We like to use words like-
creating, crafting, composing
when talking about writing a story. My writing process is a bit different. I find that when I’m writing I’m not creating, rather I’m discovering a story that’s already completed and I’m peeking at the scenes as I go along.
Is that a bit cheesy? That’s okay.
When I say don’t box your story in, I mean don’t cling so hard to your outline that you don’t let yourself discover the story you didn’t know you were writing.
I’m not much of an outliner, but sometimes I do feel too cluttered so I write a few things that I know I want to happen in the story, but I don’t let that dictate my story. They’re mere suggestions.
Try this: don’t outline. Just once.
If you’re a hardcore outliner, then step back, breathe the fresh air. Think of an image. A scene.
Anything. And then write from there and maybe something magical will happen.
Some of my best work has been when I have a image in my mind I can’t shake so I have to write it out and then it becomes this story I never knew was in me.
It enables you to let go.
What is writer’s block but not knowing how to get from A to B in your story? Mark through A and B and write whatever. (It’s not like you have to keep everything.)
Outlining has a tendency to make you think you have to follow it. You don’t…at least not all the time. When this happens your story is forced in a direction–it’s not naturally flowing (I don’t mean the flow of story writing…because I don’t believe there is such a thing, but the flow of story line.)
And when your story is forced to go where you only think it should go, the reader can tell.
I’ve written some awful stuff because I wanted a certain thing to happen in a story, but when I began writing it seemed like I was going in a different direction and said thing would no longer work. But I didn’t care. I wanted it to happen. So awkward explaining and dialogue later, I made it happen.
It’s like when a character dies at the end of a novel, but it feels out of place. Not in a oh-my-goodness-how-could-they-kill-them way, but in a that-made-no-sense way.
So please if you want your character dead at the end, fine. But have it make sense and not just because that’s what you wrote at the bottom of your outline.
Memoir of a Writer 
I usually have a general lead with the title but I’ve learned over the years to just let whatever words fall out. If I get out of my own way, this helps me get out what needs to be said. This is probably another one of the reasons I love to write. Sometimes I know what the main point will be and then other times it turns out quite different. Love the mystery of it.
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Exactly! 😊
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I consider how Tolkien wrote The Hobbit. He wrote this: “In a hole in the ground their lived a hobbit.” Then, a few years later, he drew a map, Thror’s map. And from there, I suspect he figured there was a dragon in a mountain and that some how the hobbit was going to have and adventure and meet this dragon.
And that was it. From there it was all wide open. But there was a destination.
For instance, in the first story I wrote, I wanted to create a great, driving need in the main character that was specific enough to identify with. But broad enough to allow a wide path to get there. “Find somewhere he felt that he belonged. Oh, and bring his sister.”
Without some nagging primary goal, I don’t think random, imagery-filled bouts of writing will hang together off the bones of the plot.
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The process of taking an image should turn into a destination. If it doesn’t you can’t really use it.
I’m not 100% sure on this, but someone told me that Life of Pi was written in the way I suggest. He had an image of a boy on a boat in the ocean with a tiger. when he wrote it out, that’s when he discovered his story. He didn’t sit there a plan beforehand. I think you’ve got to have an idea in mind, or destination, but you don’t always have to start with one- or keep the same destination if it no longer fits.
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Well, not always perhaps. But generally, wandering around in your writing thinking you can create a cogent story that has a understandable plot, or change your plot mid-stream, will show evidence of that wandering in the end.
Life of Pi was a strange movie. Visually striking but strange (never read the book).
I know a writer who just dives in and writes — and finishes novels. Quite a few. But they end up being uncompelling, and disjointed. His main characters never really know what drives them, so when their story is done, don’t really know if they failed or succeeded.
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Well I definitely don’t suggest writing a whole novel this way. Ha, yeah I can imagine- I think a lot of young adult novelist do this…that’s an assumption.
