A plotter is someone who makes some sort of an outline of their story before he or she sits down to write it. Sometimes this is an exhaustive document, sometimes it’s just a list of scenes or major plot points.

A “pantser” is someone who gets an idea and runs with it: no idea where he’s going, but eventually, he’ll get to the end of the story. (This is writing by the seat of the pants, hence the name.)

I’m a plotter…usually. I like to know where I’m going. It saves me tons of re-writes and I never get writer’s block.

I say “usually” because I’ve just started a novel which I’m pantsing. And it’s killing me. I can’t stand not having an outline. (I don’t know how you pantsers do it.)

The reason I’m pantsing it this time around is because I’m writing a story which is a bit outside of my comfort zone: a contemporary urban fantasy which takes place in Baltimore. I’ve got (what I think is) a fantastic idea…and I’m running with it.

What I need to do is let the idea percolate in my mind for a while before I start to write, but I’m too excited about it. I just want to get it all down on paper…but I don’t know where it’s going to end.

And that’s the problem: if I don’t know how it’s going to end, I can’t plot it out.

I’ve recently signed up for an on-line plot class to see if that could help. Unfortunately, lesson one included writing the beginning of the story (no problem!) and the end (um, problem). The class is designed to fill in the middle.

Well, I could do that on my own…

I’m toying with S. Andrew Swann’s method right now:

A four step exercise in Plot development:

1. Create a character.
2. Give this character a problem to deal with.
3. Imagine at least three different ways this particular character might possibly deal with this particular problem.
4. Pick one (or more) of these options, and imagine at least three different ways it a) wouldn’t work, and b) would make the character’s situation worse. (Short of killing off the protagonist and ending the story.)

It’s promising, and might help me out with lesson one of my online class. With some luck, I’ll have an outline by this weekend.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you. Once you get an idea for a story, how do you manage the plotting through to the end? What do you do if you’re not quite sure how it will end? What are some strategies or exercises you employ to form a cohesive story?

Here are some fantastic resources on plotting I’ve found while trying to hammer out my plot:

• From Genrewonk – Author S. Andrew Swann
• From Hal Spacejock’s Creator: Author Simon Haynes
• Plot and Pacing, by author/literary agent Weronika Janczuk at WriteOn (Part 1)
• Plot and Pacing, by author/literary agent Weronika Janczuk at WriteOn(Part 2)

* The Butterfly Story Plot Graphic is from Scholastic. It appears it’s no longer available for download from their sight. (Alas.) If anyone has the pdf, I’d love to have a copy!