Plotter and pantser
Methods & processThe two writer temperaments: one plans everything before writing; the other discovers the story by writing it.
Example
The plotter knows the ending before line one; the pantser discovers it in chapter 28, along with the hero.
The distinction opposes two relationships to planning: the architect (plotter) designs the building before laying a stone — structure, sheets, scene lists — while the gardener (pantser) plants a seed (a situation, a character) and watches it grow, discovering the story by writing it. The gardening image is notably associated with George R. R. Martin, a self-declared gardener; "pantser" comes from writing "by the seat of your pants."
Neither is right: there are planned masterpieces and grown ones. In practice almost everyone is hybrid — pantser in the first draft, plotter in revision, or architect of the skeleton and gardener of the scenes. What matters is knowing your regime: the pantser's block is cured by writing, the plotter's by re-planning.
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