I first heard the term in a literary context at a writers conference in Phoenix when the speaker confessed that she was a “pantser.” I was baffled. Up until then, I understand that term as referring to a high school prankster who would sneak up behind someone and yank down his pants. But, the speaker continued, though she tried to outline plots for her mystery novels, she nevertheless found that she typically wrote by the seat of her pants. And thus she was a pantser, not a true plotter.
I recently spoke to a gathering of the St. Louis Writers Guild on the writing pros and cons of being a plotter or a pantser. As I explained, the plotter is an author who meticulously outlines his novel, chapter by chapter, and even scene by scene within each chapter. By contrast, the pantser starts out with a fictional character or two and perhaps, at best, a vague sense of where the story is headed. He or she types Chapter 1 at the top of the first page, and then starts writing by the seat of his or her pants. While I confess to mostly being a pantser, there is no correct choice. Indeed, there are some remarkable success stories for plotters and pantsers.
The most successful plotter of all times and the bestselling author of the 20th century was Erle Stanley Gardner, author of 82 Perry Mason novels and more than 40 other novels. His Perry Mason novels were so popular that they spawned one of the longest running television series, starring Raymond Burr in the title role.
Incredibly, Gardner’s stated goal was to write 1.2 million words a year. That translates to roughly 3,300 words a day–a number he apparently achieved most days. How did he come up with those dozens and dozens of unique plots for his Perry Mason novels?
Turns out he created what he named his “plot wheels.” What, you may ask, is a plot wheel?
It’s a round cardboard wheel with a spinnable arrow and a list of 16 plot concepts around that circle. Spin the wheel on each of those four plot wheels and, voila, you have–or at least Erle Stanley Gardner had–the plot for his next novel. For example, here are a few of the 16 plot concepts on the wheel he labeled “Blind Trials by Which the Hero is Misled or Confused”:
- A witness lies
- A document is forged
- A witness is planted
- A client conceals something
- A witness takes flight
- A witness is kidnapped
- False confession
- A witness commits suicide
Legend has it that Raymond Chandler, a celebrated author and one of the founders of the hardboiled mystery genre–but, alas, a horrible plotter–sought help from Gardner and his plot wheels. But Chandler could never master them.
And while Chandler’s wit and mastery of the English language cannot be understated–take, for example, this line from his novel Farewell My Lovely when he spots a witness he’d been searching for: “He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food cake”–his novels are littered with plot holes.
A good example is The Big Sleep, where early on in the novel, after Philip Marlowe has been retained by General Sternwood to resolve a blackmail attempt concerning one of Sternwood’s adult daughters, the family chauffeur dies when he drives the car off a pier into the water and drowns. The coroner rules it a murder based on the dead man’s severe head wound.
So who killed the chauffeur? And why? That issue is never addressed in the novel. And when Warner Bros. bought the film rights, that plot hole frustrated William Faulkner, who, believe it or not, wrote the screenplay for the motion picture starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
Faulkner re-read the novel searching without success for the answer. Finally, wanting to be loyal to the novel and its author, he sent a telegram to Chandler asking who killed the chauffeur and why? Chandler’s response: “Damned if I know.”
A lousy plotter, true, but a great writer. While Gardner may have published 82 perfectly plotted Perry Mason novels, Chandler’s seven Philip Marlowe mysteries now comprise a cherished set in the Library of America series of classics in American literature. The lesson here? See below.
Leaving our plotters, let’s turn to the pantsers, and, in particular, one of the most beloved of pantsers among other writers, including yours truly, and one of the most successful authors in American fiction.
Yes, Elmore Leonard, the former ad writer whose first novel were westerns, including some made into movies you may have seen, such as 3:10 to Yuma, Hombre, and Valdez is Coming. But then he switched to crime novels, also with many of those bestsellers made into movies and TV shows, including Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, and Justified. Leonard’s mastery of dialogue, according to screenwriters, is what makes his novels so easy to adapt to the big screen.
Leonard was the quintessntial pantser. As he explained in a 2009 interview headlined “Making It Up as I go Along“:
“At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about”
Instead, he continued, the keys to the plot and thus the novel are the characters:
“I think of characters who will carry a story. The plot comes out of the characters, their attitudes. How they talk describes who they are. Dialogue, in fact, is the element that keeps the story moving. Characters are judged as they appear. Anyone who can’t hold up his or her end of a conversation is liable to be shelved, or maybe shot.”
Stephen King, another committed pantser, totally agrees. In his memoir on the craft of writing, he states that, “Plot is, I think, the good writer’s last resort and the dullard’s first choice. The story which results from it is apt to feel artificial and labored.” Instead, he tries to create realistic characters and then sets them loose on an unsuspecting story world. I think we’d all agree that pantsing has served Stephen King quite well!
Thus, to borrow from Hamlet: “To plot or not to plot, that is the question.” But actually, that is not the correct question, and the answer to the correct question is Hamlet himself. Huh? Allow me to explain.
Great plots do not serve as the foundations for great literature. Instead, great literature is based upon and animated by great characters. Hamlet is certainly one of them, as are many of the fictional characters created by William Shakespeare, including King Lear, Falstaff, Beatrice, Richard II, and Lady Macbeth. Others I would include in that pantheon:
- Huckleberry Finn and Jim
- Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennett and Emma Woodhouse
- Anna Karenina
- Don Quixote and Sancho Panza
- Captain Ahab
- David Copperfield
- Sherlock Holmes
- Holden Caulfield
And on and on. Each us has one or more treasured fictional characters who seem more alive and more compelling than many of the real people we’ve met in our lives.
So to all you writers and would-be writers out there, if you are a plotter, my advice is to be flexible enough to let one of your characters step outside of your outline to move the plot in a slightly different direction.
After all, Sir John Falstaff did exactly that when Shakespeare was writing the historical drama of Henry IV, and Falstaff so captivated Shakespeare that he allowed his character to steal so many scenes that what started out, like Shakespeare’s other history plays, as one play morphed into two plays, Henry IV, Part 1, and Henry IV, Part 2. Indeed, Shakespeare’s infatuation with the fat knight resulted in another play–the comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor–where Falstaff had the lead. Among his many memorable lines in that play is the following: “I think the devil will not have me damned, lest the oil that’s in me should set hell on fire.”
But if you are a pantser, make sure you have created a compelling character to help lead the way in his or her adventure.
And one final thought: I have come to realize that the divide between plotters and pantsers applies not just to authors of novels but to each and every one of us. Think how you go through life. Are you a plotter, with clear and specific plans and goals? Or do you navigate through your life by the seat of your pants? The same positives and negatives apply in real life as they do in fiction. And remember, either route can lead to great success!
Mike, I thoroughly enjoyed your post. Personally, I’m more of a pantser, and, as you said, it is more fun.
Of course, so many more great literary characters could be added to your list. Off the top of my head I could throw in Atticus Finch and Yossarian.
I’m sure you are enjoying Chicago (except maybe when the winds freeze you out). My brother Bobby lives in Wilmette, I’m guessing not too far from you. He’s winding down his law practice to assume the presidency of the Union League Club downtown–the oldest and the second Jew to serve. Best to you, Margie, and family.