That said, for all the virtues of doing some prep work first, if you randomly wake up one morning full of fire to jot down a scene, do it!

Prep work is here to help the creative process, not impede it. People get bogged down in the idea that they can’t actually start the writing in earnest until they have everything prepped, but writing is rarely that linear. No matter what stage you’re in, it’s never a bad idea to jot down a scene or twelve of your story even if you don’t have everything figured out. Writing random scenes and snippets of dialog (even if you’re not fully sure where they fit in the whole yet) is an important part of the prep process and one you should never fight.

Even if you ultimately realize what you wrote doesn’t fit your vision and you have to cut or change it significantly, it will still help inform your characters and help you discover your story. You’d be amazed how often you need to write a scene simply to figure out what doesn’t work or what you still need more info about before you can write it properly.

Plus, those glorious moments of inspiration where the words just flow and the writing feels easy are rare enough, so don’t fight them! Make them work for you!

How to use this guide

Think of this book as an a la carte selection of things you can do to prep for your writing project. None are required, and you certainly don’t have to do every exercise in this book to be ready to write. The idea is to give you a wide selection of things people often do to prepare for a major writing project so that you can choose the ones that might work for you. While it’s designed to be read in order, you can also skip around if that’s more your speed.

Most of these tasks will only take a few minutes, ideal for doing here and there to keep you in the right frame of mind for your project until it’s time to draft. If you’re looking to do your writing project as part of a limited time challenge like Novel November or End of Play, there’s enough for a entire month of prep to keep you busy until the writing frenzy actually begins.

Plotters vs Pantser

(And why no one’s truly all one or the other!)

Earlier, I mentioned this guide was for both pantsers and plotters. But what do those terms mean? If you’ve never heard them before, they’re writing slang for the two extremes of how to approach drafting.

Pantsers (also often called discovery writers) write by the seat of their pants. They take the grain of an idea and chase it all the way to the end of the story, letting the characters guide the way. They write their entire book or script with little to no planning ahead of time.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are plotters. These are writers who meticulously plot their stories before they draft. For the plotter, the work of prepping to write may even be more work than writing the book itself.

Is one better than the other?

In short, no. It all comes down to how you prefer to work.

My local writing group has a good mix of plotters and pansters. I asked them for their perspectives, which I’ll summarize here. Keep in mind that these are mostly new, aspiring authors working to finish their first big writing project.

Pantsers frequently said that planning the story ahead of time killed their enthusiasm for the project. It was more fun to discover the story as their draft unfolded, letting their characters run free just to see what they’d do. It felt more true to the creative process to experience their story as the readers would, twists surprising even the author. They do their best work when they don’t overthink and just go with the creative flow.

Plus, it was easier to dive into the story without having to stop and map stuff out first. Much faster than plotting, and many cited this time savings as their main reason for deciding to “pants” their story.

When I asked about downsides, several things came up over and over. The first was that multiple pantsers said they often ran out of steam on their ideas before they reached the end and couldn’t figure out how to continue. The second was that the drafts they pantsed were often a mess and required so much rewriting they never actually completed these revisions. Both cases resulted in abandoned drafts left unfinished.

Plotters said they enjoyed feeling in control of the process and having things figured out upfront. Many were former panters, hoping more prep meant they’ll actually finish their book this time. But even among the plotters, there was a wide range of how much prep work they actually did. A few were working with a specific school of thought on how to structure a story or character arc, but most just did basic world-building and a loose list of potential scenes.

In her books and workshops, writing coach Lisa Cron talks about how many pansters get too attached to their first draft, making it hard to do the necessary work of ripping it apart in revisions. It’s easier, she advises, to write it the “correct” way the first time so there’s no “wrong” version to feel sentimental about. A few writers in my group cited this as the reason they were plotting.

Downsides? A few plotters echoed what the pansters said: that doing too much prep killed their enthusiasm for the project. After all that pre-work, they had no motivation to actually draft because it felt as if they’d already written it. Some expressed frustration that they had done all this work up front and still ran into plot problems while drafting or ran out of steam anyway. Others felt like their outline was too rigid, so they ended up ignoring it, but then what was the point of plotting in the first place?

