Pantser or plotter - there's no wrong way to write your story

By Ruth de Jauregui

I've spent a lot of time thinking and writing about different writing styles -- by the seat of the pants or plotting every inch of the tale.

While I'm forcing myself to write Bitter Nights in a linear fashion, my other project has multiple chapters that will have to be woven into the narrative. That's not always an easy task, and sometimes you have to cut out some of your best writing because it doesn't fit the story any more. (Ummm, cut and paste it into a new doc, maybe you can recycle it into a sequel or entirely new tale!)

I know I'm not the only writer that writes chapters as they appear in my head and then work to tie them all together in a coherent story. As a pantser, it can make it harder to weave a coherent whole. Even a pantser can add a simple timeline to help organize the story and tie new chapters to the ones that need to be later in the narrative. 

It does seem ironic that I'm such a pantser with fiction. I started off my writing career with nonfiction.  I really am accustomed to working with an outline for certain projects. Fiction, not so much. Nonfiction, absolutely. 

My first book

Whether you write your stories in a linear flow, outline them every inch of the way, or write bits and pieces and chapters and then link them together later, there's really no "wrong" way to write a story. As long as the story flows when you're done, you did it right. 

#RuthDJ  #PantserOrPlotter  #Bitter  #ASmallGangOfAuthors