Often seen as Planner vs Pantser, every writer is familiar with this. These are, according to popular culture, the two types of writers: Those who plan, and those who wing it. Which one are you? That is often asked. But this is not the right question. The right question is, is it accurate?

The Right Question

When I first came across the idea of Outliners vs. Improvisors, I had already been writing for several years just fine. But in the search for improving my writing, I came to the conclusion that I was an Improvisor. I started every story the same way: Write! Write like mad, everything that comes to your head, everything you see and think of, write! Those are not the thoughts of an Outliner, surely! As I went along, I soon came to think of outlining as not only tedious, but terrible for my flow, my way of writing. For my first several stories, this proved true. Outlining stilted my creativity, made everything more like a schedule, not a painting. While writing the Last Captain Sails Again, being an Improvisor worked. And I thought it would stay that way. But then! Book Two, The Last Captain In Chains, and everything changed. I can’t improvise. I can’t just write. I need an outline, to connect everything from book one and the unwritten book three into the as of yet unwritten book two. I cannot simply make it up as I go along. I need an outline. ‘But I am an improvisor! I should not have to outline!’ So what does this do to the theory that you are either an Outliner or an Improvisor? In plain speaking, it blasts it apart.

You Have To Be Both

The truth of the matter is, every writer should be both. Every writer has to be both, or their story falls apart. Improvisation and outlining are not mutually exclusive. They are stages of writing. Just like drafts. First draft, second draft, twentieth, one-hundred-and-fiftieth, et cetera. You cannot say that you can write a second draft without having written the first. You cannot say you have a story without a plot, an outline. You cannot say that your very first story ideas were at hand, simply there, for you to pick up, without any creativity or improvisation. The Outliner and the Improvisor are both very important to a writer, and when you believe that you can only be one or the other, you and your writing suffers.

What is it?

What is the definition of these words? Planner vs Pantser, Architect vs Gardener, Outliner vs Improvisor.

Planner/Architect/Outliner

These are the three words that I have seen for the first ‘type’ of writer. Actually, Planner and Architect are the only two that I have seen, I made up Outliner for the purpose of this article. But it means the same thing. The Outliner is the one who plans, starts at the very beginning of the story and writes everything that will happen, or at least all the major points of the story.

Pantser/Gardener/Improvisor

Again, I made up Improvisor for this article. The Improvisor is the one who has no particular schedule in mind, they simply write, see what comes, and go off of that. They do not, like the Outliner, start at the very beginning and plan. Perhaps they do not even start at the beginning. Take it as it comes might be their motto.

Pros and Cons

Outliner

Pros: You have a stable, solid, unholy (without holes) story, a perfect foundation. You have seen all the difficulties and fixed them, and so now the house is ready to be built on top.

Cons: Once you are out of the outlining stage, what then? You are an Outliner, making outlines for your stories is what you do! You cannot outline the poetic metaphors to describe the sky. You cannot outline the intense emotion, the searing pain. You cannot outline your storytelling.

Improvisor

Pros: Creative writing? No problem! Imagination is your forté. Making things up, inventing things on the spot, comes easy for you, and it is much more enjoyable than sitting and staring at the screen, trying to come up with the next thing in the plot.

Cons: You are (like me) on book two, and you are caught. How can an Improvisor dare to outline! That is the Outliner’s way, and you are not an Outliner! You are stuck in your writing, and you do not know how to get out!

These examples are a little exaggerated, but the idea is still the same. There comes a point in the life of an author who makes money from their writing that outlining stops, and improvisation begins, or vice versa. The time comes that you have to get rid of the idea of boxes, where you fit in precisely, and simply write because it works and you have to finish your book.

Conclusion

Planners vs Pantsers really do not exist except in the world of the writers who write for the pleasure of writing. When you have no reason to really get past your first draft of anything, you can be an Outliner, you can be an Improvisor, you can mess with things and try things out, and leave them if you do not like it. Once you have gotten past the first draft and are determined to go on with the story, this has to change. Outlining and Improvising are both necessary to the life of a writer. You have to be Both!

Next Week…

Have you had difficulty focusing on one story? Have you written a few thousand words, then decided to move on to another story for one reason or another? Have you found this a problem, because you want to publish a book, but you cannot stay on one long enough to even get through the first draft? Next week, I will be giving tips that I have found helpful to stay focused on one story, even though it is very hard, to get it through to the publishing process. Until then, keep writing, keep learning, and keep growing.