Plotter or Pantser?

How do I write? Writers usually fall into one of two camps, plotters (those who plan, plot, and outline before writing), and pantsers (those who write by the seat of their pants). Plotters know the path and the plan to get to the end. Pantsers go where the characters and story take them.

I am probably a hybrid of the two, though I lean heavily on the plotter side. I plot everywhere. I jot ideas on sticky notes and on scraps of paper. I carry a notebook in my purse for plotting emergencies.  I have outlines, character biographies, and color-coded storylines.  I keep a chart of all the places and characters. I describe them to the nth degree. This is also helpful if you decide to write a series. That way, my character's eye color or the color of her kitchen doesn't change in a later work. I also use this to take care of my urge to write backstory. I put all the details in this document. Some of the information will never see the light of day, but it keeps me from overloading the story with too much history. Backstory or historical details are better sprinkled in throughout the work.

After my major plotting which usually takes about a month, I'm ready to start writing. And that's when the pantser raises its head. I always decide I like a minor character better than another, and sometimes the story takes a tangent. In my first novel, Secret Lives and Private Eyes (May 2016), I planned to keep one character around for the series to create some tension. But as it turned out, I liked another character much better, and his role took on a life of its own. So, without spoiling the surprise, character two is around for book two.

After the plotting and the first draft, which my friend Mary Burton calls the "sloppy copy," I am ready to revise. This phase takes me the longest. I can write pretty quickly, but it takes me forever to reorder and change. My critique group is very helpful during this phase. They help with storylines that don't make sense. They also point out where things are missing or weird. I had my character eat lunch twice in the same chapter once. Whoops!

After more revisions, then it's ready for professional copy editing and hopefully, publication.

Decide which process works for you or combine them for your style. Best wishes with your writing. It's not an easy process.