Plot vs. Synopsis

[Deleted member 604]

Its me, Alix, again...

These Brainpicks are becoming a bad habit of mine

Fellow Writers,

I want to know which one are you? - A Plotter? or A Pantser? And If so why?

Is a Plot Outline and Synopsis equivalently the same? Thoughts please.

A plot outline is something you create before you write your novel, to be used as a guide, well for me it is and a reminder of how my story unfolds and gives me a little slap to stop me from straying too far from the main plot and it prevents me from getting too distracted by my sub-plots such as when will my main character and his love interest finally kiss and get it on.
Sub-plots, I treat as a completely separate matter, they are the juice and flavour in my stew of a story so to speak, don't use too much of it - like salt and pepper either use a sprinkle or a pinch, not a handful.
And @Carol Rose has a great perspective on this in the CRAFT CHAT so go and check it out.

I'm a PLOTTER and I found by planning my novel in advance, reduces writing block, cuts down my amount of rewriting dramatically, to help me forge a good second draft.
And also I find by just glancing at the plot outline before I start writing or If I'm just not feeling the urge to write. As we all know as writers, even writing has its good and bad days.
And with me writing doesn't just happen as soon as I wake up in the morning, it has to come to me of it's own free will.

But, back to the subject at hand...

A synopsis is a BRIEF summary of your novel given to an Agent in your submission package as part of your proposal for representation. The difference between A Plot Outline and A Synopsis is written after you have finished writing your manuscript and I use it to reflect any changes I have made to my story during the drafting and writing process.
And, personally I've learnt If I have written a plot outline of my novel beforehand it makes writing my synopsis so much easier and a breeze to condense down before submitting to Agents.

However some writers are PANSTERS which is nothing to be ashamed of. They don't make plot outlines, preferring to take each day as it comes, making up their story as they go along, in truth letting the story write itself, freely.

So which one are you?

I would love to know.

Alix

 

[Eva Ulian]

Hum... definitely a panstser, because basically if I am driven to pick up pen and pencil to write, nowadays the keyboard, it is because I have a story I want to tell. In my mind there is a theme, and the basic characters are very clear. Once the initial flare of starting a new novel is over, I get stuck and out comes the plotter in me.

Without plotting what is going to happen, and having some idea of not only where it's going to and how it will end- I shall get no-where. I think it was @RK Capps, I don't quite remember where, but mentioned that plotting/planning something gets her out of a writer's block. I find that very true. Here, I rest my case. And you @RainbowNerdAlix?

 

[Tim James]

Without trying to sit on the fence, I would say I'm a bit of both. Plotter and Pantser.

With me this is usually how it goes for a story/novel.
I get an idea (out of the blue usually, prompted by a phrase, a film clip or something I've read.).
It festers in my brain for some time, refusing to go away, keeping me up at night and generally interfering with my normal brain activity until finally...
I start to write, and write and write, getting everything out of my brain and onto the paper (electronic or physical).
When I'm well into the writing phase and I think the story has legs I'll start examining where it's going and coming up with plot ideas that I'll note down as I go.
Eventually I'll get to the end of what is issuing forth from my brain and I'll start to look at it more closely and determine the major plot events, some I'll expand and build upon, others I will deem irrelevant and brutally cut. At this time I'll also discover sub-plots and work on them too. As I do this I make up a scene list and other notes to help manage the story as a whole and knock it into shape.

So does that sound like pantser or plotter to you?

 

[RK Wallis]

I'm with @Tim James, a bit of both.

I brainstorm a scene map (so there's a link leading into each scene, something that pulls the reader through) and character's and their motivations (which feeds the scene map and gives me twists/betrayals).

Then I write madly and pants the rest. I imagine my scene plan as a lamp guiding me through the dark recesses of my creativity and there could be anything lurking in the dark. I adjust my path for things that jump out.

 

[Robert M Derry]

I was a pantser on my first novel and I paid for it; the finished work was riddled with plot holes and inconsistencies.

I've plotted my second and feel much better for it.

This might be a quite an unpopular opinion, but I think pantsers tend to view plotting as stifling creativity, when in reality it's because they're afraid of facing up to the fact that their story concept lacks a coherent structure.

If you're using pantsing to get into a concept and develop an idea, that's fine, but I don't see it as a substitute for plotting.

 

[Amber]

Its me, Alix, again...

These Brainpicks are becoming a bad habit of mine

Fellow Writers,

I want to know which one are you? - A Plotter? or A Pantser? And If so why?

Is a Plot Outline and Synopsis equivalently the same? Thoughts please.

