Friday, April 9, 2010

To Pants or not to Pants... what the heck is it?

I was asked the other day if I was a pantser or a plotter. After crooking a brow at the asker, I casually mentioned that I had leather pants on, so I'd say I was a pantser--even if I prefer my CB's out of their pants.

The asker's eyes widened to the size of saucers and her mouth plopped open.

Now that's when my good friend Kealie stepped in and murmured in my ear that the person wanted to know if I plotted out my stories or wrote by the seat of my pants.

Oh.

Well, I replied, that's not nearly as fun as my version.

So, I guess that means I need to answer the question.

Pantser.

Really, do I look like the type that plans a whole lot of anything out? No, I like to just let the characters decide where things will go (literally) and then let things play themselves out. And yes, things can go awry or totally awesome if you take this method. Then again, things can get out of hand and end up like crap, too.

I did try to plot a story once. And then when I sat down to pen it, everything ended up skewed, so I decided what I'd plotted was a waste of time other than I knew my characters pretty well.

But I yammer and digress and need to get back to the boys. They'll go to bed soon and are restless.

Ta ta!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great LOL post, Megan!

I'm a bit of a "plot-pant" (that's what I call it anyway) as I do a tad of both plotting and writing by the seat of my pants.

I start-out with a rough - and I mean rough, rough - outline of my characters and major story questions and twists then just let my fingers fly across my keyboard trying to connect all these fabulous points.

'Course what the hell happens is most times way, wayyyy far away from what my original outline said would take place.

Now that's fun stuff and keeps me going with gusto til I reach The End.

Sexy Sassy Smart Plot-Pant Wishes --- D. D. Scott