Steven Barnes contrasts pantsers, who write spontaneously, with plotters, who plan ahead. He argues writers should pick whichever method gets them results: his life writing technique aims for one to four stories monthly. Ray Bradbury was a pantser. Output matters more than ideology.
Hi, Steve Barnes here with Life Writing Live. Just actually going to be doing. Recording our next podcast later on today, but I just thought I'd jump back in and make some comments. The subject is going to be the difference between what's called pantsers and plotters. What means, in other words, the difference between people who plan out their stories in advance and those who just kind of zen it just kind of, you know, follow the story, where it's going to go. Now, you know, there are going to be aspects of life where, you know, you. You're always going to have that. You know, do you plan out conversations or do you just let them happen? Do you do this. Do you plan out this trip, or do you just get in your car and go where the. Where your heart takes you? In terms of writing, I know that one approach is going to be more appealing to you than the other, but in my mind, you have to ask yourself, what's your intent? If your intent is to complete stories, then you need to actually ask yourself the question, what process creates the best result? So if you're using the life writing technique, which is, you know, one to four short stories a month, then you'd ask yourself, are you producing a minimum of a story a month using your approach? Whether it's pantsing or plotting, only the results matter. Only the results will tell you whether or not you're going where you want to go in the direction you want to go. There are certainly refinements to that. You know, are your stories getting better? Are they selling more often? Stuff like that. So the question of what is better going to depend upon what feels better, what produces the most work, what produces the best results. Only you can decide what those results are. But I would advise you to not be limited by what you feel. You know, I want to just sit down and write, or I want to plan it out. There are plenty of very successful writers who. Who do either one. We're going to be discussing an arena in which plotting is probably essential if you're writing short stories. Ray Bradbury is as good as anybody has been at writing short stories in the field in the 20th century. Was a pantser. He would just sit down and let it flow. So. And then he considered the first draft, like running slow mo through the daisies. His subsequent drafts, he would go back and he would rewrite, but that first draft was just for the fun of it. So, you know, I just want to let you know that you can do it either way. The result is going to be what matters. Are you getting the result that you want. Hope that that's clear and it's clearing up something. Once again, these talks are very. Are designed to be very brief. If you have specific arenas that you'd like me to address, please let me know and I will try to cover it. Other than that, have a really, really great day. It's nice talking to you.
