So I think I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m not, by default, much of a “planner” when it comes to writing. My general style is very much “pantsing” as opposed to “planning”… I usually just have a vague idea of where I want a story to start, and where I want it to end, and then I let my characters direct me in how the story will evolve as we go along.
Downside to this style of writing is that it usually takes five times as long to edit a “pantsing” novel than a “planning” novel. A lot of the stuff that occurs later has to be artificially injected into the story earlier, and then everything cleaned up to maintain a coherent, consistent story at that point.
But the upside is the sense of wonder and flow tends to be stronger. A lot of the time the surprises to the audience occur because they were also surprises to me! And that’s pretty cool.
That stated, I have spent the last three days on the outline of the next novel I’m going to write (“Tintian and the Chimera’s Secret”). Which is a very long time for me to work on an outline. But since this is a mystery (sorta) adventure (sorta) sci-fi (definitely) novel, that underlying effort should pay off in making sure that everything makes sense and hangs together cleanly when I’m done. And besides, I certainly have the time to make sure the outline is correct!
But today, I start actually writing. The outline is nice and all, but at the end of the day, it’s the writing part that really matters, and today I get to start that. Looking forward to it!
In other news, isolation is still amazing and I’m loving it. Hope everyone out there is staying healthy and safe!