Lately I've been planning a new, improved plot for my work-in-progress. I mired around in the muck of "unknowns" for too long with this novel, and all activity eventually ground to a halt simply because I didn't know which directly to go next.
After finally convincing myself that I need an outline, I started writing down each step I needed my characters to take. It's a slow process as I think things through (I sometimes think too much, believe it or not) and make sure it fits with the the vision I have for my novel.
My emotions were rather mixed last night, though. Along with the elation of coming up with a better plot fraught with tension and suspense came the agonizing despair of knowing I will have to cut a lot of the stuff I've already written.
GAH.
I know in the end it will be worth it, and as I never truly discard any of my writing (I have a file devoted specifically to "deleted scenes"), I may have material for a later story.
It's all part of the process - the agony and the ecstasy - of creating.
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All right. Enough with the down-in-the dumps posts. I realized that I had way too many of them in the past few weeks and I am bumming myself...
I too have mixed feeling when it comes to outlines. Try as I might I simply can't seem to stick to them. I WISH I knew my book that well from the outset.
ReplyDeleteThinking this stuff through is so much work, but it'll be so worth it.
ReplyDeleteI have to have a draft done before I can outline, though. Sounds weird, but I have to know the story first before I can figure out the best way to tell it.
The more I write, the more I use an outline even though I hate them but it saves me from cutting so much!
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