For the past five years or so, I’ve been jumping headfirst into NaNoWriMo without warning. I don’t know what I’m going to write until the last minute and when I finally decide on what story I’m going to write, I simply dive in. I know that it’s dangerous to work without an outline, but that’s the thrill of it!
Although by the time I start putting words on paper, the story starts dictating itself so I’m rarely ever surprised when I complete a story. I like taking clichés and ideas and turning them into something completely new and exciting, and I am hoping to achieve the same result with Dangerous Obsession.
Thank you, Kage of RLyis for my signature ❤
Writing by process of discovery is my forte because novel outlining does not work for me. The characters always seem to take over and then I am forced to abandon the outline, therefore, I don’t ever feel guilty about not outlining. When I used to outline my work, I felt as if I was the translator sitting down to tell the story I already know and it was not fun. I found out that I love discovering my characters as I go along rather than thoroughly sketching them. Case in point: when I started writing, it started with the character I call Ray da Díxon and because I did not thoroughly sketch him, I went back to revisit this character and created an identical twin for him. And because I did not thoroughly sketch them, I still discover new things about them every time I write stories around them.
I write wherever I am in the story, whether it’s the beginning, the middle, or even the end. Sometimes I know what comes next, sometimes I don’t, but that’s the beauty of not outlining, at least for me, because the less I know, the more I discover as I write.
Remember, whether we outline or not, writing is a process.
DISCLAIMER: I am not here to preach about how to write to other writers. What works for me may not work for others. Writers should find their own process of creating a story and if it’s ridiculous? Eh, who cares? The most important thing is that it works for you.
I believe we’ve discussed this a few times before, but I don’t outline either. In college, I would outline research papers and that worked really well for me. It doesn’t work for me when writing fiction. I recommend outlining a lot, because I know it works well for some people, and is sometimes a way to get unstuck, but I think for others, outlining can actually block creativity.
I think the difference between writing fiction and nonfiction for me is that in nonfiction, like a research paper, I’m assembling certain facts that I’ve gathered and I’m controlling the flow of the information, but that information is what it is. I’m not creating it. Fiction, on the other hand, is all about creating, and I need a lot more space, and fewer constraints to have the story unfold.
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Yes, I remembered! 🙂 I should’ve specified between fiction and non-fiction outlining. Oh well, maybe next time. Thank you for contributing as always, Mandie. I always look forward to your thoughts. 🙂
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Great post! I love the twins that are featured in your GIF’s lol!
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Thanks, chica! Ah, yes, the Dolan twins! 🙂
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No problem Dee!
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