An Update to My Writing Process
I begin writing my writing process by creating an outline. My last two books began with an outline and the resulting work read a lot better. I am almost ready to start book number six, Cable Pairs the sequel to Cable Ties and I have an outline ready to go. However, as I looked through it, I discovered issues.
It is difficult to pin down the specific problem. Overall, the core concept is not strong, the flow is muddy and I fear the readers will become disinterested. With those flaws in mind, I have decided to add a step to my writing process. I am creating an outline-outline.
My concept is to take my present outline and summarize each central element into a sentence. I will then be able to visualize the basic plot. From there I am going to alter the elements to create a solid foundation then update the main outline.
I now see that I should have started out with this step. One might think this reversal is a giant step backwards. However, that is the beauty of an outline. I have yet to commit to hundreds of hours of work into a flawed plot.
As I wrote this blog, I created my first outline-outline and the problems stood out. The central plot lacked a solid theme. I had only strung together subplots and character biographies.
To fix my mess, I trimmed my outline-outline to eliminate a few sub plots. The result looked disconnected. Gahhh. Try again. I wrote out my elements on a white board and drew lines between them. Gahhh. Still a mess. I put the elements into colored blocks using Visio. I then vertically arranged the elements. I then interwove the blocks and created new elements to form a timeline that resolved a central plot.
With this Visio tool, my plot started to look more intriguing. I then printed an 11x17 copy, added notes, drew lines and updated the Visio drawing. Unfortunately, this effort eliminated a cherished sub plot. Oh well.
I am now updating the original outline and I can see the story is much more appealing. Some new ground might be broken in the spy novel world. It’s good to learn something new.
It is difficult to pin down the specific problem. Overall, the core concept is not strong, the flow is muddy and I fear the readers will become disinterested. With those flaws in mind, I have decided to add a step to my writing process. I am creating an outline-outline.
My concept is to take my present outline and summarize each central element into a sentence. I will then be able to visualize the basic plot. From there I am going to alter the elements to create a solid foundation then update the main outline.
I now see that I should have started out with this step. One might think this reversal is a giant step backwards. However, that is the beauty of an outline. I have yet to commit to hundreds of hours of work into a flawed plot.
As I wrote this blog, I created my first outline-outline and the problems stood out. The central plot lacked a solid theme. I had only strung together subplots and character biographies.
To fix my mess, I trimmed my outline-outline to eliminate a few sub plots. The result looked disconnected. Gahhh. Try again. I wrote out my elements on a white board and drew lines between them. Gahhh. Still a mess. I put the elements into colored blocks using Visio. I then vertically arranged the elements. I then interwove the blocks and created new elements to form a timeline that resolved a central plot.
With this Visio tool, my plot started to look more intriguing. I then printed an 11x17 copy, added notes, drew lines and updated the Visio drawing. Unfortunately, this effort eliminated a cherished sub plot. Oh well.
I am now updating the original outline and I can see the story is much more appealing. Some new ground might be broken in the spy novel world. It’s good to learn something new.
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