Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline (WMG Writer's Guides)
amazon.com
Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline (WMG Writer's Guides)
CHAPTER THREE THE JOY OF UNCERTAINTY
Dean Wesley Smith • Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline (WMG Writer's Guides)
The moment I see the ending of the book—which for me is usually about four or five chapters away—I stop doing this outline as I go. I no longer need it, and I never think to do it in the typing rush to reach the end of the novel. And I never save the outlines unless the book is part of a series. Then I toss the outline and character details I have
... See moreDean Wesley Smith • Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline (WMG Writer's Guides)
since I never reread what I write after I get to the end, how do I know to cut out something? Simple. It shouts at me from the structure of the outline that I wrote as I was writing.
Dean Wesley Smith • Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline (WMG Writer's Guides)
It is amazing how clear a structure becomes when just spread out in notes beside the computer, in a quick summary of what you have written.
Dean Wesley Smith • Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline (WMG Writer's Guides)
Again, we can’t hold a novel in our minds, so later in the book you are writing, when you start worrying about the novel structure, whether are things moving too fast or too slow—you know, standard worry questions—you can glance at the outline page and just see the structure.
Dean Wesley Smith • Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline (WMG Writer's Guides)
And keeps you far, far more productive and moving into the dark because you can see the novel building. Seeing the novel building right there on the paper is great feedback to the creative voice.
Dean Wesley Smith • Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline (WMG Writer's Guides)
Say you are gone for a week and come back and sit down with no memory or the book or even where you are at. Hunting back through a couple hundred pages of manuscript to figure out what a character was wearing or what they were doing takes a vast amount of time and is very annoying.
Dean Wesley Smith • Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline (WMG Writer's Guides)
Instead of looking back through the book to see what the character was wearing and where did I leave them in their last scene, I just glance at my notebook and go, “Oh, yeah.” In essence, that yellow piece of paper is an external memory drive for me. The more complex the book or the plot as it develops, the more detail I put into this outline as I
... See moreDean Wesley Smith • Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline (WMG Writer's Guides)
This takes me about one minute to do, if not less, at the end of every chapter. But, wow, does it save me hours of time.