Are You a "Mapper" or a "Wanderer"?
Maps & Book Plots Are the Same Thing
Wednesday, 5 March 2025
Are You a “Mapper” or a “Wanderer”?
Maps and Book Plots Are the Same Thing
It is said that one is either a plotter (meticulously outlines the plot FIRST) or a pantser (flies by the seat of one’s pants writing as ideas come to mind). Think of plotting as being a mapper or one who lays out the direction of a story before writing. Think of pantsing as being a wanderer following every squirrel who runs across the highway.
As far as outlining my own novels, I'm more of a scribbler and doodler in the beginning stages. From those initial notes, I can write a plot outline. Leonardo Da Vinci kinda did the same thing in his notebooks:
Here’s an example of the plot web I used for my nonfiction book Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity (Headline Books, Inc., 2020.)
Here’s an example of a mind mapping exercise I created for an article published in the Romance Writer’s Report magazine (2021.)
Here’s the storyboard I used for my newest novel The Mermaid Riot.
There are many creative ways to map a story plot. I'm sure you'll come up with something that works for you. From these tactile, creative, colorful, and often messy (messy is the part I like best) methods, I can produce a traditional outline in a Word document that keeps me from getting lost as I write.
Are you a “mapper” or a “wander” when it comes to plotting your stories? Or do you work with a combination of both ideas?
Be well, write well!
~Joy
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JOY E. HELD is an author, educator, editor, entrepreneur, and literary citizen responsible for this site and its contents. She is the author of
Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity (Headline Books, Inc., 2020)
Writer Wellness Workbook: A Guided Workbook and Journal to Accompany Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity (Headline Books, Inc., 2023)
The Mermaid Riot (Fire and Ice YA, 2024) Young Adult Historical Fantasy
She writes spicy historical fiction under a pen name.
She is the winner of multiple writing and book awards:
West Virginia Writers, Inc. Annual Writing Contest, Honorable Mention, Novel, 1998.
New York Book Festival, Honorable Mention, Writer Wellness, 2020.
Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Finalist, Writer Wellness, 2021.
Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America, Member of the Year, 2020.
Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America, First Book Award, 2020.
She is an adjunct faculty member in the Southern New Hampshire University Online MFA Creative Writing.
She is a proud graduate of Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA with an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction.
She is a member of The Authors Guild and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Joy is the founder and CEO of My WRITEDAY Subscription Box for writers and readers.
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I've also heard the terms plotter and pantser. Pantser? Someone who writes from the "seat of her pants," ergo, without mapping out before writing. I am a plotter - I know the beginning, middle and end of a book I am writing. What comes between is flexible.