Day 17: To Outline or Not To Outline ...
April 17, 2001
7:24 a.m.
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Yesterday: 1,350 Words Today: 8,500 words  Once again, let's not get too up in arms on the big number. This was a part that was already written, and my work this morning consisted of rearranging it, generally double-checking to make sure it still fit the bill, and making certain that I adequately transcribed it in my running outline.   Perhaps the running outline bears a bit of discussion. Those of you interested in quirky, fun entries can stop here. Those of you interested in an esoteric little slice of how I go about the mechanics of tracking my work feel free to wade in ... My outlines. I tend to do short work with a simple paper and pencil outline, if any. A half page on my thoughts as to the most interesting parts of the story--perhaps a few jotted ideas about things that might be valuable later. This is important, because it's also how I start looking at long work. I jot stuff, I make a network diagram of major story movement. all-in-all, I imagine myself like a general at a war room mapboard, pushing my pieces around with one of those big sticks you see in all the World War II movies. But eventually, I've got to get down to some deeper level of business. So I start a spreadsheet. My spreadsheet has the following columns: 1) Chapter 2) Pages 3) Starting Page 4) Ending Page 5) Words (this chapter) 6) Words (cumulative) 7) What Happens 8) Why I also have a column or pointer that I put at the side to tell me what's written and what isn't. Once I have this together, I move in either one of two directions. If I'm itching to create words, I sit down and write. Strike while the iron is hot, I always think. When I run out of steam, I fall back, look at what I've written, and plug it into the chart. If I'm uncertain of what to write, and have that anxious feeling about the idea of putting words on the page right then, I go directly to the chart and begin to capture brainstormed ideas. This is also a good way to capture those little ideas that pop up at the least likely times -- like, say, in the middle of the day when you're farthest away from your computer. I Jot those ideas down, and put them into the structure of my story as soon as I can. In this way, the outline is not a restraint to my creativity, but rather a big splash rag that's there to capture what paint drips from the palette. For me, the story goes in fits and starts along these lines. Sometimes I'm writing ahead of my outline. Sometimes I'm writing to fill in ideas I've already captured. But no matter what, at the end of the day, the goal is to have my spreadsheet/outline reflect the state of my story. Weird, eh?   Did the Easter Bunny bring you all those words? Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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"Apply yourself to the basics and progress will follow." My Fortune |
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