Check in: Day 16

[the_rck]

I hope writing is going well for all of you!

As for today:

Did you write?
Edit?
Research?
Plan?
Send to beta?
Take a break?
Deal with other life things?

How do you feel about your writing today?

I haven't written anything yet today, but it's still early. I just have to pull up the document and start typing. That's easy enough, right?

Today's discussion topic is outlines. Do you use them? If so, what sort do you favor? If not, what doesn't work for you about them? Does it depend on the length of the story?

I tend not to use outlines. For a long story, I'll sometimes make a list of scenes that I think need to happen somewhere before the end, but that's as close as I get to an outline. I just tend to wander through the story, seeing what happens as it comes up. So far, that's worked for me.

Comments

[lilly_c]

I'm not long home from doing a double at work so I shall be starting as soon as I've finished adding my work history to my police application.

I feel good about my writing today even though I've yet to start. When I was walking home from work I figured out the few blanks I need to fill in, in chapters 1 & 2 of Twice Unjust so I shall be getting those done. I also need to do some research on Celtic FC players since 2009/2010 and going back that far gives me a bit of leeway for a later chapter in the same fic.

I tend to only use outlines for long fics, and just go with whatever comes out for drabbles and one shots unless I'm using a theme I've never worked with before then I also have a few handwritten notes to refer to.

[rhi]

I work linearly, from start through end because stuff in the middle can change the end and I hate rewriting for that. So if I'm doing a long story (novella or novel), I'll keep a list of scenes at the end -- both ones already written, and ones I know I still need to write. But it tends to be only a few scenes ahead, and the key scenes I know *have* to be in there when I get to them. But I'll track where the scene is set, when, which characters were in the scene, and if necessary, whose POV. It helps me a lot on the long stuff, but it's also flexible -- I take scenes out or change them around as needed. They're more like guidelines.

[linaewen]

I opened my documents folder long enough to see when my January challenges are due and wrote them in my calendar. That's it so far. I need to make myself sit and write this evening, for sure!

I love outlines and use them in some form for everything I do. My outlines tend to be a chronological list of what needs to happen in that story or chapter with headings for main events or specific character situations in order of appearance. Underneath those events I write notes of the details I want to include, ideas I've gotten from research, snatches of conversation that I'll probably use in the story, or quotes from canon that apply to the situation, as well as any bits from previous chapters that affect what takes place in the current chapter. This is especially helpful with my longer stories. For shorter ones, my outline is much less complicated, but I still make a list of the events I want to include in the order they seem to want to happen.

[elmyraemilie]

I saw this post and thought, "I'd better write something." So I did--about 200 words of dialogue.

I don't write outlines, usually, though I do use "mechanicals," brief descriptions of scenes or flowcharts of action to keep me on track. Actually, that's part of the problem with the current fic--I'm a little hazy on where I'm going, and there's something about the set-up that's bugging me. Probably when I resolve one of those issues, the other will fall in line as well.

[zellieh]

Hm. I haven't done any writing yet today. I set up my Deadlines post for the year, which still needs a bit more work. I also signed up for trope_bingo.

Very short things that I manage to write in one sitting don't get outlines at all; I just free-write them, although I may have an idea in my head.

Most stories get notes about the concept, some set-up, backstory, and often an idea of the end of the story. Long stories get timelines for events from the characters POV and how much time is passing in-universe, and then I'll have an outline about where I want the story to go: acts, mid-story problems and climaxes, final climax.

I haven't fond an outlining method I'm completely happy with yet; they either seem to include too much information or not enough.