Thursday, November 03, 2011

Going Both Ways: Outline vs Pantser

Today I'm on the road over at The Pen and Parchment talking about a recent revelation I had regarding outlining vs pantsing.


A sneak peek:
I realized something recently. I’m an outliner all the way when it comes to crafting the plots in my stories. But for my character arcs, I’m a total pantser. I always know where my characters are going, but rarely how they’ll get there.

To me, this is the best of both worlds, especially since I write science fiction and fantasy, which tends to be fairly plot-focused. I can devote as much time as I need prepping my story framework, then turn my characters loose and see what happens. Not only does it allow me to spend more time developing those characters as I write, it keeps the story fresh for me. I never know how things are going to unfold.
Head on over to The Pen and Parchment for the rest of the post! Hope to see you there!

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for coming over today. Your post is full of insight. :) I love it when I get a glimpse of another author's life and learn that I'm really not as "crazy" or as "different" as I always thought I was. ;)

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  2. Most welcome! Thanks for having me. That insight is exactly why I do the "How they do it" posts here. There are so many different ways to write, and no matter how crazy you think your way is, someone else does it to :)

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