I think outlining does come in handy, but it seems like people either don’t outline at all and their story is awkward or they are too strict in their outline and the story feels forced.
My own method is beginning with something I want to write, like a scene or I’ll write a character out…but that doesn’t mean that’s going in the finished draft. I do it because I don’t always know what I want to write. Also, you can implement a outline after you write and get a feel for your story (again, doesn’t mean what you wrote gets to stay) but it gives you a better idea, etc.
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Absolutely. I do the same some times. Just begin, and if the story feels true, and the characters novel, then maybe they can evolve and become more.
Then there’s the times when I have one story done, and want to write the next in the series… Pretty much need a plan then.
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My current novel started with a single scene. I had no idea where I was going with it, I just wanted to write that one scene. Most of my first draft was pantsed with no outline. At the end, it was… not great… but it was done, and I had something to work with. Where I found outlining served me well was during editing, when I had to take all the disparate pieces and weave them into a more meaningful whole. But by then, I knew the characters, I knew what needed to happen, and it was now about keeping details consistent and logical. Even then, I treat the outline as a guide — if something needs to change, I change it, but then use the outline to identify impacts I need to manage.
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That’s great. Yeah, I tried to be careful not to suggest people never outline, I just meant outlining doesn’t have to be the first thing. A lot of the times I don’t know what I want to write about plot wise, but I have an idea of a character and when I write about that character I start realizing where the story could go, or what the story could be.
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I agree Zarah. ‘Outline’ tend to make us lose flexibility. We become rigid with our stories, often missing the twists and turns the story might lead to. As writers, we must always be prepared for the unexpected in our stories. Spot on Zarah. Thanks for the insight.
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Exactly 😊😊
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I read somewhere that the first scene Margaret Mitchell wrote for Gone With the Wind was the last one. And then she worked it backwards from there to see how they ended up in that situation – with the central theme still being what happens to people when the world turns upside down: who comes up on top and who sinks to the bottom. I believe you have to have an idea of where this has to go and what you’re really writing about, but I’m not a fan of process and rigidly outlining from A – Z would kill me.
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Yeah, I think you do eventually need to have an idea or plan, but that you don’t have to start with one. If I had to write an outline before I started I might never start lol I like to write something out and if I see potential I figure it out a bit at a time and change it when I need to.
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It’s best to simply trust, because you’re a writer, you will find something worthy of your time. A writers will finds something needing to be said if, for the moment, only to themselves.
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This has happened to me. I have an idea in mind, a basic thing I would have wanted to happen in my story. But as I set down to write, I realise I can l let so much more stuff to happen. And when I do it, it comes out to be more beautiful than the original idea I had.
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Yeah exactly. When I force my story to do something it’s never as good as allowing the story to go where it once to- with some guidance lol
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Yeah 😇😇
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This was the way I started writing very early in my “career”, if I can boldly call it that lol. I never outline. I write as a means of experiencing the creative endorphins…. Which I honestly get and feel those! I tend to think in images a lot when I write as if it’s being narrated to me – a mind movie with a quiet narrator. And I catch myself talking out loud often as I write yet still having no idea where the story is headed initially. I just can’t outline a story because it takes the fun out of it.
Flying by the seat of your pants is very freeing, and inspires creativity and flavor in your work. lol… You can add minuscule detail that brings realism to the story and characters because you aren’t stuck in a certain structure. It’s like dribbling down the court in a basketball game, going out of bounds, and not getting called by the officials for it. Quite liberating.
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Well, I’m glad to find out I’m not the only one who talks to themselves while writing 😂
I enjoy writing this way as well. It’s especially helpful to me when I don’t know where to begin or what to write.
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I am halfway through a police procedural or whodunit novella. I do about a 1000 words when I do an episode (no chapters, just episodes). Well, the perp is currently being questioned and I have no idea where the story goes once the ‘interview is over. But, it will take me someplace. 🙂
Warmest regards, Ed who wings it without the benefit of an outline.
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