Sometimes I wish I was a pantser. I have peers who can sit down and make it up. They can spit it out as it flows. They can Stephen King it all the way to the end.
Unfortunately, I’m a plotter. It could have something to do with my control issues. I like to think ahead. I like to know what’s coming. Forewarned is forearmed. I don’t want to be surprised at something that arises in my character’s arc unless I decide to make a hard left on my way from point A to point B. That being said, I do tend make some of it up as I go, but even that is improvising on my way to the predesignated landing place. Inspiration make strike, but it’s still filling in the gaps toward the next plot point.
I need to first have a destination, and then figure out how I’m going to arrive. I need to know where the party is, and then figure out how I’m getting there. I can’t sit at the keyboard with “no particular place to go.” That’s a setup for mindless web surfing or a Candy/Soda/Jelly Crush binge.
Maybe the plotting really isn’t unfortunate, though. It makes my logic more concrete. It keeps me accountable for the development and actions of my characters. It helps me maintain a solid cause/effect relationship. It satisfies my control issues. And it keeps me from rambling on for several literary millennia. Not mentioning anybody who does, though…
