lot more editing when it comes to developmental edits. But that's not to say that these stories cant be exciting and fun to write and read. Many authors who use this method create stories that are full of twists and turns that keep the reader guessing.
Pinterest is a fan favorite for these authors. Although they don't like planning, most authors still enjoy looking up inspiration pictures and making mood boards.
Plantser
As you may have guessed, a plantser is a mix of the two. They plan some things but wing others. For example, I make character sheets and type out events that I want to happen in the book, but to get to those moments, I do what's called “Discovery writing”: aka, plantsing.
I find that this is the most common way of writing for authors, with most starting as planners or pantsers and then migrating to this in-between stage.
No one way of writing is the right way. Pick what works best for you and go from there. If you like planning things out and plotting your book before you start, then go for it. If you would rather wing it and fly by the seat of your pants, then all the power to you. If you fall somewhere in the middle, then great. Writing is about creativity and expression. However you decide to do it is up to you.
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