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?

Change in Perspectives

Today's blog is about a change in perspective. With my first work in progress - Purgatory - it was in the first person. It wasn't until I had written and multiply submitted my manuscript that I found out 1st person perspectives are very rarely successful.

I will admit it is a harder way to write. The first person POV severly limits how you can tell your story. You can only show what the main character precieves about the other characters, not what they are actually thinking. You can only show how certain events effect the main character personally and not how the others around them are effected on the inside.

However it also opens up a whole new aspect that you simply don't get into writing in the 3rd person. You delve deeper into the main characters feelings. You see exactly how they relate to the other characters and exactly how they see themselves. It is a more personal, inside their head story. And I truly loved writing that way.

With my second WIP (work in progress) I've decided to take it from the 3rd person's POV. It is a huge change for me, but one I have thoroughly enjoyed. The thing I like most about it is the more writing techniques I explore, the more developed I feel as an author, even if I haven't had a manuscript published yet. I love feeling of the evolution of my craft.

Oh and for the record, I will return to writing in the first person again. I love the intimacy of it.

But until then...