Flying While Grounded

There are two basic kinds of writers, outliners and panstsers. What does that mean?

It means there are those writers who plan ahead, they may spend hours figuring out where their story will start, how the middle will play out, and where it will end. They know who their characters are, all their flaws, strengths, and weaknesses. These writers know everything, or almost everything, about the world they’re creating.

Then you have the pantsers who don’t plan a single thing or plan very little, these writers fly by the seat of their pants. They go into it with a basic understanding of one thing that might be crucial to their storyline. They may not even know who their characters are yet.

You may fall somewhere in the middle of the two. You might plan a few things, like basic plot lines or a few of the man characters, the basics of your world.

If you’re going to write you’ll have people from both factions telling you their way is the right way for you to write your book. The truth is, whatever works best for you is the correct way. I don’t believe there is strictly a right or wrong way to do things. If it works for you then do it. Don’t get hung up on what’s ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ while writing, as long as your book comes together in the end and the story is coherent and entertaining, who cares how you got there? Go for whatever gets you through the process to the end.