By Julie Lavender @JLavenderWrites 

I’ve heard the terms “plotter” and “pantser” in relation to fiction writing, but I wondered if the concepts held the same meaning for non-fiction writers.

If you’re unfamiliar with these terms, here’s a brief explanation.

Plotter

A writer who outlines their plot before writing. The outline may include some or all of these details: theme, story arc, specific chapter details, arc within each chapter, scenes within a chapter, character map, each character’s growth/change from beginning of story to end, dialog to include with each chapter, or takeaway for reader

Pantser

A writer who approaches a novel or short story “by-the-seat-of-her-pants.” These writers have a general story line idea, but sometimes the characters “take over,” and the story goes a completely different direction than the author first thought it would.

And then there’s a newer term I’m hearing now : “plantser”  And, as you can obviously deduce from the combination of the previous two words, the plantser  embraces an overarching plan, but lacks the details of a plotter. The plantser then writes loosely towards the perceived plan, but allows wiggle room for a plot shift if creativity leans that way.

Because I write mostly non-fiction, I tend to think of these terms instead as “planner,” “pantser,” or “plantser.” I probably tended to be a plantser – a combination of the two – when left on my own devices to complete a non-fiction work.

However, the publisher I’ve worked with recently on work-for-hire projects requires milestones throughout the project to include a detailed “planner”-style document as the first milestone. I wouldn’t necessarily call it an outline, because it doesn’t take the format of our high school and college outlines for research papers.

I fallen in love with the details of the first milestone they require, however, and I’ve probably transformed into a forever-planner now.

Here’s some of the pieces and parts required in my first milestone, though I have combined more than one project to give you specific details.

* Table of Contents

* Chapter Title

* Purpose/Takeaway

* Anecdote

* Bible Reference

* Specific Bible Verse

* 25-word intro to each chapter

* Chapter Subheadings

* Intro to book

My publisher, an imprint of Penguin Random House, didn’t require all of the above for each project, but the majority of them were requested in the first milestone. After getting used to this format, it really helps me flesh out the material before I even get started.

I won’t say the writing is a breeze at that point, but it does make it much easier for me. I don’t run into the problem of having too much material for one chapter and not enough for another. I also, from my list above, pull out all of the Bible verses for the entire book and put them in one document. I alphabetize the list, and I clan quickly see if I’ve repeated a verse. Sometimes a verse bears repeating, but most often, I’d rather pick another choice verse to use rather than duplicate one I’ve already touched on.

This system works for me as a non-fiction writer. Perhaps you have a better system or one you’d like to share also. Let me know if you’re a plotter, planner, pantser, or plantser. I look forward to learning about your writing style.

 Julie Lavender enjoyed the release of her first picture book, A Gingerbread House, published by End Game Press, just in time for the Christmas season. She is the author of devotionals, parenting books, children’s educational projects with her biologist hubby, newspaper and magazine articles, and Children’s Bible Stories for Bedtime, published by a Penguin Random House imprint.