Follow the White Rabbit: A Pantser’s Tale

By Patricia A. Jackson, @Treistan

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Every writer has their own process. Patricia A. Jackson shares how she follows her pantser heart.

Patricia A. Jackson is a high school Language Arts teacher in Pennsylvania. Her debut novel, Forging A Nightmare, an urban fantasy, is due out November 2021 from Angry Robot Books.

She has also published a number of short stories in the Star Wars Universe for the WestEnd Games quarterly Star Wars Adventure Journal. Her best known works are Black Sands of Socorro, a smugglers’ sourcebook about people of color for Star Wars: The Role-Playing Game, and The Final Exit, a short story about a dark Jedi’s redemption.

When not writing, she’s gaming. Her favorite pastimes being Witcher III, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect. If she’s not grading an endless pile of flash fiction from students, Patricia runs a Dungeons & Dragons club at her high school to promote the next generation of players, writes fanfiction for her favorite Japanese anime, Psycho Pass, and rides show horses in hunter/jumper competition.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Take it away Patricia…

Revision Tips for Pantsers: 3 Steps to a Full Rewrite

By Orly Konig, @OrlyKonig

Part of The How They Do It Series

JH: Having to revise on a tight deadline can give any writer nightmares, but sometimes we have a lot to do in little time. Orly Konig shares tips on how she managed a full rewrite in just five weeks—as a pantser. 

Orly Konig is an escapee from the corporate world. Now she spends her days chatting up imaginary friends, drinking too much coffee, and negotiating writing space around her cats. She is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and a member of the Tall Poppy Writers. She’s a book coach and author of The Distance Home and Carousel Beach.

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | BookBub | Goodreads

Take it away Orly…

Going from Pantser to Plotter

By Gerald Brandt, @GeraldBrandt 

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Changing our process can be tough, but sometimes we need to do things differently to meet our writing goals. Gerald Brandt shares his recent switch from pantser to plotter.

Gerald Brandt is an International Bestselling Author of Science Fiction and Fantasy. He is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. His current novel is The Rebel – A San Angeles Novel, published by DAW Books. His first novel, The Courier, also in the San Angeles series was listed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as one of the 10 Canadian science fiction books you need to read and was a finalist for the prestigious Aurora Award. Both The Courier and its sequel, The Operative, appeared on the Locus Bestsellers List. By day, Gerald is an IT professional specializing in virtualization. In his limited spare time, he enjoys riding his motorcycle, rock climbing, camping, and spending time with his family. He lives in Winnipeg with his wife Marnie, and their two sons Jared and Ryan.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter |

Take it away Gerald…

Suspenders for Pantsers: A Little Support for the Pantsing Writer

By Orly Konig, @OrlyKonig

Part of The How They Do It Series

JH: If outlining is too strict, but pantsing is too loose, you might consider using some plotting suspenders. Orly Konig shares her in-between process that mixes plotting and pantsing.

Orly Konig is an escapee from the corporate world. Now she spends her days chatting up imaginary friends, drinking too much coffee, and negotiating writing space around her cats. She is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and a member of the Tall Poppy Writers. She’s a book coach and author of The Distance Home and Carousel Beach.

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | BookBub | Goodreads

Take it away Orly…

Organizing the Chaos: 5 Revision Tips for Pantsers

By Orly Konig, @OrlyKonig

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Revising a novel takes many forms, and pantsers have a different approach. Orly Konig shares tips on revising as a pantser.

Orly Konig is an escapee from the corporate world. Now she spends her days chatting up imaginary friends, drinking too much coffee, and negotiating writing space around her cats. She is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and a member of the Tall Poppy Writers. She’s a book coach and author of The Distance Home and Carousel Beach.

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | BookBub | Goodreads

Take it away Orly…

How I Trick My Pantser Brain into Plotting

E. J. Wenstrom, @EJWenstrom

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Plotter or pantser, there's a lot to be said for just getting the story down--even if it's a mess. E.J. Wenstrom shares tips on how to hash out a novel.

