On Writing: Pants or Plots or Both, Oh My!

There are two types of writers: pantsers and plotters.

Pantsers sit down and start writing. They may have an idea for a story, they may even have some kind of plan for it, or characters or a setting or situations or a line of dialogue or something, but for the most part, they write like they fly: by the seat of their pants.

Plotters don't sit down to write until they've finished plotting. They have an idea, a plan, characters, settings, situations, dialogue, an outline. These people probably map out their road trips and stick to itineraries and only shop with grocery lists. Dweebs.

I'm a plotter.

Each method has its merits. Pantsers get all the excitement of being a reader with all the power of being God. Plotters don't end up in the ER with heart palpitations because some new character popped out of the snow and scared them into a heart attack. Each method has drawbacks. Pantsers don't always know when and where to end a story and plotters get sick-to-death of the painstaking attention to minutiae required from the very beginning. 

Of course, most writers probably incorporate a little of both into how they write. Pantsers start off with vague ideas of what happens when and to whom and plotters allow new characters and situations they didn't originally plan for.

Regardless of what type of writer you are, you absolutely must have a clear idea of the story you're telling. If you don't know what you're trying to say, your writing won't be clear. If your writing isn't clear, your readers end up confused. Confused readers are unhappy readers. Unhappy readers are not regular readers.

You probably want regular readers.

One thing to keep in mind is that clarity of prose can be achieved in editing. So write, and be as messy and verbose as you need to be, but always always write toward the point.

And always edit.