Bonus: Plotting for Pantsers: How 3 Writers Found Freedom in Story Structure

Fiction Writing Made Easy

Savannah Gilbo

Education, Fiction, Writing Tips, Arts, Bestseller, Writing, How To, Author, Writing Community, Books, Novel, How To Write Fiction, Writing Fiction, Writer, How To Write A Book

4.9 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The myth that plotting kills creativity is keeping countless discovery writers stuck in an endless cycle of abandoned manuscripts—but what if structure could actually set your creativity free? If you're a pantser convinced that outlining will ruin your creative process, or you've been discovery writing through multiple unfinished manuscripts, this episode will change how you think about story structure. You'll hear from three committed pantsers who thought outlining meant creative death. Kath...

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you've been stuck in someday mode, endlessly researching, planning, and second-guessing your story
0:05.0	idea instead of actually writing, I have something that's going to change everything for you.
0:09.5	I'm hosting a brand new, live, three-day boot camp called Stop Overthinking and Start Writing.
0:14.9	It's happening from August 13th through 15th, and it's designed specifically for writers who are
0:19.9	tired of being stuck in their own heads. In just three days, you'll break through the perfectionism and it's designed specifically for writers who are tired of being stuck in their own
0:21.4	heads. In just three days, you'll break through the perfectionism and overwhelm that's been
0:25.6	keeping you trapped, and you'll walk away with three game-changing wins, a rock-solid completion
0:30.8	date that actually fits your life and your schedule, a proven framework to stop overthinking and
0:35.7	start writing forward, and a powerful logline
0:38.1	that captures the heart of your story. We've had over 100 writers sign up already, and for just
0:43.1	$27, you can join us too. Head over to savannahgilbo.com forward slash bootcamp to save your spot
0:49.3	before doors close. One more time, that's savannahgilbo.com forward slash boot camp. Hope to see you there.
0:55.6	By slowing down to check in with my scenes and the outline I was creating, I ended up with
1:00.8	the cleanest zero draft I've ever written. Instead of one year to edit those 50,000 words
1:06.8	and then abandoning it out of frustration, it took me only two months to do a developmental
1:12.6	edit on the 72,000 words. For anyone who likes math, this means I went from around 2300 words
1:20.1	per daily writing session to 800. I eliminated nine months of painful developmental edits while also writing less each day. I slowed down
1:31.6	to speed up. And for someone who loves efficiency, that was my biggest and happiest aha moment
1:38.6	of the entire course. Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo, and I'm here to help you
1:47.9	write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be
1:52.3	overwhelming. So each week, I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable, and
1:57.5	step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away.
	...

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