If you’re a writer, you’ve probably been asked this question before: Are you a plotter or a pantser? The debate between meticulous planners and free-spirited discovery writers is a long-standing one in the writing community.
Some writers, known as ‘pantsers’ write without a plan. They write by the ‘seat of your pants’, without knowing where the story is going or why. Ideas and plot lines flow like a fever dream or an overgrown garden with no care for logic or form or structure. Other writers need control, architecture, design. Ideally they’d like to know absolutely everything about the world, the character and the story before they write a single word. These are the plotters.
Confessions of a Recovering Pantser
For years I’ve been a die-hard pantser. Outlines? Useless. I usually begin with a loose idea, maybe a character or scene, and just let the story flow. The thrill of writing came from discovering new plot twists, deepening existing backstories, and introducing surprising characters. My problem was that I couldn’t stop writing, and my drafts became overwhelmingly complex, filled with too many subplots, unfinished storylines, and excessive world-building.
One of my critique partners once joked that my rate of adding new ideas was comparable to …
Full Blog Post: https://art4marax.substack.com/p/finding-your-writing-process
Published: 28.06.2025