Welcome to my How To Write A Novel series (the title of which is rather self-explanatory). I’m taking you through the key components and most common questions I get asked about novel writing – from the very first idea to how to know when you’re done – in a way that aims to provide real, practical, and not-so-generic advice, so you can write a novel you’re proud of, as painlessly as possible (but let’s be honest, you’re birthing something here – there’s going to be at least some pain involved).
4: OPTIONS FOR PLOTTING A NOVEL
So you’ve got an idea (if you haven’t, check out part one of the series – rather appropriately named Finding an Idea). But now what? Do you just start writing?
Most people will. Their idea will have come with a blazing opening scene, and they’ll be so raring to write it they’ll fly through that first page and then–
Huh. The idea didn’t come with a defined second chapter. How does the first part connect to the rest of the story?
This is where planning comes in.
The seemingly millennium-old debate: plotter vs pantser
But… I’m stuck
Option A: the plotter
Option B: the pantser
Option C: the hybrid plantser
Look at the novel you’re trying to tell
There is no wrong or right way, even once you’ve started
Key takeaways
The seemingly millennium-old debate: plotter vs pantser
If you’ve been around the writing scene for any length of time (read: half a second), you’ve probably heard the term “plotting vs pantsing”. It’s based on the idea there are two types of writer: one who plans out all or most of the scenes of their novel before they start writing (plotter) and one who does no planning and writes each scene as it comes. Depending on how detailed they go, a plotter pretty much knows all the scenes and events that are going to take place in their novel – so the start, how that leads through the middle, and then how it’s all going to end. A pantser generally writes a scene, then based on that will decide what’s going to happen in the next one, then the next, and so on. They might have a rough idea of how the story’s going to end (just no idea how they’re going to get there), or they might literally just have an opening scene and they’re seeing where that takes them.
There is no right or wrong person here – both are highly valid methods of writing, so long as it works for you. Stephen King: massive pantser. J.K. Rowling: massive plotter. Both turn out books well-worth reading.
It’s also totally okay to be both – sometimes you might want to plan something out to the nth degree, sometimes you just want to see where a tiny idea can take you in the next hour.
With writing, there is no magic formula, or cookie-cutter template. As long as you’re creating something someone can read, you’re doing it right.
But… I’m stuck
Whenever I start a new project and I’m deciding how much I want to plan, I’m aways reminded of an analogy someone once told me a long time ago (so, I’m sorry, I can’t remember who it was). The difference between plotting and pantsing is like taking a road trip somewhere you’ve never been before. The plotter knows the destination and finds the best route to get there, highlighting all the points of interest and stops they want to make on the way; whereas, the pantser just loads the car with fuel and sets off on whatever road looks most exciting, ready to experience whatever they most like the look of as they go.
Both have their pros and cons. And sometimes it depends on the project (or, for the analogy’s sake, the type of trip). Plotters will say you’ll miss out on some incredible stopovers because you blew past the turnoff you didn’t even know was there, while pantsers will say you missed out on finding an unknown turnoff because you were so fixated on the ones you had marked down. (I’m leaving you to apply the analogy to writing here.)
My advice, if you’re not sure about either – you want the rush of adventure, but you’re also a little nervous about heading out unprepared for the first time? Mix the two (Option C below). It’ll give you a framework to keep you on track, without taking all the fun out of uncovering your first story.
Option A: the plotter
As the name suggests, plotters have a plan. This could be as complex as every chapter written out scene by scene and beat by beat on a cork board that spans the entire length and width of a wall, or as simple as a flowchart outlining how the beginning works its way to the end scribbled on the back of a napkin. (Do napkins have backs?)
The point is, plotters have some kind of plan. They know (or at least have a solid idea) of where they’re going to end up.
If you’re going to plot your novel, start simple: write one or two sentences explaining what happens in the beginning, the middle, and then the end, and how you get from one to the next. And then you can expand from there as much as you want. (And if you’re interested in plotting your novel, check back for Part Five of this series, as I’ll be walking through exactly how I plot a novel.)
Option B: the pantser
Some people write for the thrill of the discovery. They don’t want to define where they’re going – they want to see what happens turn by turn.
Pantsers (known as such because they’re essentially ‘writing by the seat of their pants’) have no plan. They have an idea, and then they start to write. Stephen King is well known for his love of conjuring a ‘what if’ scenario and just seeing what happens.
Personally, I think truly great pantsers just have a knack for storytelling – it’s not something that can easily be taught. But it can be practiced. I do think it’s good to know your characters well before embarking on a pantsed novel, and you should be prepared to potentially have a little more work in the editing stages later (you might need to weave storylines that appeared midway into the beginning, or pull out strands that never ended up going anywhere – though this can happen when plotting too!).
Option C: the hybrid plantser
There is a secret, third option if you’re not sure whether you want the rigidity of the plotter or the abyss of the pantser. Merge the two.
Surely if you plot anything though, that constitutes being a plotter? Well, yes, but no.
If we go back to our ‘roadmap’ analogy, a plantser (no idea if that’s a real thing or if I just made it up right here) would maybe circle some key points on the map they’d like to visit. But the route they take to get there, and the other places they visit on the way – that’s all unknown.
A plotter would have the route. A pantser wouldn’t even have a destination. A pantser knows a few places they want to go, but is open to seeing how they get there.
So, how do you do this? Stake out your key moments. Maybe you know that, at some point, Character A and Character B are going to be kidnapped by the villain. Maybe you know they’re going to kiss at some point. Perhaps there’s going to be an earthquake midway that shakes up everything. Write down your few key moments and then find your way towards them. That way, if you ever get lost or stuck, you can see where you were supposed to be headed and chart a way to get there.
Look at the novel you’re trying to tell
Sometimes, the novel itself tells you what kind of option to pick. If you’re writing a novel that jumps back and forth between different narratives, or weaves in one character’s past at the same time as you’re telling another’s present, it’ll probably make things a lot easier to plot out what happens first. Alternatively, if you have a great idea for a single scene or circumstance (like two characters discovering they’re trapped in a haunted house, or someone waking up after a twenty-storey fall), you might just want to start writing and see where it takes you.
There is no wrong or right way, even once you’ve started
However you’ve decided to plot (or not) your novel, it’s never set in stone. You could plot everything, start writing, and then realise it makes no sense for your characters to do that. You might start pantsing and then decide you want to build in a complex time jump or emotional arc that’s going to require some pre-planning.
Your decision is not set in stone. Your plot is not concrete until you hit the final save on the final edit. You can plan as much or as little as you want, and stray from any original decisions at any point, or commit to your process the entire way. You might be pantsing, but decide halfway you want to plot out the next three chapters, and then go back to pantsing. You might have a step-by-step plot, but deviate for a few scenes and then rejoin somewhere else. What matters is you get from the beginning of your story to the end.
However you do that, is whatever way works best for you.
Key takeaways
- There are three main ways to plot a novel – the plotter, the pantser, and the hybrid planter.
- There is no right way to plot a novel.
- You can plan as much or as little as you like, and change your mind at any point during the writing process.
- Look at the novel you’re trying to tell – sometimes it makes sense to plot, and sometimes it doesn’t.
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