Pantsing vs. Plotting: Which Writing Style Is Right for You?

Every writing workshop eventually sparks the same debate: should you outline your novel before you write it, or dive in and discover the story as you go? Writers have strong opinions on both sides. Stephen King famously calls outlines a form of lying — an attempt to pretend you know where the story is going before it has told you. James Patterson, who outlines his novels in 60-page detail before writing a word, has sold 400 million books.

The truth is that neither approach is inherently superior. They're different creative processes that suit different kinds of brains, different kinds of stories, and different stages of a writer's development. The goal of this article is to help you understand both approaches — and figure out which one (or which combination) is right for you.

What Is Pantsing?

“Pantsing” — short for “writing by the seat of your pants” — means starting a story with minimal (or no) planning and discovering it through the act of writing. Pantsers often start with a character, a situation, or a single image and follow wherever it leads.

Pantsers are sometimes called discovery writers— a term that better captures the joy at the heart of the approach. For pantsers, the first draft is an extended exploration. They're finding out what happens alongside the reader.

Famous Pantsers

Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, George R.R. Martin (who describes himself as “a gardener”), Ray Bradbury, and Neil Gaiman all identify as discovery writers to varying degrees.

Advantages of Pantsing

• Prose often has an organic vitality and surprise
• Characters are allowed to take over — often in exciting, unexpected directions
• No time invested in outlines that might not survive contact with the story
• The writing process itself is more exciting and discovery-driven

Disadvantages of Pantsing

• First drafts often require substantial structural revision
• More likely to get lost in the middle
• Abandonment rates are higher — pantsers often lose momentum
• Subplots can run away from the story's core

What Is Plotting?

Plotters outline extensively before drafting. A plotter might spend weeks or months developing their story structure, character arcs, scene sequence, and chapter-by-chapter plan before writing the first sentence of actual prose.

For plotters, the outline is a safety net: it means they never sit down to write without knowing what happens next. The cognitive work of figuring out the story is front-loaded, which frees the drafting process to focus on prose, voice, and detail.

Famous Plotters

John Grisham, James Patterson, Dan Brown, John Irving, and Brandon Sanderson all outline extensively. Sanderson has described spending months on world-building and plotting before starting a novel.

Advantages of Plotting

• First drafts tend to be structurally cleaner
• Lower risk of getting lost or abandoning the project
• Plotting problems are caught before thousands of words are written
• Easier to write out of order if needed

Disadvantages of Plotting

• Can feel constraining — sometimes the story wants to go somewhere else
• Significant time investment before any prose is written
• Prose can feel mechanical if the writer is just “filling in” the outline
• Outlines sometimes don't survive contact with the actual writing

The Third Way: Plantsing

The majority of working novelists are neither pure plotters nor pure pantsers — they're somewhere in between. The “plantser” uses a loose structure as a safety net but allows themselves to deviate and discover.

A plantser might know their beginning, a few key scenes in the middle, and their ending — but leave the scene-by-scene detail undetermined. They have enough structure to avoid getting completely lost, and enough freedom to be surprised.

Most writing coaches suggest some version of this: know your character's goal, know the ending, know a few turning points — and trust yourself to find the path between them.

Which Approach Should You Use?

The honest answer is: whichever one gets you to a finished novel. There's no objective evidence that plotters or pantsers produce better fiction. The approach is a personal creative process, not a quality indicator.

Some practical guidance:

• If you keep abandoning projects mid-draft: Try more planning. Knowing where you're going makes the murky middle more navigable.
• If your outlines feel lifeless and you dread the writing: Try less planning. You might need the discovery element to stay engaged.
• If you finish drafts but spend years revising: Your story might benefit from more structure upfront to reduce structural revision later.
• If you're writing your first novel: Try a light outline — just key turning points — and see what happens.

Most writers try several methods before settling into a personal approach. Be willing to experiment. The method is not the point — the finished novel is.