Why I'm Giving Up Being a Pantser (and Why My Next Novel Needs a Map)

The Perilous Route of Discovery Writing

I am very happy with my next novel, Seeing Magic. It is deeper, better written, and a much more confident endeavor than Being Magic. Elana and Jerome’s arcs develop more fully and Lake Bounty becomes a more realized setting in Seeing Magic. I love Being Magic, of course, but I have learned a great deal since writing it and am pouring everything I have learned into Seeing Magic.  I wrote both books the same way in the classic pantser or discovery writer fashion. I had a minimal outline as a map and started writing, letting my characters and my instincts guide the story where it needed to go. As a writer, there is nothing better than allowing your words and imagination to flow freely across pages and build the world and characters that you’ve dreamt about writing for so long. I know that writers have long been broken into pantser and plotter camps, but I wonder whether there is another way.

As idyllic as that sounds, this approach has a hidden danger. 

Editing a discovery-written novel is a nightmare. More specifically, editing my discovery-written novel has been a nightmare. This was true for Being Magic, too, albeit to a lesser extent. However, Seeing Magic is a longer and more involved novel which has made editing it quantitatively more difficult to edit. Difficult–as in climbing Everest backward in sandals difficult. It’s not that my ideas aren’t good or that the plot doesn't make sense. The problem is in the details that readers will notice immediately. Scenes are either repetitive or too vague. Pacing is too slow or too fast. Questions that should have been answered lie unanswered and questions that were answered shouldn't have been questions in the first place. In short, it’s a mess. 

First drafts are supposed to be a mess. First drafts are supposed to be absolute catastrophes. But there’s a difference between a mess and an un-navigable series of sargasso seas that trap and misdirect the reader before returning them confused to their home port. It is taking so much more time and so much more effort to edit the book that I feel like I am on the same circular route my readers would be if they read the current version of my in-progress novel. All my due dates may be my own, but I want to finish this book and I have so many more I want to write. So many more books I need to write. 

Course Change Ahead

Standing on this storm-swept editorial precipice has made me realize I need to change my authorial ways. It’s hard for me to say it, but I need to be brave. For my next book, I need to plan. There, I said it. 

I don’t need to plan every aspect. If I take that approach I will spend the rest of my life planning and never write another chapter.  But, my map for my next novel at the very least needs to be more detailed and complete with all the landmarks, lost continents, and sea monsters it will find along its way. This is a huge sea change for me, but if I want to release a novel more than once a year, it’s a change I have to make. Writing isn’t a race – at least it shouldn’t be – but as my novels become longer and more complicated, my editing process grows with them. I’ve waited a lifetime to be the writer I am today, and I can’t wait  another–lifetime or even half of one–to release my next book. 

A Walk Down the Middle

Does that mean I am still a pantser? That I am still a discovery writer? I think maybe it’s time to eschew labels. I will take the middle path between pantser and plotter and discover how that looks for myself. I do know that I need to plan and outline my plot developments in much more detail on a chapter-by-chapter, beat-by-beat basis. I need to outline where my characters are in themselves and for themselves (or even against themselves!) as they reach each milestone in the book. I will no doubt have to experiment and see what level of details feel right before I start writing. In three years’ time, I have no doubt that I will write a similar blog post describing how my process must change once again. 

I have learned a lot since I sat down to seriously write my first novel, Being Magic. I’ve learned enough to know that I need to embrace a little change and make my editing into something much easier. I’ve learned enough to know there are ways to manage how I work in order to make fewer challenges for myself. 

If you are a writer or any kind of creator reading this, how do you embrace change in how you work?