I was at my weekly Creative Writing Club meeting at IUSB, if you’re in the area come on down, and one of the members had brought her binder with her that detailed her novel she was working on.

There were a few things that impressed me about this binder. The first was that it was completely organized with fancy section dividers and colored tabs. She had the world the novel took place in mapped out precisely how she wanted it.

The second thing that impressed me was the fact that she hadn’t written a single narrative word. She hadn’t started writing yet!

Now I understand that every author has their own creative method and that’s great. It’s rather inspiring that she had spent that much time detailing the world and storyline. I couldn’t do it.

That’s when she called me a Pantser.

That’s right. A Pantser. I looked at her questioningly and she explained to me that Pantsers wrote on the seat of their pants while Planners did exactly that, planned.

I really love this classification for authors. It fits me and my writing style.

My name is James Master and I am a Pantser.

What are you?