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Going from ‘Pantster’ to Outliner

November 24, 2014 / Business of Writing / 10 COMMENTS


by Elizabeth Craig, @elizabethscraigWriter Unboxed 2

I loved the organic, ‘pantster’ approach to writing.   I followed the genre-determined general structure  (meet victim, meet suspects, question suspects…) and then happily made up each story as I went along.

This worked really well until I started writing three books a year…a book each for several different series.  Then, apparently, I was juggling too many balls at once and I had to give myself more of a plan to follow.

I’ve got a post up on Writer Unboxed, which is a great resource for writers if you’re not familiar with it.  My post covers how and why I changed to outlines and what I learned from the experience, analyzing my results.  Hope you’ll pop over.

  1. Hi Elizabeth – you’ve experienced many of the gambits of a writer’s life and we can always learn things from you … so popping over now .. cheers Hilary

  2. YOU are my inspiration! I think the panster in you is your secret hippy personality. I feel like a free spirit, but if I’m not organized in some way, I will fall apart. Happy Thanksgiving!

  3. It wasn’t until I found my own way to plot that I could panster with controlled abandon. I would start out Phoenix and end up on Pluto with no clue where I missed my turn. I finally threw out the how-to’s and “helpful” software and drew a mind map on paper – yes they still make that stuff and it works wonderfully.

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