E. J. Wenstrom believes in complicated heroes, horrifying monsters, purple hair dye and standing to the right on escalators so the left side can walk. Her award-winning fantasy series Chronicles of the Third Realm War features a peculiar mashup of mythology, folklore, and an extra dash of her own special brand of chaos. It starts with Royal Palm Literary Award Book of the Year Mud (#1), Tides (#2), and Sparks (#3), as well as the prequel Rain (#0).

When she isn’t writing fiction, E. J. Wenstrom is a regular contributor to DIY MFA and BookRiot, and co-hosts the FANTASY+GIRL Podcast.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Podcast

Take it away E.J….

Outlines Are for Revision (Say What?) A Different Approach for Your Process

By Spencer Ellsworth, @spencimus

Part of The How They Do It Series

JH: Unless you've been lucky enough to find your perfect writing process, odds are anything that might help you be more productive piques your interest. Spencer Ellsworth visits the lecture hall today with a different way to write that uses both plotter and pantser brains.

Spencer Ellsworth has been writing since he learned how. He is the author of The Great Faerie Strike, a tale of the Otherworld’s first labor union, from Broken Eye Books. He is also the author of the space opera Starfire Trilogy from Tor, and many other short works. He lives in Bellingham, WA, with his wife and three children, works at a small tribal college, and would really like a war mammoth, please.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Take it away Spencer…

Mind Mapping: A Pantser’s Path to Planning

By Orly Konig, @OrlyKonig

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: As a plotter, I’m always impressed by writers who can dive in a wrote a novel with little to outlining beforehand, and not have the story spiral out of control. Orly Konig visits the lecture hall today to share tips on mind mapping and its value—for pantsers and even plotters.

Orly Konig is an escapee from the corporate world. Now she spends her days chatting up imaginary friends, drinking too much coffee, and negotiating writing space around her cats. She is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and a member of the Tall Poppy Writers. She’s a book coach and author of The Distance Home and Carousel Beach.

Website | Goodreads| Facebook| Twitter | Instagram|

Take it away Orly…

Finding the Writing Process That Works For You

By Joyce Scarbrough, @JoyceScarbrough

Part of the How They Do It Series 

JH: Not every writer writes the same way, and it's our creative diversity that brings out the best stories from all of us. Joyce Scarbrough visits the lecture hall today to share some thoughts on process and how to find yours.

Joyce Scarbrough is a Southern woman weary of seeing herself and her peers portrayed in books and movies as either post-antebellum debutantes or barefoot hillbillies á la Daisy Duke, so all her heroines are smart, unpretentious women who refuse to be anyone but themselves. The former senior editor for Champagne Books, Joyce now does freelance editing in addition to writing full time. She writes both adult and YA fiction and has seven published novels as well as several short stories available as Kindle downloads. Joyce loves hanging out with other writers and stays active in her local writers’ guild as well as her regional chapter of SCBWI. She’s lived all her life in beautiful LA (lower Alabama), she’s the mother of three gifted children and a blind Pomeranian named Tilly, and she’s been married for 35 years to the love of her life—a superhero who disguises himself during the day as a high school math teacher and coach.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter |

Take it away Joyce...

Plotting Your Pants (Wait, That Sounds Bad…)

By Nick Wisseman, @NickWisseman

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: I love hearing about other writers' processes, especially when they mix the plotter and pantser sides. Nick Wisseman visits the lecture hall today to share how he does it, with a fun and quick process I think many folks will want to try. Join me in wishing him a big welcome.

Nick lives in Bear Lake, Michigan with his wife, daughter, forty cats, and twenty horses. (Okay, so there are actually ten times less pets than that, but most days it feels like more.) He's not quite sure why he loves writing twisted fiction, but there's no stopping the weirdness once he's in front of a computer. You can check out his latest oddities on his website.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Indie Bound

Take it away Nick...

