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The Art of Pantsing as a Writer
If you haven’t ever dipped your toes in the Nanowrimo waters, you might not be familiar with the term ‘pantsing’. It even has a Nano antonym: ‘plotting’.
Every November (and now there are extensions in April and July) writers and would-be writers are challenged to write fifty thousand words of a completed novel. In a month. This is not a challenge to be taken lightly. It is doable, but does require some planning and sacrifice. On October thirty-first, tell friends and family you’ll see them again in December. Turn off your phone, bid adieu to Facebook and be prepared to spend your free time writing, writing and writing.
There are two ways to ‘do’ Nano and these can be applied to writing generally: pantsing or plotting. Using the former method you aren’t really sure where your characters or novel will take you, but you’re onboard for the journey. It’s like jumping on the back of a tour bus carrying a rock band. You know it’s going to be fun, but you’re not quite sure what state you’re going to end up in at the end and what kind of book you’re going to end up with or even if it will be wearing the right genre. If you’re a plotter, you plan out what is going to happen in your novel, sometimes in intricate detail. Some plotters even plan out scene by scene. It’s more like receiving your tour schedule for the philharmonic: you know where and when you are going, your violin is perfectly tuned and you know exactly what the concert will sound like because you have the sheet music to…
