B&A - Writers: Does pantsing ever really work?

Lots of professional authors discovery write their stories. If you see several chapters where nothing is happening plot wise it's often because the author was free-writing. (It lacks direction). Stephen King does this.

Sure, it works, depending on who you ask. They're getting paid/selling, aren't they? But I can tell there's a man behind the curtain pulling the strings, so it doesn't work for me, personally.

But, all writers (even planners) free-write portions of their story. They don't plan every tiny, minute detail. Some details are made up as we go. In that regard, we're all pantsers and it works so long as it fits in the larger scheme of the story.

There isn't One True Way to write a story, only ways that work or don't work for you.

Pantsing works for some writers. Both the other writers in my critique group are pantsers to a certain extent. One produces first drafts that are much smoother and fluid than the other - mainly, I think, because she has the experience to know whether some twist or complication she's just thought of is likely to work.

I can sometimes plough ahead for several chapters, making it up as I go along, but will usually come to a point where I don't know what ought to happen next, and have to stop and think about it for a while.

I figure it's like anything else in life where there are two extreme choices and a lot of in-between the two to work with.

10% are pantsers.

10% have to plot down to the most minute point.

80% are somewhere between the two.

So, yea, it works for those who can do it. It doesn't work for me, because I'm not one of them. Full-detailed plotting doesn't work for me either. The closest I've ever come to pantser is a 26 part story I did through a series of prompts on a writing group. I had no idea where it would end when I started, but about mid way I figured it out and finished. lol

In the end it still comes back to "do what works for you." ;)

Pretty much all of my stories are pantsed. Pretty much all of the events are conceived as I go along; only the most major events are set in stone, and sometimes I change my mind on those as well.

I really can't create and stick to a plan for a story, because part of the fun of writing for me is seeing where the story goes and how the characters react to the situations they find themselves in. Any sort of a planned storyline feels too constrictive and takes the surprise out of weaving tales for me.

As a pantser, I think it works if you're willing to put in the work in when it's time to edit. There are also various levels of pantsing vs planning... I tend to have a SUPER basic outline, and adhere to that, so that I at least know what my overall goal is, even if I don't know how the story will take me there.

Actually, one day when I was waiting on my math tutor, I pulled out my computer and randomly started to write. I wrote a few paragraphs and then logged out. A week later, I came back to it and was about to delete it, but I added a bit more.. Then an idea for a story struck my mind. I continued to write and slowly as I went, I made plans for the rest of the story.. Contemplating on what I wanted to happen or not happen to my characters. Yes. I believe that it can work, but it takes a particular inspiration to do it, and it hits randomly.

Good luck,

~Dee

I tried winging a story once - I ended up getting halfway through and realising that nothing was happening. I didn't even know what the conflict or resolution would be.

I always plan my stories now so that I know where they're headed and how they're going to end. Otherwise I just reach a dead end.

No i might never attempt and flirt for a terrific answer, especially with somebody that had as eye-catching a grin and long eye-catching hair and and an angel face like yours, Nope does never nor have I even have tried.

I love writing like that. The end result is not always something good, but it's a blast to write that way and to me, that's what counts.