"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia." ~E.L. Doctorow

Sunday, December 12, 2010

To Outline or Not to Outline; That is the Question.

So seriously...

I'm wondering what the thoughts of my fellow writers out there are. Do you prefer winging it or staging out the entire story before you even approach the keyboard? I only ask this because I'm contemplating going against what I usually do and attempt to start an outline for my current work in progress.

Now, I'm the first to admit that I am not even close to being an old pro at this. I'm still finding my footing much like many of you out there. But the last few stories that I have written were pure winging it and it doesn't seem to be working this time around.

Now when I say I wing it - that is not to say that I don't know the general gist of my stories. I do. I have it in my head...how the story is going to go. But I don't write out in detail how each chapter will evolve ...what each section has to entail and when. And I'm curious to see if that will help me get this WIP that has been kicking my butt out on paper.

I need it out of my head, you see, and on the page. No matter how busy I am, how much stuff I am doing at the moment or how exhausted I am...its still there. Bugging the crap out of me that i haven't gotten it done.

My fellow writers out there will know this - Stories are insistent! Constantly demanding from its writers its full completion. But for some reason this time around it also feels like pulling teeth. Its coming in a slow and arduous trickles, driving me batty.

I need to try something different because my usual process isn't working. Which leads me back to the beginning....To outline or not to outline? Thoughts?

2 comments:

Lyla said...

I can't believe how much similar our stories are regarding writing, i myself was sure that as soon as i sent out my first manuscript, publishers will be clamoring to sign me on and publish my work (well i wasn't sure, just hoped :p )but the reality was different. I was told that I need to do some serious revisions before i can even hope to be published. But since then, i seemed to have lost my mojo. i just hope that one day i do get it back.
Good luck with your work too.. :)

C.M. Villani said...

Well, I'm just too stubborn to give it up, I think. :) I do hear you though...keeping up the momentum is a very hard thing to do after you get rejected and your eager optimism is shattered.

But here's hoping you find the fun in it again, Lyla, so you can pick the pen back up! Or keyboard in this case. :D

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