When it comes to writing, there are two types of writers. Discovery Writers, and Outliners.

You may have come across them in different names. Discovery Writers are also known as Gardners or Pantsers, while Outliners are known as Architects or Plotters. Regardless of the term you know, the meaning remains the same.

Discovery Writers

Discovery writers come up with a setting, a situation, or a character, and “let them act on their own”. The story begins to evolve in their heads, where it feels as if the characters are behaving on their own in their world, shaping the story.

A telltale sign that you’re a discovery writer is when you spend a little too much time worldbuilding.

Discovery writers have interesting characters and entertaining interactions. You likely felt this before:

I love seeing these characters interacting! Can’t wait for when [character] shows up. The moment he’s there, things are really exciting.

Works from George R. R. Martin, Author of A Song of Ice and Fire, and Tite Kubo, Author of Bleach will give you that feeling, and they are very good examples of Discovery Writers.

Outliners

Outliners plan out their story before diving into it. They want to capture specific moments in the story, and would often bend the characters and the setting to their will to achieve it.

Using outlines and timelines are clear identifiers that you are an outliner.

The main identifier of outliners is their fulfilling endings, which is a direct result of proper planning.

You likely came across a piece of media, where you had to sit down and think about it after you finished it. The earlier moments start to connect better, and then you think:

Oh wow, so that’s why he did that, and then because of that, it created this whole mess. And without that mess, we wouldn’t be reaching the point wher- damn

Christophor Nolan, Director and Writer of Inception, and Hiromu Arakawa, Author of Fullmetal Alchemist are outliners. Watching these works from start to finish will give you a very good idea of how each step in the story is catered to make the ending more complete.

Which one are you?

Reading the clear distinctions earlier, you may have come to realize that things kind of don’t make sense when it comes to you as a writer. Ideas like those likely popped up:

I definitely outline my ideas, but my characters do behave on their own.

My characters behave exactly the way I want them to, but there are times where the direction of the story takes an unexpected route.

This is where we come to understand the situation is more of a spectrum.

It’s a Spectrum

It’s important to understand that these two types are more of a spectrum rather than separate boxes.

You might be a writer who discovers his setting and characters but outlines when it comes to plotting, or you might let your characters be and behave however they like. Regardless of how you write your fiction, there isn’t a right or wrong way to do it.

What’s more important is to know which process you lean towards more. This will help you to leverage your strengths and overcome your weaknesses to become a better writer.

Your Downfall as a Discovery Writer

Being a Discovery writer myself, I can shed light on the weaknesses that I came across.

Writing more than you should

Is too much writing bad? not necessarily. It depends on your goal.

Knowing the medium you’re going to write for matters, the amount of writing required for a novel is much more than a movie script. Writing mediums is also a topic I will cover in more depth in the future.

Worldbuilding is fun, but we also need to remember that we have a story to finish. The tale that happened three thousand ago in our story isn’t important if it’s not directly affecting it.

Putting things together

The writing process isn’t exactly linear, you are likely jumping around between scenes from different points in the story.

New exciting ideas would come to mind, and some happen when a character makes a different choice in your story. The continuity can get out of hand quickly that way.

The ideas won’t blend well together, and that one awesome scene you had no longer fits because you changed plenty of things earlier in the story. The emotional impact you were going for no longer makes sense.

This is where the idea of “kill your darlings” comes in. In a sense, it’s about letting go of ideas to make your writing more concise in the grand scheme of the story.

Overcoming the downfall

Learning about story structures and devices is essential. Being a discovery writer, they might already come to you inherently, and that’s awesome.

In Inception, Ariadne’s role is to be the audience’s eyes. She’s new to the crew, and they teach her how things work throughout the story. This is the writer’s way of teaching you how the story’s world works.

Understanding the theory behind structures will give you the why and when to use them to achieve a certain goal or emotion.

It’s a lot like music theory, where moving from one chord to another will give you a certain feeling, and they call them cadences. Knowing those cadences will help you reach the emotional impact you are going for.

Your Downfall as an Outliner

Rigid Characters

Being enslaved to the outline will force you to write your characters to behave in ways they usually wouldn’t. this is where the “out of character” comes in, where the characters act differently to push the plot forward.

This problem happens when you don’t have enough control over your writing, and it’s something we will discuss more in the near future.

Narrow World

You may have come across certain stories that their worlds felt narrow. You can see the world that the characters are directly interacting with, but you can’t feel or imagine beyond it.

The bright side to this is that you know exactly what you want to write, and likewise, you will know exactly which parts you need to enrich, and you won’t fall into the Discovery Writer’s endless upward spiral.

Overcoming the downfall

These problems can mostly be solved by doing a bit of Discovery Writing. To make your characters feel less rigid, think about it this way:

What would a person with this kind of background do in this type of situation, and given their personality trait, how is their behavior going to be?

The same idea can be applied to make the world feel bigger.

Solo Leveling does this well from the very first chapters. The status quo is established with the portals that lead you to dungeons, where hunters defeat monsters to obtain materials they can sell. But then, an odd dungeon has statues that behave very differently, and cause things to go out of control and very badly for our protagonist.

Questions that will come up to you are “Who are they?” “Why now?” “Are we ever going to see them again?” gives you the impression that “there is more to this”, and in a way makes you feel that the world is bigger.

This is because there are hidden parts of it that you haven’t seen yet.

You, and writing advice

The person who decides what’s best for them is ultimately you. Writing advice exists as tools and pointers to help you find your flow, rather than dictate what you are.

Case in point, plenty of writing advice out there is either with or against outlines. Knowing the type of writer you are is an important factor in knowing what kind of advice will work for you here. If you enjoy outlining and it has been working for you, then the advice that says “burn down your outline” simply isn’t for you.

What you should be looking for instead is “how to outline more effectively”, since that will improve your process.

But, what if I haven’t figured out what works for me yet?

That’s a very good question, and there is a simple answer for it: Write.

Working on a project is the best way to discover your process, what you enjoy and what you don’t, and possibly the best way to make mistakes and learn from them. Once it’s all done, you will have a better idea of what works for you, and how you can improve upon it.

Question

So, which type of writer are you, or rather which one do you lean towards more? I would love to hear from you and your writing process!