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| rdfs:label | - Writing by the Seat of Your Pants
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| rdfs:comment | - Some authors plan meticulously. Before they even start to write, they have a detailed plot synopsis, character biographies, pages on setting, and a detailed backstory to the main tale... at the least. Others just sit down at their word processor and type whatever comes into their head. This trope is dedicated to them. The trope name comes from the phrase "flying by the seat of your pants", a colloquialism for "deciding a course of action as you go along". Please only add examples where the author admitted to doing this. This is not a page for speculation.
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| abstract | - Some authors plan meticulously. Before they even start to write, they have a detailed plot synopsis, character biographies, pages on setting, and a detailed backstory to the main tale... at the least. Others just sit down at their word processor and type whatever comes into their head. This trope is dedicated to them. This is not necessarily a trope about authors who simply write without a speck of planning at all (although it can be), but rather those who, overall, are improvising as they write. They may already have invented their characters, perhaps they have a vague plot bubbling in their head, even a few notes on Backstory or setting. What separates this kind of writing from planned writing is that these writers are prepared to throw those notes in the trash the moment they come up with an idea that they prefer. Writing a hardboiled crime fiction novel? Remember that takeaway place you thought up on the spot to give your sleuth somewhere to eat his lunch? That would be perfect as a front for the Big Bad's drug-dealing business. Making a movie? That actor's take on that character is way better than what you originally had in mind. Why not rewrite half his part to take advantage of that vision? The trope name comes from the phrase "flying by the seat of your pants", a colloquialism for "deciding a course of action as you go along". Like most things, this can be done well, or badly. The Chris Carter Effect and Kudzu Plot is what happens when Writing By The Seat Of Your Pants leaves too many loose plot threads. This is the novelistic version of Schrodinger's Gun or the Indy Ploy; when the author of a series canonizes fan suggestions as he goes along, see Ascended Fanon. Can also be related to I Just Write the Thing. Please only add examples where the author admitted to doing this. This is not a page for speculation. Examples of Writing by the Seat of Your Pants include:
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