What is a Planner? (Also Known As Plotter)

When you sit down to write a story, do you map out the whole thing before hand? 

If you answered "yes", you are a planner. (Also known as Plotter)

Planners know what needs to get done. They have a clear plan in mind and may feel guilty when their story strays from this plan. 

Not all if them of course, but a lot of them. 

You may be asking, well I haven't actually written anything yet. Should I be a planner? Is that a bad thing? Should I see a therapist? 

Good question! I can't answer it. 

The way to write is not a formula. It's what works best for you. You are the writer, you get to decide. 

If you are working for a publisher, that's another matter. They usually want an outline of some kind so they know this story isn't going to flop big time. Not that I know this from experience. I'm just parroting. But just because you wrote an outline for your publisher doesnt mean you have to follow it.

Should you be a planner? 

Well;

Do you like lists? 

Do you like to know what you're going to be doing before diving into a project?

Do you like to have a clear map of where you are going? 

Yes? You would probably like being a planner! 

What do you have to do to be a planner? 

Planners write outlines. Sometimes the outlines are somewhat vague. "Clara is going to find out the boy she's been slowly falling in love with the past few months has only weeks to live. Heartbroken, she turns to music to free her mind of the grief." 

Or they can be specific; "Chapter 12: Clara calls Roger who is clearly her soulmate and talks with him for a while. They talk about track and hurdles and how much they hate their coach. Roger lets it slip that he would love to go on a date with Clara but is held back because he doesn't want to hurt her in the end. Curious, Clara presses him and within minutes has the truth. Roger is dying of cancer. Her world shatters. Days of mind numbing grief follow. 

Chapter 13: Clara begins to write music on her guitar. Soon, she has a series of songs specially dedicated to Roger." 

The choice is yours what to use. Beware, detailed outlines take time and you may end up losing interest in your book before even beginning to write it. 

On the other hand, vague overviews are hard because you may end up stuck in the middle of the rising action with no where to turn (like me) because your outline didn't go into much detail. But the good side of that is, I've come up with SO many good ideas because I got stuck and forced myself to think up something for my charries to do. 

Planning can be rewarding. But it is a lot more work up front and tends to spoil the surprises your characters can spring on you while you're writing. They can be fun! I found an evil witch's enchanted castle quite by mistake the other day. It was quite a pleasant surprise and was fun to write. 

Whatever kind of outline you choose to write, I hope planning suits you well. 

Do you have anything to add? What are your best planning tips?