A plot outline is something you create before you write your novel, to be used as a guide, well for me it is and a reminder of how my story unfolds and gives me a little slap to stop me from straying too far from the main plot and it prevents me from getting too distracted by my sub-plots such as when will my main character and his love interest finally kiss and get it on.
Sub-plots, I treat as a completely separate matter, they are the juice and flavour in my stew of a story so to speak, don't use too much of it - like salt and pepper either use a sprinkle or a pinch, not a handful.
And @Carol Rose has a great perspective on this in the CRAFT CHAT so go and check it out.

I'm a PLOTTER and I found by planning my novel in advance, reduces writing block, cuts down my amount of rewriting dramatically, to help me forge a good second draft.
And also I find by just glancing at the plot outline before I start writing or If I'm just not feeling the urge to write. As we all know as writers, even writing has its good and bad days.
And with me writing doesn't just happen as soon as I wake up in the morning, it has to come to me of it's own free will.

But, back to the subject at hand...

A synopsis is a BRIEF summary of your novel given to an Agent in your submission package as part of your proposal for representation. The difference between A Plot Outline and A Synopsis is written after you have finished writing your manuscript and I use it to reflect any changes I have made to my story during the drafting and writing process.
And, personally I've learnt If I have written a plot outline of my novel beforehand it makes writing my synopsis so much easier and a breeze to condense down before submitting to Agents.

However some writers are PANSTERS which is nothing to be ashamed of. They don't make plot outlines, preferring to take each day as it comes, making up their story as they go along, in truth letting the story write itself, freely.

So which one are you?

I would love to know.

Alix

I try to plot. I like pantsing better. I think a mixture of the two has better results. I also think everyone has to figure out what has the best results on their own and for them.

And ... I really hate the word pantser or pantsing.

There's a textbook called Method and Madness. It makes sense that writing good fiction would require a little method and madness.

Also, it's a more interesting word than panster... which brings up visions of Captain Underpants or schoolyard bullying.

I think a synopsis and an outline are similar but have different purposes.

 

[RK Wallis]

@Robert M Derry it’s not unpopular with me. I think plotting structure is like the frame of a house, without it, a story can collapse. It’s still possible to pants if you’ve read a lot, because reading can subconsciously teach you the beats, but planning those beats makes writing so much easier when you know where you’re going.

 

[Chase Gamwell]

When I first started writing, I was a panster, but found that things got out of hand too quickly. And it led to a trilogy that was only salvageable by a complete rewrite. My second outing was painstakingly plotted, but that led to frustration when I was forced to write scenes that didn't feel like they fit.

Now, I do both.

My outlines always look at the story from a very high level, but give my characters (and I) wiggle space within the narrative. This means the book will always end in the same place, but gives me the ability to react to the characters as they change throughout the course of the story.

It may not be chapter by chapter, but it works for me...

 

[Matnov]

Prefer the term 'discovery writer' to pantser.

Never really plotted out anything, in a conventional sense because for me the spontaneity of the writing process, and what that kicks up/triggers is 90% of fun but I tend to be more at the shits and giggles end of the spectrum when it comes to writing fiction as opposed to taking it that seriously, or rather worry about it. And since I primarily write for my own amusement as opposed to any strong desire to be published in the traditional way, I prefer the thrill of sitting down, perhaps with some scribbled notes about what I expect from the next chapter with vague notions of what might lay up ahead, and just blast away. That is what gives me the buzz I love so much.

I get why people might want to approach the creative process in a more methodical manner, and oddly enough with my current WIP, I have had to come up with a specific timeline but for me, that comes after the first draft has a beginning, middle and an end. Because how can I plot in advance when I do not know how the story will pan out? I have to put my characters in the shit, before I know how they will climb out of it or drown in the process of trying.

I tend to plan everything else in my life but the writing, at least the first drafts, is just too much fun to worry about drawing up neat graphs and tables and worrying about story arcs and similar. I suspect that our brains do that quite naturally anyway if we let them.

 

[Deleted member 604]

Prefer the term 'discovery writer' to pantser.

I like that

 

[KateESal]

Like @Chase Gamwell I'm a reformed panster / discovery writer-turned-plotter. But for me (as many others, I suspect), the pre-plot is like the Pirate Code: a set of guidelines, really. It's helpful, because it tells me where I'm going with the project, which makes me far more likely to finish it. But if, along the way, I feel the story nudging me in other directions, I modify accordingly. It's all part of the mysterious, wonderful alchemy of writing fiction.

 

[Deleted member 604]

It's all part of the mysterious, wonderful alchemy of writing fiction.

Not forgetting the fun too

 

[KateESal]

Not forgetting the fun too

Most definitely, that too.