In which I have too many cups of coffee
Well, I have a little time right now 'cause I drank too much coffee trying to stave off the headache I was getting. (Temperature plunges, migraine skyrockets... sigh.) So I've been playing around on the NaNo boards trying to be sociable. All the folks posting in the "Young Adult/Youth" forum are, well, young. Ah well. I am what I am.
There has been some discussion on the merits and perils of outlines, both at NaNo and at TC, this past month. I used to be very anti-outline. I used to firmly believe that once I knew how the story ended, I lost interest in it. But as I have said elsewhere, not having an outline really truly doesn't work for me. I just fall off the plotting cliff. I don't know that having an outline WILL work for me, but at least it's worth the try. It can't work any worse.
I've been finding, as I expand the story from the one page summary to the longer summary (see the snowflake model stuff I rave about in earlier posts), that I work out some of the cooler aspects of the story. Things start to fall into place and make sense. Things start connecting to one another in ways I didn't expect. I'm not finding the outline particularly restrictive. See, I'm looking at it as a road map, not as a set of driving instructions. It's giving me the lay of the land. I don't need to follow it slavishly--it just represents the best driving path at any given moment. I have no problem going off-road, because I can see the territory. I find this to be a cool thing. As I expand my outline, it's like adding in all the little side streets. And there's nothing to prevent me from heading down other sidestreets if that's where the story heads. I know how to get where I want to go from wherever I am. My outline is more like an organic thing than a static thing.
I read about the objections to outlines, and I mostly think "Mine really isn't like that." It's more like doing what I usually do in my head, but down on paper. See, when I write a short story, I'm pretty much on the 5th or 6th draft before I ever start typing. I've got the bulk of the plotting, characterization, and dialogue completed before I ever sit down to a typewriter. I've even worked out some of the descriptions. I can do that in my head with short stories, because they are short. I haven't been able to do it with anything longer, though, no matter how hard I try.
The "outline" I'm doing is simply doing for scenes what I do for short stories. And since it's all written down, I don't have to try to keep it in my head. I can tear it apart and work on it scene by scene without losing the big picture. Everything is in place when I sit down to write and (hopefully) I can just go and Write the Damned Thing.
Mind you, I haven't tried actually writing the story yet. I could change my mind about all this after November 1st rolls around ;).
There has been some discussion on the merits and perils of outlines, both at NaNo and at TC, this past month. I used to be very anti-outline. I used to firmly believe that once I knew how the story ended, I lost interest in it. But as I have said elsewhere, not having an outline really truly doesn't work for me. I just fall off the plotting cliff. I don't know that having an outline WILL work for me, but at least it's worth the try. It can't work any worse.
I've been finding, as I expand the story from the one page summary to the longer summary (see the snowflake model stuff I rave about in earlier posts), that I work out some of the cooler aspects of the story. Things start to fall into place and make sense. Things start connecting to one another in ways I didn't expect. I'm not finding the outline particularly restrictive. See, I'm looking at it as a road map, not as a set of driving instructions. It's giving me the lay of the land. I don't need to follow it slavishly--it just represents the best driving path at any given moment. I have no problem going off-road, because I can see the territory. I find this to be a cool thing. As I expand my outline, it's like adding in all the little side streets. And there's nothing to prevent me from heading down other sidestreets if that's where the story heads. I know how to get where I want to go from wherever I am. My outline is more like an organic thing than a static thing.
I read about the objections to outlines, and I mostly think "Mine really isn't like that." It's more like doing what I usually do in my head, but down on paper. See, when I write a short story, I'm pretty much on the 5th or 6th draft before I ever start typing. I've got the bulk of the plotting, characterization, and dialogue completed before I ever sit down to a typewriter. I've even worked out some of the descriptions. I can do that in my head with short stories, because they are short. I haven't been able to do it with anything longer, though, no matter how hard I try.
The "outline" I'm doing is simply doing for scenes what I do for short stories. And since it's all written down, I don't have to try to keep it in my head. I can tear it apart and work on it scene by scene without losing the big picture. Everything is in place when I sit down to write and (hopefully) I can just go and Write the Damned Thing.
Mind you, I haven't tried actually writing the story yet. I could change my mind about all this after November 1st rolls around ;).
posted by BlogShy | 9:41 PM
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