If You Can’t Beat ‘Em …

This is me going from Pantser to Plotter in one fell swoop.

In fact, such an extreme swoop that I’ve outlined not one, but my next three books. What does outlining three books at once look like?

Three colours, three columns, three novels …

It might be a little hard to see, but there – on reclaimed brown paper Amazon sent me (thanks Amazon!) – are the outlines of the three next novels I plan to write.

Here’s a close-up less you doubt those are actual words:

I stole my son’s back-to-school Sharpies to do this outline – they’re so nice to write (scribble) with!

The next step is to translate all those long words onto a more concise (but still three-columned) dry erase board. Here’s the beginning of that process:

This was a completely unplanned purchase I made when I went to Staples to buy my other son a binder. So, I’m flying by the seat of my pants while I plot …

Why am I doing this now? Well, as much as I’ve enjoyed my just-sit-down-and-write-by-the-seat-of-my-pants process up until now, and as much as I value editing and revision, I’d like to be a faster writer, I’d like to completely undo and re-write my books less often, and I’d like to somewhat minimize the moments of despair when I wonder “where is this story going?!?”

My references for this new journey were:

and

I’m not doing every single thing recommended in both books, but together they have given me a new way of thinking about, and tackling my projects.

Let’s see how it works!

Fingers crossed I don’t have to completely re-write all three of these books during editing!