Member-only story
It’s almost November, which can mean only one thing — it’s time to decide whether you are a plotter or a pantser.
For the uninitiated, Nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month where people around the world attempt to start and finish a new novel of fifty thousand words. The challenge is to meet or exceed that word count and have the novel completed by the end of the month. Writing is usually a lonely occupation so this is the one time of the year where writing becomes a community with write-ins (actual or virtual, where you meet up to write), word wars and banter.
There are many ways to approach a novel, but those who partake in Nanowrimo align themselves into one of two groups: plotter or pantser.
Plotters plan. They create character briefs, breakdowns of the plot and do background research. Some go into finite detail and know exactly what scene follows which and what happens in it. Their characters may have extensive backgrounds detailing anything from childhood trauma to their favourite flavour of ice-cream, none of which may actually make it into the novel.
Pantsers fly by the seat of their pants, hence the name. Some start on the first of November with nothing and just start writing. They may use a writing exercise to get going. Some start with a picture or piece of…
