Outlines.

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I prepare detailed outlines and my writing never sticks to the outline. Sometimes it seems that that all an outline does is provoke my unconscious to best the outline.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

I prepare detailed outlines and my writing never sticks to the outline. Sometimes it seems that that all an outline does is provoke my unconscious to best the outline.

In that case, why not stick with doing them?

I use a rough outline to sketch out the a novel's framework. My outlines always undergo changes as the story dictates. But they give me an overview of where I want the story to go and how I've gotten to where I am. I don't outline short stoires.

Unlike me, some good novelist use no outlines at all and feel the things hamper their creativity. What ever floats your boat.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[BlackShanglan]

Rumple is sagacious as always. I feel much the same way. I inevitably end up deviating from parts of the outline or revising it as I go, but I like having the structure to work with. Partly I like it because it helps me to think structurally before I plunge into the details - important for me as I otherwise wander off aimlessly into dialogue and characterization without a lick of a plot or movement. Partly, too, I draft slowly, which hampers my ability to throw down ideas and have fun with the excitement of swift composition if I try to do those things in the drafting stage. Starting with an outlines and roughnotes lets me get the ideas down as thick and fast as they come without all of the tedious drafting part.

I also often use outlines once the first and roughest draft is finished. Going back through and outlining what I actually have often shows me where I can tighten, cut, add, or re-order in ways that will improve the story.

 

[Recidiva]

I think I'm less plot driven than character driven.

Take my halloween story. I wanted to start doing something really, really dark. Inescapably dark and inevitable. No happy ending.

I couldn't do it. I had a whole plot outlined, and when I tried writing it, I couldn't do it.

Once my characters started talking to me, they would balk at my idea of dark or inescapable and tell me it was just dumb and they wouldn't do it. I couldn't justify WHY I wanted inescapably dark. When I tried to continue with the original idea, I stalled out and couldn't write any more.

Had to redo the whole thing, and then the characters would say their lines and it would be real.

I think it's a framework like a trellis for a vine. If the vine won't climb...you have to redo it completely. But it's the vine that counts.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Rumple is sagacious as always.

The truth is, I'm a Pisces--always have baen.

Rumple Foreskin