Pantster or Plotter

People want to categorize writers into the either/or pantster or plotter, but I seem to be a hybrid. And, truth be told, I think that is the norm. For a historical novel you need to be a plotter if you are going to have a credible historical setting. But, I then discovered NaNoWriMo which helped me finish the historical novel. And for that I became a pantster with ideas flowing one after the other and sometimes random scenes that came to mind. Though I kept the ending in mind, I came up with a few surprises. But, I made a spreadsheet of chapters to make sure that the plot was falling into place. Several times I moved chapters back and forth as the storyline developed and I need to be a plotter for that.

For fun, I wrote a romance novel. It started off with a vague premise but I challenged myself to do a Camp NaNo in July and the book is basically finished and all by the seat of my pants! I had a hard time starting mostly because I couldn't "see" my characters. But once I had a better idea of them, the story grew and I began to like the characters. At first I didn't. That surprised me. 

A blog I saw on Facebook shared by a neighbor about having more women protagonists was interesting. There are apparently more male protagonists though the romance genre seems to center on female protagonists and their POV. But, even then, the female protagonist's interests and focus are on men! How to get your man! So there's always going to be a strong male character in the story. One thing I have a hard time doing is getting inside the male psyche without making him a stereotype. I guess it comes with practice.