Why I chose outlining after writing my first draft. Sometimes the creative process doesn’t look like you expect it or want it to.
When your teacher in school told you to do prewriting, did you do it? Did you carefully outline what you were going to say and when and how you would say it before every typing the first word of your essay? Or did you jump? Perhaps realizing your prewriting was a grade, you hastily threw some non-sense on paper, hoping it would look like you planned something.
I’m a planner. I love to have a roadmap when I sit down at my computer. With creative writing, I alter and deviate from the map, but it helps push me in the direction I need to head in.
But after my last finished novel, I felt stuck. I couldn’t get going. I tried and failed to start writing a novel several times. Then last November, it happened. I wrote 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo. But I tried something different. I had a rough idea of what I wanted, but I just started writing. I let my imagination explore the story and told myself it was okay if I have to rewrite a whole lot of it. But I made it, and this month I finally finished that rough draft.
So, last week I read through my book. I stopped when I got to a point where I knew I would scrap the rest because I want to change the ending. I’ve been thinking and brainstorming what needs to happen. And you know what I realized? I need an outline.
I am outlining my book after the fact. Already, I realize I am going to need some major rewrites. And strangely that’s okay. It doesn’t feel like I’m starting from scratch because I have a whole draft of writing to draw from. Hopefully there are a few pages, paragraphs, sentences I can salvage. Even if there aren’t I feel like I have a lot to work with.
Will I write another draft like this again? I don’t know. A lot of writers say each book is different. And this one is completely different from the last one I wrote, and that was completely different than the one before that. So, I’m rolling with it and reminding myself that I need to put in the effort to create the best book I can.
Somehow I’m supposed to have my outline finished by the end of the month. Yes, I realize that is tomorrow. My friend and I are exchanging outlines, and I can’t wait to hear her feedback. She’s already pushed me in a direction that I hadn’t thought of that should take this story up to another level.
Here are a few goals as I outline:
- Strengthen my characters and understand their motivation
- Map out the plot (decide what to keep and what to change)
- Check for plot holes
- Add tension
It may sound like I’m throwing some prewriting together last minute like a student caught without their homework. But I’m choosing to view draft one as some major brainstorming before I outline. After all, I write fiction, and I make stuff up.