Outlining

[kdbleu]

I have come to the realization that I need to get the rest of my mystery out of head and onto paper, in short form, so I can check for plot holes, find the emotional connections, etc. Unfortunately my experience with outlines has not been good. It has been bad, in fact, resulting in me only writing the outline and not the actual story. Now, after a

Comments

[scifishipper]

I guess one question I have is: does the outline have to be inflexible? You seem to have some concerns about what needs to changed to accommodate your new character. When I consider the outline you have, it's a matter of just a couple of scenes being added or deleted or moved around. I think that works just fine and that every outline has that bit

[kdbleu]

I don't think having an outline means being inflexible, and I know there are plenty of things I'm still not going to out down in any more detail than I have in my current timeline. The new character made me realize I need to keep track of some details, both for future scenes and ones I've already written, and that made me think I need to make sure my arc work

[daybreak777]

also have realized in this discussion that I need to write without and outline in the beginning. That outlines without writing is what kills me. But almost as soon as I start writing I start making notes, but I don't usually make those notes until I need them. So an outline is something I might eventually need not a starting place.
Good point. This community really helps me with my writing because it gets me thinking about writing a lot. And then I start to actually do it and things fall into place more.

Write the idealized scenes first! It's like eating dessert first. Isn't always what you expect. :-)

[kdbleu]

No, it's not always what I expect to write the idealized scenes first, but it gets them out of my system. Much like eating just a bit of the dessert you're craving instead of everything else in the house trying to avoid the chocolate bar. Or that's how it works for me, and it's been successful so I'm going with it. ;)

Yeah, having a place to talk out writing issues is so helpful and inspiring.

[ninjamonkey73]

In the past, I would write (start to(ward) finish) with an arc in mind and the story might wander and there'd be too many little add-in scenes that brought the plot to a screeching halt, so this time, I decided to try this whole "outline" business. Rather than anything I would consider "formal", I created a separate GDoc for both notes (personality traits, past experiences that color a character's interactions with people, details to work in somewhere) and a VERY high level outline. Since previous projects have gone 10 chapters before hitting the planned conflict, I needed to make sure I stuck to a plan of when the beats to this plot got hit. Case in point

[kdbleu]

I keep copious other notes. Character bits, especially physical characteristics because no matter how much I plan things out, my character look like they look, whether I like it or not. (I did get my male 'lead' to be tall, which was kind of a victory of will, but he flat refused to be blond. ;)

I'm outline for kind of the same reason you did, for pacing. My issue is less getting to the conflict and more making sure I keep and balance the right tempo after that, but what you're saying makes sense.

I have realized that I couldn't outline from the beginning, not in a formal completed way. More like my character details or any other kind of notes, it's a tool that I need eventual, when I have too many balls in the air to keep straight in my head.