Learning to be an Unapologetic “Planster”

By Amy Christine Parker, @amychristinepar

Part of the How They Do It Series 

JH: Process is personal, and every writer has one, typically somewhere on the sliding scale between plotter and pantser. YA author Amy Christine Parker joins us today to discuss her process and how she learned to live in the best of both worlds--plotter and pantser.

Amy writes full-time from her home near Tampa, Florida, where she lives with her husband, their two daughters, and one ridiculously fat cat. When she isn’t writing, more often than not, she can be found either visiting or planning a visit to Disney World. She is the author of GATED and ASTRAY with Random House Children’s. Visit her at amychristineparker.com and follow her on Twitter @amychristinepar.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indie Bound

Take it away Amy...

Can You Structure if You’re a Pantser?

By K.M. Weiland, @KMWeiland

JH: Please join me in welcoming author-blogger K.M. Weiland to the blog today, to chat with us about structure for pantsers. She has four tips to help writers who prefer to wing it first and ask questions later.

K.M. Weiland is the author of the epic fantasy Dreamlander, the historical western A Man Called Outlaw and the medieval epic Behold the Dawn. She enjoys mentoring other authors through her website Helping Writers Become Authors, her books Outlining Your Novel and Structuring Your Novel, and her instructional CD Conquering Writer’s Block and Summoning Inspiration. She makes her home in western Nebraska.

Take it away K.M....

The Trouble With Being a "Panther"

By Jane Kindred, @JaneKindred

Part of the How They Do It Series   

JH: I'd like to welcome fellow agency sister Jane Kindred to the blog today, to chat with us about something that baffles me. Writing without a net (or an outline). Since most of my own advice is colored by my love of story structure, I always love it when a guest author shares something that I'm not good at or do myself. If you've heard any of the reviews about her first novel, you'll see that pantsing works for Jane. And very well.

Jane began writing fantasy at age 12 in the wayback of a Plymouth Fury—which, as far as she recalls, never killed anyone…who didn’t have it coming. She spent her formative years ruining her eyes reading romance novels in the Tucson sun and watching Star Trek marathons in the dark. Although she was repeatedly urged to learn a marketable skill, she received a B.A. in Creative Writing anyway from the University of Arizona.

She now writes to the sound of San Francisco foghorns while two cats slowly but surely edge her off the side of the bed.

You can find Jane on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and on her website.

Take it away Jane... 

Going Both Ways: Outlines for Plot, Pantser for Character

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

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 to 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.

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!

Save the (Cat) Pantser! A Solution for Pantsers with Plotter Envy

By Roni Loren, @RoniLoren

JH: Got a fun one for you today. Roni Loren is here to share with us her thoughts on pantsing, plotting, and how using a little bit of both (with a dose of screenwriting) might just solve all your writing woes. Or at least help you find your way to making it all a little easier. She also gives me one more reason to check out a book everyone keeps talking about.

Roni wrote her first romance novel at age fifteen when she discovered writing about boys was way easier than actually talking to them. Since then, her flirting skills haven’t improved, but she likes to think her storytelling ability has.

Her debut novel CRASH INTO YOU will be released January 2012 by Berkley Heat/Penguin. If you want to read more posts like this one or follow her journey to debut authorhood, you can visit her writing blog Fiction Groupie or her author blog. She also tweets way too much for her own good.

Take it away Roni...

Pantser and Proud of it

By Lisa Langtry

JH: I always love when I have a guest pantser on How They Do It because I'm an outliner. It's fun to see how the other half lives, and even helps me with the more spontaneous side of my own writing. Today, we have Leslie Langtry, who writes about one of my favorite things. Assassins. (and does it with the best song spoof titles)


Leslie lives in the midwest with her husband (not an assassin), kids (not assassins), and dogs/cats/guineapigs (also, not assassins). While she has actually been asked if she has assassins in her family tree - alas, she does not. She does, however, enjoy writing about them and will continue the Bombay Family of Assassins Saga with PARADISE BY THE DASHBOARD LIGHTS, a novella due out in August.

Take it away Leslie...