KILLER QUESTIONS - Pantser or Plotter?

Killer Questions – Pantser or Plotter?

Because each member of Writers Who Kill writes differently, we decided to share our methods with you. The first aspect is whether each is a Pantser or Plotter, and whether the author keeps files, piles of notes, or what as part of their process.

Korina Moss - I write a sketchy outline in a notebook, then put the outline on index cards to get the proper sequence for suspects, red herrings, and reveals. Then type a bad first draft to make sure the story holds together, then re-write it properly with plenty of revisions. I have one spiral bound notebook per manuscript, and all my notes from first idea to final changes are in it. 

E.B. Davis - I started out as a pantser but became a plotter. I loosely outline, keeping a storyboard of scenes that contain my plot points. Then fill in so that the protagonist goes from one scene to another picking up speed as the clues build the case. 

K.M. Rockwood - I’d like to be more of a plotter, but it doesn’t work out. When I have tried to set up outlines, etc, I find my characters absolutely refusing to cooperate. They usually have a much better idea of how the story should go than I do. I do try to keep a file of characters, time lines and places. One of my nightmares is that I will write a story where Leslie starts out as a heavy middle-age White woman in the beginning and somehow morphs to an athletic Black male teenager by the end. Without me realizing it.

Shari Randall/Meri Allen - Plantser. I've learned through several books that life is easier if I take the time to sketch out an outline. However, since I tend to write in scenes, I end up with a bunch of scenes that I pray connect in a coherent manner. Grateful to say, that's been the case, but I always feel like I'm pushing my luck.

Nancy Eady - Both.  I start writing, then about a third of the ways into it, I scribble an outline on a napkin or something, then later transfer that to something more permanent I can work with.  

Kait Carson - Plotster. I hit the highlights and then trust to the muses.

Lisa Malice - “Lest She Forget” was a pantser all the way after I nailed down the basic story in my head. My WIP requires some diagramming of characters understand adoptive relationships, but it’s a pantser effort otherwise.

Martha Reed - I’m hybrid. I know the ending but as noted above, I need to imagine and create the middle. I do keep a file of half-baked ideas, and I use index cards to scribble down interesting suggestions, character ideas, and notes. When I’m ready to commit to the new book, I draw squares on a sheet of poster board, add the beginning and the end, and then scoot the index cards across the squares until all of them are used. It’s magical how it always works out. I’m afraid if I plotted first, I would lose interest in the story before it got written. But there is no only one-way is right process. I’m always open to learning new methods that make my writing better. We each create our own process that works best for us. 

Susan Van Kirk - No question whatsoever, I’m a plotter. Former teacher—terribly organized and orderly. I have a series bible for each of my series, and I religiously add to it after every book. 

Mary Dutta - Pantser. Short stories are very forgiving about letting ideas develop on the fly.

Marilyn Levinson - I'm a bit of both pantser and plotter. I jot down notes, but not constantly. I know how my book begins, the theme and first murder, and create the rest as I go along.

Margaret S. Hamilton - I free write a loose plot outline with tentpoles at the quarter, half, and three-quarter points, with the big middle divided into reactive and proactive phases. I refer to a stack of research printouts and maintain a large day-by-day calendar keeping track of the main character’s movements and those of her antagonist.

Heather Weidner - I am a plotter. I outline and write lots of notes. I also keep a spreadsheet for each series to record names and key details. 

Annette Dashofy - As for plotter vs. pantser, it varies from book to book. Mostly I start out with an outline, but it falls apart about halfway through and I go into pantser mode from there. I have files saved on Scrivener, in notebooks, and on index cards and sticky notes. It’s a mess.

Grace Topping - As a former technical writer, accustomed to analyzing things before writing about them, I am definitely a plotter. I write long notes using pen and paper to develop an outline before I start writing on my computer. 

Sarah Burr - I make a “plot by day” outline when I first start a project. It covers every day featured in the manuscript and what needs to happen each day to advance the plot/mystery forward. It allows me the flexibility to change events and characters rather easily, but as long as I stay on track with the events occurring, I make it to the end!

Molly MacRae - I plot by pantsing. My plots don’t arrive fully fledged, they get here through a process as creative as any pantster’s. I have oodles of files and piles of notes. 

Lori Roberts Herbst - Hybrid. I am by nature a plotter. Even in my personal life, I'm most comfortable when everything is planned and organized. But when I'm writing, I find myself veering off the path with regularity. A new character takes shape, a villain doesn't come through as I'd expected, or an unseen twist makes its way into the book. It's much more fun than I would have thought.

Connie Berry - I often say I’m a plantser (somewhere in the middle), but actually I’m beginning to like the term “tentpoler.” I put up tent poles across which to stretch the plot.

James M. Jackson - Certified Pantser and electronic file keeper, using Scrivener, Excel, and when it comes time for editors, Word.

Debra H. Goldstein – By nature, a pantser, but my editor for the Sarah Blair series insisted on a detailed synopsis for each book. I duly submitted them and then, as I wrote, I’d have to email him that a new character or new twist had appeared. It was never a problem.