Outline to Completed Novel Word Count Ratio

 
Was chatting with a friend yesterday and showed him my outline for Gunwitch: A Tale of the King's Coven (since he'd already read the book I didn't have to worry about spoilers). Giving the outline a quick read myself, I noticed how much the story had evolved in the writing. That always happens. But I also noticed that a 4700-word outline grew into a 100000-word novel (a ratio of 1:21).
 
Made me curious. Especially since in the process of getting Gunwitch2′s outline finished.
 
Here are the ratios for all my completed novels (in the order written):

Threads (unpublished) – 4700:125000 (1:26.5)
The Door to the Sky – 3700:35000 (1:9.5)
The Summoning Fire – 4600:64000 (1:14)
The Girl Who Ran With Horses – 3300:64000 (1:19)
Gunwitch: A Tale of the King's Coven – 4700:100000 (1:21)
GoSH1 (in production) – 8300:67000 (1:8)

 
Not much pattern there. And I'm kinda stunned at how long the outline for GoSH1 came out. I'd forgotten how long that outline was (and I only wrote it back in February). I was including lots of detail in that outline. More than normal.
 
I've been thinking lately about the way I outline. It would seem that the first, full outline is my first draft of the novel. A rather short first draft (more like a treatment), and not entirely readable or coherent, but still a first draft that I then expand and (hopefully) improve by writing the *real* story from it.
 
Not sure that it *matters* how I think of it, but that's been wandering through my head.
 
-David
 
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Planning (Almost) FinishedScenic PlottingA Sigils Progress Report