When a lot of writers start their first novel, they assume the process is pretty simple: you open your text editor of choice, type out "In the beginning..." (or some variant), hammer away at your keyboard for a few months, and then type "The End." Boom—you have a fully formed book.

For some lucky people, that is very much the case. But for the vast, vast majority of us, unfortunately, it is not.

For the non-superhumans, the flow usually looks a little more like this: You start your novel by typing out your intro. You might have one or two strong paragraphs introducing the main character, perhaps you introduce the antagonist, and then... right around chapter three or four, the flow begins to taper off. The ideas start to fade, and you hit the wall that most authors lovingly call writer's block.

That big, impenetrable brick wall you just ran headlong into? That wall is what happens when your great idea for a novel just doesn't have enough plot.

Usually, you have the beginning down, and some idea of what the climax should be. But the moment you sit down to write, you realize that the "pond" that is the middle of your book is actually an ocean. And instead of a sturdy ship, you've set sail on a life raft that is rapidly taking on water.

So what should you do instead? Might I suggest taking your pants off?

Okay, no, not literally—literarily! (Although studies have shown changing your environment can boost creativity, so do with that what you will.)

Broadly speaking, when a writer sits down to pen a novel, they fall into one of two camps. The first is to just start cracking—writing the novel from start to finish with little or no idea what might happen beyond a vague concept. The writing community calls these authors "Pantsers" (writing by the seat of their pants), perhaps the most famous of whom is Stephen King.

The problem with pantsing your novel is exactly what we discussed above. When you don't have a clear vision from the beginning, you might get a hundred pages in before you realize you don't know where to go—or worse, you don't like what you have.

That brings us to the second kind of writer: The Outliner. The outliner is the novelist who lays out each chapter ahead of time. This can take many forms: bullet points, a brief summary, or a detailed scene-by-scene breakdown including the major beats and characters involved. The benefit of this strategy is that it gives you a clear idea of what your novel is going to be about before you start writing, and can highlight issues—like having a thin plot—way before page 50.

The most common argument people have against outlining is that it puts your novel on guardrails, forcing you to follow a rigid structure instead of exploring where the writing takes you. While this argument seems reasonable at first, it falls flat pretty quickly. Just because you have an outline doesn't mean you can't (and won't) diverge from it in unexpected directions as you explore your story. Indeed, the outline will likely change many, many times as you discover what your story is actually about. Quite often, writers in the editing phase even employ a "reverse outline" to get a firmer understanding of their structure for exactly this reason.

Another common misconception is that you have to be strictly one or the other. Here again, I must tell you this simply is not the case. Many writers have notes, post-its, and a sentence or two about the plot, and write around those. Others make a detailed outline and follow it to the letter. Still others make an outline and refer back to it only if they are stuck. Ultimately, the outline serves as a tool to assist you—no more, no less.

So, should you stop pantsing? If you're finding yourself having trouble with the middle of your story, maybe give it a shot. An outline isn't a cage; it's a set of tracks to keep your story moving forward.

If you're starting your next story, give Quill Loop a try. With a comprehensive character and world builder, coupled with a Writer's Desk that lets you sketch out your chapters and tag your characters dynamically, it is perfectly equipped to help you—whether you are a pantser, an outliner, naked, or anything in between!

No matter what, just remember to keep on writing. The only difference between a dreamer and an author is the tap of keys or the stroke of a pen.