Clearly, neither is the perfect method, and both have their pluses and minuses. In truth, it’s rare to find anyone 100% one or the other. Most writers are some combination of the two, sometimes nicknamed “plantsers.” Plantsers plot some elements of their story and fly by the seat of their pants for others.

I use these terms because most writers do, but I personally find the plotter / pantser designation too rigid. Some discovery writers have internalized storytelling basics from years of reading and writing. These writers can do story craft on the fly, effectively plotting as they go. Similarly, plotters often start out with a plan, but give themselves the freedom to abandon their outline and “pants” if they get a better idea as they write. Sci fi author and teacher Linnea Sinclair swears by “leapfrogging,” the ultimate plantser method where she writes 2-3 chapters by the seat of her pants, stops to regroup and plot, then improvises her way ahead with the next 2-3 chapters and so on until the book is done. This method is also sometimes called flashlight drafting.

The only hard rule in writing is: whatever works.

Flexibility is key to creativity. Even if you prefer one method, you’ll almost certainly need to write the other way at some point, particularly if your goal is a professional writing career. A working writer often has to pitch something before it’s actually written. When getting the job depends on submitting a coherent outline for your idea before the draft exists, it doesn’t matter if you’re a plotter or pantser by nature: you’ll need to deliver those plans on time.

Similarly, sometimes there simply isn’t time to plan out a project as much as you’d like and still get it done by the deadline. Then you’ll be happy you honed your pantser instincts as you fly through that first draft and discover the story as you go.

Me? I started out as a pantser. It’s honestly how I prefer to write. Pantsing is fun. But I experienced the same problems mentioned above with losing steam and disastrous first drafts that took too long to edit. Begrudgingly, as I started to publish and build my career, I found that doing more prep ahead of time, even if I left myself room to experiment, ultimately saved time. I was more likely to finish what I started if I went in with a plan. Plus, the resulting first draft was easier and faster to both write and edit than when I’d been pantsing.

But I’m not you. Only you know what works best for your process. And if you’re not sure yet how you work, the best thing to do is go with what’s comfortable while keeping yourself open to other methods.

We all plot in the end

Here’s the dirty little secret about plotters and pantsers the debate often leaves out: We all plot in the end.

(No, that’s not a graveyard pun.)

It means we all eventually have to sit down and look at the Big Picture of our story and work on the structure of the thing at a macro level during the editing and revision process. And that’s the core of plotting.

What the entire panster vs plotter debate really comes down to is: Would you prefer to figure out your story before or after you write the first draft? Because that process will happen either way.

It comes down to what you’re more comfortable with and what works best for your creative process.

Not plotters and pantsers, but writers

I encourage you to let go of any notion of plotter vs pantser as we go into this guide. Even the most avowed pantser would benefit from considering their characters’ needs and wants or jotting down a few scenes they might want to write ahead of time, just as a plotter may want to keep an inspiration folder for when they want to go off outline. Clinging too tightly to either label can hold you back when all that really matters here is that you get your story written to the best of your abilities.

Pantsing is easier when you understand your characters. Plotting can mean lots of things beyond actually listing out every scene in your book. Instead of chaining yourself to either, stay open to seeing this journey through however it ends up working out.

Let’s get ready to rumble

“It is fatal to enter a war without the will to win it.”

Douglas MacArthur

Ultimately, the most important act of preparation is commitment. By investing time in preparing for this writing project, you are taking it seriously, making strides to ensure you actually complete it. You wouldn’t be taking the time to do all this if you didn’t believe in your story or your ability to see it through, and that’s important.

War, as they say, is hell. But writing doesn’t need to be. Everything we’re going to do over the next few chapters makes the process easier, smoother and more fun.

But it doesn’t hurt to remember that there’ll be moments as you battle through your first draft when you’ll feel like you’re fighting for the life of your story, your very creative soul at stake. Knowing it won’t be easy can scare you… or it can motivate you.

Let’s steel ourselves for the task ahead and make ready to write!