If there’s a spectrum that goes from “panster” to “plotter”—that is, a writer who attacks the blank page using nothing but their wits vs. one who draws up blueprints and gets the permits settled a year before they break ground, then I’m definitely in the latter camp. I want to expand on the topic a little bit since I didn’t really get into the details of my writing process before.

Think about your favorite writers—the ones you return to time and time again—and I’ll bet you can identify certain thematic predilections they have. They return to certain concepts, even in stories that are otherwise very different from each other. Because they can’t help themselves. I’m no different, though it’s taken hindsight to make my pet-themes […]

Okay, plotting isn’t pantsing. I know I just implied that plotting was pantsing way up there in the title. But what I really wanted to say is that I don’t think the distinction is as vast as the common wisdom would have us believe, and here’s why. Plotters pant(s?) their outlines. Admit it: you thought […]