I am not an out liner. The two novels I have written I wrote in the fly by night style. That is I started with sentence one and keep going from there. I would tweak, edit, reword, reorganize as I went along on my first. On my second I wrote the first sentence and go from there. Unlike the first though, I had more of an idea of where I wanted to go. When ever I stop writing for the night I would make notes at the end of the scene on what I wanted to happen next. I found it is so much easier to leave myself little cliff notes at the end. It helps to keep writers block at bay.
This time I have decided to write a whole outline for my book first. The reason why I actually did this was because I had an idea for another novel, but I wasn't finished with my WIP. I loved the idea and I didn't want to forget it. So I wrote down a quick three for four scene outline to get myself started and closed the file on the computer and let it sit. I haven't looked at it in months. I wanted to concentrate on LightWeight. I wanted all my energy focused on one project. I'm a big believer in finishing what I have started.
Now though, I can happily say I have finished LightWeight and have started the editing process. I'm going through all the red lines my critique partner had given me and I am enjoying reading my WIP and fine tuning it for agents. Since I need a break from editing I have decided to take out my outline and finish work on that a little. I figure by the time I have finished round one of edits on LightWeight, I'll be in a good place to start writing my WIP. Only I won't. I'll probably let it sit again, until I finish round two of edits, and word on another project I have started, a romantic comtemporary for a little while. THen I might go back to LightWeight for another go around. Then I'll glance at my outline again. The idea is to never get to a point where the story line gets old to me, I want to keep things fresh I'm trying this out, we will see how it goes.
I have no idea how long this new process will take, it doesn't matter, the fun is writing it. The fun is finding the idea and creating. Although I have to admit. I love to seeing the finished product. Even more I'd love to see my books sits in the hands of the reader.
So fun to see how others write. I wrote my first book by just starting with a sentence. The funnest book I wrote, for sure! (Not so much on the plot thing, but fun to write!)
ReplyDeleteWell, I know I've been a bit out of the loop this week, but when did you redo your blog? It looks great! Although when I first clicked over i didn't recognize where I was - not in Kansas anymore :)
ReplyDeleteI start like you do - just dive right in - but am not so good about getting through to the end. 30-45 pages seems to be my stall-out point. I have 3 novels I've actually finished (by which I mean gotten from beginning to end) and about 8 others at the stall-out point. Maybe it's time to try outlining :)