The Plot Thickens....as a Pantser!

What style of writer are you?

I’m a discovery writer, or at least, that’s what I’ve discovered recently whilst drafting my next chapter book.

I was chatting to my brilliant ‘Sweary American Friend’ (also an author-illustrator, and that is her full title as named by my children (she does know) the other day and describing how bonkers it was to turn up to write each day not actually knowing what’s going to happen in the story. So it’s like reading a new book by someone else, except this is you, writing a book, for someone else to read with no idea what’s going to happen when you turn the page - like I said, bonkers. She laughed and said,
“It’s cos you’re a bleeping Pantser Holly!”

I know in other parts of the world Pants are trousers, but to me, undies!

I wasn’t sure how I felt about being called a Pantser, and indeed, didn’t actually know what it meant but it didn’t sound great… Was this affirmation that I was, as suspected, a total fraud and doing this whole writing thing wrong?? So I did what all good Brit’s do and didn’t say anything, instead letting the thought fester in me, the word “Pantser” taunting me as I tried to punch my way through the chapters.

After two days of this, I caved and googled.

AHHHH! Well, that makes sense….kind of!

You see, despite having written for children for 25 years now, it’s only the past few years that I’ve been dealing with writing in chapters and only now that I questioned if I was doing it all wrong. We all know that writing a story is better with a plan right? So why was my brain not wanting to play ball and actively running full tilt in the opposite direction of structured thought?

Back to google.

Reading this described what I was doing completely! I was jumping in the car each day, picking up my characters and going for a spin, no satnav, no map, no idea… sounds ridiculous, sounds reckless but, tell that to my brain. Better still, tell it to Steven King! Oh the joy of finding out that there are hugely successful authors out there who also have a kamikaze writing system - TOTAL perspective game-changer!

Finding out that the way I was building my stories was a legitimate way of working, recognised by others, blew my mind and was honestly, the mid-project hug I desperately needed. I could do this, I wasn’t a terrible writer after all, I just needed to trust the process, my process, the one my clever, exhausted little brain had created, all by itself.

Favourite words to describe a Pantser include: Intuitive, Spontaneous, Exploratory. “The writing process is an adventure, allowing for unexpected twists and turns as the story unfolds.”

So for me, who has, at times, the attention span of a gnat, Pantsing offers the excitement of not knowing what’s around the corner, it’s writing with dopamine, often only having a character, or a title to start with, a lot like this Substack post! It’s fun, it’s liberating and it leans into my creative strengths without confining them to rules that don’t necessarily help my brain function. It also allows me to dive deeply into my character’s world, building a plot that feels authentic and exciting to me, and I hope, to the reader too.

My first chapter book leant hard into what I know and love.

Without the need to keep retreating to notes or following a plan, my creative brain races along uninterrupted, joyfully exploring the twists and turns as they appear on the page. It could be easy to wonder how to stay on track without a plan to follow but because I’m so absorbed in the world, in the story, the plot thread stays strong.

There is a downside though! As a Pantser, your stories can grow arms and legs at an alarming rate (not the downside) and it can be hard, very hard, to predict how long you are going to take to meet a deadline. A problem when you have a tendency to sail alarmingly close to a hand-in date before real action happens! My current book grew so many appendages that meeting the deadline had me writing til 4am very much like this:

So, whether you’re a Plotter or a Pantser, or a Plantser (a hybrid of the two) know that you are doing it just perfectly, for you. Write joyfully in whatever form that takes you. If detailed lists and plans make your heart sing then go go go and know that I am wildly envious of your planning superpowers! But, if like me you want to hop in the car, Thelma and Louise style, just do it, let your writing take you on adventures only you can dream of, and enjoy the ride!

Thanks for reading. I’d love to know what your writing style is and if any of this resonates, pop it in the comments below!

Much love,