Confessions of a Pantser by Sandra Gardner

Today at The Write Way Cafe author Sandra Garner enlightens us on the ins and outs of pantser versus plotter.


I’m a proud pantser. As you might guess, a pantser is a person who writes by the seat of his or her pants. More or less.

That’s versus a plotter, a term that usually refers to someone who carefully plots, using tools such as an outline of what’s to come. Or what should be to come.

There’s the problem with being too much of one or the other. Too much plotting can mean the characters aren’t fleshed out enough. Too much pantsing can make your mystery go off the rails. Most writers have to use elements of both. For me, going over to the, um, other side – plotting – happens when I get desperate. When I’m mumbling to the people populating my head, this book isn’t going anywhere, guys. We need help!

Sometimes, I feel as if I don’t have much to do with what my characters do and say. They just appear inside my head and start doing things. Often I don’t know where they’re going or what they’ll be doing next. When they talk to me. I let them go on and on, telling me what’s happening (external dialogue), what they’re thinking (internal dialogue), what they’re planning on doing (action), what they’re afraid of (tension). I’m their scribe, there to listen and take all the notes I can scribble. And then try to make sense out of it all.

That’s all well and good. But … much as I loathe outlines, at some point, I have to bite the bullet. Because though I love listening to my characters, getting to know them, letting them have relationships, getting themselves in trouble, fighting off those who mean them harm – sometimes landing them in near-death experiences but managing to get themselves out of them – eventually, I realize that I don’t know where all this is going, how it’s going to get where it needs to get, and what I need to do to make it work to a satisfying end. Somehow, I have to balance keeping the characters talking, walking and acting, moving the story along and making it all work. In other words, I need … an outline.

Here’s an example from my Mother-and-Me Mystery Series.

My main character, MC (protagonist) Marabella, and her recently deceased mother (sidekick) – the bane of her existence in life -- popped into my head and wouldn’t leave (see description of the ghost-mother-detective later). That happened in Dead Shrinks Don’t Talk, book 1 in the Mother-and-Me Mysteries.

In Grave Expectations, book 2, the annoyingly helpful ghost mother reappears, warning about imminent danger to Marabella’s favorite neighbor, Sam. Sam becomes the first victim of an unknown killer. Mixed in were a bunch of possible suspects (greedy relatives, heir to the first victim’s considerable estate). There’s a second victim (Rose, another elderly neighbor and Sam’s friend), and then a third victim. Marabella tries to enlist the help of the NYPD. Unfortunately for her, her bête noir from book 1, Detective Eddie Rivera, now a lieutenant, doesn’t believe there was a murder and as usual, doesn’t take Marabella’s instincts seriously.

Though you need strong, believable characterization in a mystery – as in any fiction – you need a strong, believable story for the characters to inhabit. Which involves (sigh) plotting.

So, a plot outline becomes necessary. I’ve tried it several ways. One way is writing down scenes in numerical order. Here’s what I did in Grave Expectations:

     1.  Marabella’s (main character, amateur detective) elderly neighbor Sam (victim) is found dead. She and her mother-the-ghost-detective (sidekick) think it could be murder. Marabella calls cops and, as the executor of Sam’s will, notifies his greedy relatives and heirs (suspects).

      2.  Rose, another elderly neighbor and friend of Sam’s, is frightened, because she caught a glimpse of someone (possibly the killer) running out of Sam’s apartment. She’s afraid the person saw her.

     3.  Sam’s fancy funeral, staged by materialistic relatives. Rose isn’t there. Marabella finds her in the laundry floor, seriously injured by an attacker (second victim).

Woven into the story (and the outline) is the not-so-loving relationship between Marabella and her irritating ghost-mother. Making things worse in the relationship is the curmudgeonly cat Marabella acquired as a tiny kitten, who’s grown into Catzilla. Her mother and the cat hate each other on sight.

Into the outline go Toniann (best friend), a good listener who often just doesn’t get it. Her problem is her upcoming wedding and soon-to-be interfering mother-in-law (subplot). Marabella’s job is writing in a college PR department in New York City. (setting) In a big city, it’s easier to manufacture dangerous situations. The college is where Marabella met her hunky boyfriend, John, a vet who runs the veterinarian technician program. But his new assistant is a flirty, sexy woman whom every woman at the college, including Marabella, is ready to kill – or at least, do her harm. (subplot) Another problem in Marabella and John’s relationship is that his pets are three large St. Bernard brothers. Marabella hasn’t told him that she’s terrified of creatures larger than a breadbox, with too many legs or no legs. Even worse, she hasn’t told him about her ghostly roommate, whom no one can see or hear except Marabella and her cat ….

To make the story work, the dreaded outline includes these relationships, what’s happening with them, how they related to our M.C., how are they moving the story along, and often leading to a subplot or two. Oh, and of course, everything leads to a climax and we find out whodunit.

Now you know why and how this proud pantser uses an outline to save her mystery novel.

When Marabella’s favorite neighbor, Sam, dies, everyone -- including the NYPD – thinks it was natural causes. After all, Sam was pushing 80, with a heart condition. But Marabella knows his heart problem was mild and under control with medication. And she’s already acquainted with Sam’s greedy relatives, so she doesn’t think there’s anything natural about it. Neither does her sleuthing sidekick, her mother-the-ghost-detective, who recently dropped back into Marabella’s life, happy to interfere again. Marabella and her mother vow to track down the killer by investigating the heirs to Sam’s considerable estate. Can she and her mother find the killer before the killer finds her?

More information about Sandra Gardner and her books is available on her Website

Grave Expectations, book 2 in the Mother-and-Me Mystery Series, was published by Black Opal Books in December, 2018.

Print and e-reader copies are available from:

Amazon           Barnes and Noble         Kobo             Black Opal Books