Michelle Barker's Blog: Hearing Voices - Posts Tagged "fantasy-writing"
On Outlines and Peppermills
My first novel,The Beggar King, took 11 years from first draft to publication. Now, let me come clean: there was some pretty major world-building involved, plus it was the first fantasy I'd ever written, so perhaps that can excuse a few years. But the truth is, (shh), I wrote it without using an outline. Yep, I jumped without a parachute; wandered the lonely trail without a flashlight. You choose the metaphor. Bottom line is,I spent more years than I needed to getting lost.
So this time, novel #2,I've decided to try using an outline. Revolutionary, right? I mean, who ever heard of being so organized? Answer: everyone but me.
Why am I always the last to know about great things? I put it down to my reluctance to own kitchen gadgets, and a general fear of commitment. See, kitchen gadgets simplify a person's life, sort of the way outlines simplify a novelist's life; but kitchen gadgets, like outlines, can look scary and complicated, and who wants to get involved with things like peppermills that light up (for all those times when you're eating dinner in total darkness and desperately need to add pepper to your pasta, obviously)?
A year ago I might have said an outline was about as useful as said peppermill. But I'm not saying that anymore. Two chapters in and already I'm loving my outline. It's like having someone hold your hand the whole way through the novel.
And while committing oneself to a particular direction in a story might seem restrictive, I must admit it's nice to know where I'm going - plus, I can always change my mind if I really need to.
Who knows what might happen next? I might buy a peppermill.
To come: outlines and creativity.
So this time, novel #2,I've decided to try using an outline. Revolutionary, right? I mean, who ever heard of being so organized? Answer: everyone but me.
Why am I always the last to know about great things? I put it down to my reluctance to own kitchen gadgets, and a general fear of commitment. See, kitchen gadgets simplify a person's life, sort of the way outlines simplify a novelist's life; but kitchen gadgets, like outlines, can look scary and complicated, and who wants to get involved with things like peppermills that light up (for all those times when you're eating dinner in total darkness and desperately need to add pepper to your pasta, obviously)?
A year ago I might have said an outline was about as useful as said peppermill. But I'm not saying that anymore. Two chapters in and already I'm loving my outline. It's like having someone hold your hand the whole way through the novel.
And while committing oneself to a particular direction in a story might seem restrictive, I must admit it's nice to know where I'm going - plus, I can always change my mind if I really need to.
Who knows what might happen next? I might buy a peppermill.
To come: outlines and creativity.
Hearing Voices
If you were to admit this anywhere else, it might get you locked up, but writers hear voices all the time - and if they can transcribe what they hear effectively enough, their readers can hear them to
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