Outlines can be set up in advance. There is, after all, a world of difference between a page outlining the direction a chapter should go and the actual fleshed-out 20-page chapter.
Personally, I feel more comfortable winging it. I’ve got the characters, premise, and a general plot in mind, along with a few interesting scenes. It’ll come to me as I go. I’m used to improvisational writing; I create characters frequently for RPGs, and in almost every single case any story or personality I work up for the character ahead of time is thrown out in favor of something more interesting during actual play, and that’s what sticks with the character.
There are also different kinds of outlines, too. Some are point by point, and others are messy.
Some people do something like this, outlining not only every scene, but virtually everything that happens within a scene too:
scene I. Six months later.
Ia. Kyler has moved in and is frustrated that life is harder than he guessed from movies - show him trying to find a job in the paper he’s qualified for
Ib. Caitlin reflects that she feels guilty that her pregnancy has forced his hand
Ic. Danny gets their mind off of things due to needing a ride to school.
scene II. Caitlin gets a phone call from officer Lori Welch, whom she hasn’t heard from since the murder case was resolved six months earlier
IIa. Lori tells her that she needs her help again, and explains the problem
But I don’t do that. It’s too stiffling. Instead I do this, just writing down major plot points:
story picks up six months later. Caitlin is pregnant, and Kyler has crossed over
through his struggles she sees that there is a lot she never thought about re: crossing back over. he has no job history, no education, no official paperwork. this makes her wonder how others are. hopefully better since the rest were dead weeks/months not years
she also feels guilty that Kyler is unhappy, though she can tells he’s trying to hide it
is Max in this book? is he less damaged? more?
to complicate matters Lori contacts her about people who have been returned to life against their will. obviously someone else like her is targeting people in the afterlife
– is it [character from last book] causing trouble again, even though [bad guy from last book] is [fate] and thus not blackmailing him?
although she’s not sure that she wants to fight crime while at the beginning of her third trimester, she does, feeling that she must because no one else can
– No, it’s not [character from last book] maybe she can get him to help her? would he? would he see it as a way to atone?
the baby will probably be a boy. She’ll wonder if he’ll have the same ablity that she and her foster son (Danny) share.
I don’t know who the bad guy or gal will be, or how things will ultimately turn out, but I do have a fairly general idea of where things will go to get started with. Some people feel this is too little to know in advance, and others that it’s way too much. With luck people figure out what’s best for them in October.
I have to say I’m pumped for this. The timing is a little bad–I start as an editor for a creative writing journal on Nov. 6–but it’s never going to get better, especially with the time off I’m getting for Thanksgiving. I’m registered and all that, but I’d still like to put in some time making sure I understand the system. I don’t want to be futzing with it on November 30.
The main reason I’m doing this is to develop better writing habits. I’ve been in the habit of putting off 20-page papers/articles until the last minute, and I know the quality of my writing suffers from this. If I can get into the habit of writing a few pages a day, every day, I think I can really accomplish great things in this life.
The novel itself will be a little Onanistic–wish-fulfillment memoir, with maybe a vampire thrown in As the man said, “Not the goal, but the game.”
I’ve missed writing a ton since I left college (though not necessarily the not well structured criticism) and I just haven’t had an impetus to start again. Does anyone here share novels once done? Or what does one really do with it after?
I gave my book to a couple friends, one a professional critic and the other is a semi-professional writer. I just got their critiques back and will be starting the very needed second draft. For those who win, createspace will publish a copy of the book for you and I think even put it up on Amazon too.
We are 10 days away from the kickoff and I’m getting excited. I’m starting to have plot ideas in a bigger scheme of things form which is a relief as it’s been a bit nebulous until recently. I’ve been busy doing research and reading the Qu’ran which in itself has been incredibly fascinating. (I’m planning on writing a sequel to it).
I “won” two years ago and last year couldn’t face the prospect of trying again. After all, you have to get about 1700 words a day in to make the deadline. My novel was terrible, too. But this year I am trying again. I NEED an outline. I went without last time and ran out of steam around 30K words and had to shoehorn in a hostage situation and all kinds of drama. This time I started a long outline and am most of the way through it, and am looking forward to it.
I’ve been bouncing ideas off my GF, and planning at night while I try to sleep (which has, of course, led to a few nights where I was late falling asleep). I think I’ll be starting a rough outline soon; once I can think of an ending, I’ll be golden. I plan on taking a plot idea, and the ending, and using it as a goal to write towards.
I did NaNoWriMo four years ago - didn’t finish. I think a lot of it was because I had to write it down and then type it (no laptop.) I think I’m going to do it this year - I’ve got a bunch of unfinished stories I want to work on. Yes, I know that’s technically cheating, but I really don’t need more stories started. Also planning on finishing my really long Batman fanfic that’s already novel length. It’s embarrassing really.
I need to do some prep work for some of them first. Need a family tree for one of them and to build a city for a couple of the others (they’re in the same universe).
If anybody wants to use them I have ‘story sparks’ that can help get over writers block and stuff here.
I managed to top off a 50k word novel a couple years ago. It was mainly about a giant who inadvertently walked into myths and fables all over the world, kind of like Flashman. I went back and forth with Wikipedia and c&ped the stories, then changed them around to fit my guy in.
It wasn’t as slack as I made it sound. I actually did have to put in plot developments and behind-the-scenes scenes to have it make some kind of sense.
I u/led one chapter at a time and saw how Nano’s word count was lower, so I had some idea that I needed to go over OO’s count by a couple thousand at the finish.
This year I’m going to attempt a story with Dr. Who, King Kong, and Godzilla in it. Mainly, because it’s a weird idea that came to me one day, and I keep obsessing about it.
I was trying hard to come up with a plot idea; all I had was a starting premise but no story. A random comment by a friend last week elicited one major thunderstorm of ideas in my head, and I suddenly now have enough material to do a trilogy. I’m revved up hard to do this.
I’ll tell you from experience, drawing realistically takes a hell of a lot longer than you think, unless you are really really good. (I managed a page a week of semi-photo realistic. A large of part of that was the need to do research).
Not to be discouraging though - go for it, it can’t be any worse than writing.
Speaking of nanowrimo, has anyone else read The Forest of Hands and Teeth? Carrie Ryan’s blog states that she wrote most of it during nanowrimo in 2007.
I would love to do this. I’ve had a story that’s been bouncing around in my brain for the last few YEARS. But I have a million reasons that I can’t do this; a baby and husband to care for, dogs to feed, water, and scrape the poop off their butts.
But the real reason is this: But I’m scared. Scared to suck. Like, completely totally terrified. I keep thinking to myself, “Maybe Someday.” But what if Someday never comes?
The thing is, this gives you freedom to suck. It’s like being in a swimming match against Michael Phelps. You’d lose, but at the end you could say at the end “I just raced Michael Phelps!” and it would be totally ok that you lost. At the end of Nanowrimo, you can say “I just wrote a novel in a month!” and due to the weirdness of the exercise, it’s totally ok that it sucks.
Update: I cannot participate this year. I’ve got something else happening that is going to take up a lot of my time this November, and I won’t have a lot of time to write. Good luck to all who are participating, though!
Well, October has come and gone, but if you’re planning on one for December, I’ll look forward to it!
As the man said, “Not the goal, but the game.”
I’m revved up hard to do this.