Hi everyone, I hope my previous post on How to Outline proved useful for you. As I mentioned before, today was the deadline I set for myself to get my own outline completed. Well, I did it. Is it perfect...hell no. In fact, I know it'll change a lot. But for me and my writing style, I just need something to fall back on, and that's how I plan on using the chapter by chapter outline. I actually finished it on Tuesday, but the more I looked at it, the more I hated it. Something just seemed off, and I had no answers. Honestly, I was pretty frustrated, ask my wife. She had to listen to me vent for an hour, and I almost came to the point of retooling the entire concept because I sensed the story lacking something. But...what? I had no freaking clue...but it was lacking, and that was enough for me. So, I did what I was taught to do. I stepped away from it, and then I slept long and hard. The next day came, I looked it over, and I felt the same exact way. Then, I decided to do the easiest thing a writer can do... delete everything!
Sometimes, the blank page can be your friend, and let me tell ya, you will be rewriting things over and over during this book journey. But don't worry, as annoying and defeating as rewriting seems it is the ultimate medicine for your story. In the middle of a rewrite, you will realize there actually was some gold amid the rubble of your previous version.
Think of it just like how you build muscle. The first few reps don't really challenge you, but then if you keep going, the muscle tears, and now it's time to build over that tear to make it stronger—same concept with a novel or in this case, an outline. Once I decided to address some of the issues and start over, things got moving again, and I finished the outline just a few minutes ago. Am I 100% happy with it, no, I'm not...but it'll do just fine for now. Plus, I'm a pantser at heart, so even if I had the perfect outline, I'd still find a way to get off track as I start the story. Anyway, that's all I had to say for this short post. I just wanted to confirm to the world that the outline was slain, and next up will be a post dedicated to characters. We'll address the character outline process and the importance of having strong three-dimensional characters in your book. No one likes stick figures... Be on the lookout for that post coming next week! And since you're here, I might as well make myself a deadline for the character outline...let's aim for not this coming Monday but the following Monday night...it's a date. Thanks for reading, and let me know how your outline process has been going!