We writers are a breed that people find hard to understand. But that’s what makes us, us. We can sit in front of the laptop/notebook for hours, holding that pen, or hovering our fingers over the keyboard, waiting for an idea to pop. Sometimes, our brain decides to take a rest, and sometimes, we are able to draft 10,000 words in just a few hours. (Been there, done both).
But when it comes to our style of bringing words to life, and creating that perfect emotion, it tends to differ from writer to writer. Some can get things done in a few hours, and some take days or even weeks, no matter the form of writing. There had been several names given to several styles of writing, like snob, speed writer, and tortured novelist, but I’m going to talk about two main types and its offspring that is totally me.
Three main types of Writers / Writing Styles –
- The plotter
- The pantser
- The hybrid
The Plotter
Standing by the term, plotters are the type of writers who love plotting and planning. You may find these writers drowning in hundreds of notes they had written in their favorite notebooks, post-it notes or mind maps, and physical/digital vision boards.
They love outlining each and every section of the novel and surprise! They don’t like surprises, as they know when they want to kill a character because they have plotted it even before starting the first chapter.
They are the most organized writers among all types of writers. Maybe their room will look like a mess, but not the notebooks/apps they keep.
The Pantser
Every writer who is a pantser be like, what the heck do you get by planning so much? Just go with the flow. And that’s exactly what they do. If they get an idea, they just deep dive into writing it, without having no idea how the story will end.
They might not know how many characters they want, and what type of personality they should have, and they discover it as they keep writing. They enjoy the thrill of discovering new worlds, and creatures as they keep being invested in the story they are drafting, unlike the plotters who know everything beforehand.
Every pantser out there had a list of ideas that they had started without caring how it’ll turn out. Sometimes, it’s a masterpiece, sometimes it’s a horrendous mistake.
The Hybrid
The hybrids are someone who is both a plotter and pantser aka me. The process of writing goes like this every time, be it a fiction or an article – we plan what we want to write, outline it, mind map, and brainstorm everything, but when we get to the writing part, we get some new idea and the result comes out entirely different because midway – we go with the flow instead of the original idea.
We hybrids, like plotters, have an organized way of starting off, but it ALWAYS changes midway because a new idea pops into our head. All of my stories had been the victim of that, including this very article. In the end, when we compare the end result with the notes, it’s entirely different. Sometimes it’s good, and sometimes it’s bad, but that’s how a hybrid writer works.
I know there are different forms of writing, and different forms come with different styles, but this is something that I believe applies to every type of writer. If there are any fellow hybrid writers reading this, do let me know what else I missed, and I may write about it in my next article.
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