I talked last week about discovery writing. This week, I’m going to delve into some of the pros and cons of outlining that I’ve found. I won’t go into outlining techniques yet, but leave that for another post.

Outlining has the advantage of giving a broader sense of the story. You can map out the plot, figure out what has to happen when, and write it out without as much concern about the overhead. This also means if you don’t like the part you’re on, you can skip it and come back to it later. After all, you already know what happened in the parts before it. With a broader view, you can also see any problems earlier than you would with discovery writing.

As I’ve found time and again with outlining, it has a major downside: what happens when the plot changes? Well, you update the outline. Again, and again, and again. Sometimes, you completely forget about it, and the outline falls behind the actual story. Some people are dedicated outliners. They keep the outline next to them while writing and follow it exactly. But for those of us that deviate from it from time to time, we tend to forget to update it. This isn’t a big disadvantage, just something extra to handle.

Like discovery writing, outlining has pros and cons. It all depends on what works for you. Like there was no one that could tell me what would work for me, I can’t tell you what will work for you. Try both approaches, or, like I tend to do, try a hybrid approach. Like most writers will tell you, the best way to improve is to practice.

#Essay #Planning

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When planning out a story, there are two approaches: discovery and outlining. Discovery is making up the story as you go, whereas outlining involves creating an outline for the story. Each one has advantages and disadvantages. As always, I’m only going to scratch the surface a little, this week with discovery writing, next week with outlining.

I’ve found discovery writing to be helpful when writing because I come up with ideas while writing that I didn’t while outlining. The biggest one I can think of was in Cherry Champion. After Hermione followed Rose’s example and ran in to try to stop the Death Eaters at the World Cup, she became traumatized. My idea was that it would come up throughout her year at Hogwarts, but I couldn’t figure out where to begin. After being stuck on that for nearly a month, I started writing the next chapter, making it up as I went. I started with her parents’ reaction to it, and soon realized there was no way they were about to let her return to Hogwarts. That shaped the rest of the story in a way I never thought about until I’d written it.

The biggest disadvantage of discovery writing is that it requires going back to fix it once you’ve written it. While this is typical of second and third passes, it happens a lot more with discovery writing. The pieces written at different times might not always fit together, because there’s no guiding outline to keep them consistent. Thus, entire chapters might have to be changed to keep it consistent. This isn’t as big a deal when writing a novel; it’s expected to rewrite it several times. But without an outline to look at and see problems beforehand, more time might be spent rewriting than would otherwise.

These are just some of the advantages and disadvantages of discovery writing that I’ve found while writing. Other writers will share different experiences. I tend toward discovery writing because if I focus too much on fleshing out an outline, I get stuck and can’t write. With the exception of year one, all of Girl in Red has an outline, but those outlines weren’t always followed. I’ll talk more about the advantages and disadvantages of outlining next week.

#Essay #Planning

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Even when writing fiction, I find myself needing to do research. Whether including some historic events or figures, real places, or processes that other people might now, there is an element of fact in my fiction. Not to mention trying to stay true to Harry Potter when writing Girl in Red. When research is necessary, it’s critical to use primary sources.

A primary source is original research. This might be textbooks, encyclopedias, or their electronic equivalents. This is opposed to secondary sources, sources of information that may have been edited due to creative licensing.

One of the best examples of why it’s important is Hamilton. Even though Lin-Manuel Miranda did his research, the facts aren’t perfect. One example is in the play, Hamilton is confronted by Burr, Jefferson, and Madison about his correspondence with Reynolds. In reality, James Monroe, along with congressmen Muhlenberg and Venable, were the ones that confronted him. However, this would’ve involved introducing three new characters for this scene, which wouldn’t have been good storytelling.

And that’s the problem with secondary sources. When other authors use information, they have to tweak it for their work. Learning from stories isn’t always a good way to learn. Which is why when I began working on Skwyr Court, I didn’t rely on what I’d seen of blacksmithing, I looked it up. I found a series of videos of professional blacksmiths going over the basics. Thus, I was able to gleam enough to make it believable enough for the common reader.

In the end, the goal isn’t to get it perfect. Most people aren’t experts on history or blacksmithing, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. I only know that bit about Hamilton because I researched him (after seeing the play). But if you can get the big things right, people will trust you on the little things.

#Essay #Planning

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Last month’s post talked about figuring out what to write. Once you’ve got an idea in your head, it isn’t always easy to stop having ideas, even though you’ve already chosen one. Many people will tell you to record those ideas, because you never know what could be useful later, then continue on with your current one. But what happens when you like the new idea better?

First, ask yourself why you like it better. What about that new idea is catching your attention in a way the current one didn’t? Maybe you like the characters or the setting better. But if the only reason is that it’s new and different, then write it down, remind yourself you made a commitment to the current idea, and keep going. If you can, find a way to add those bits you liked about the new idea to the current one.

Second, remember that you’re in the weeds on your current idea. Writing always seems hard when you’re doing it, but easier when you’re starting out or finished. As I work on my current novel, I’ve been rereading Girl in Red, and enjoying it more than writing the new work. Fortunately, I still remember what it was like writing Girl in Red, and it was a lot like this. It’s like looking at the rain forest. It’s pretty when you’re far away, but once you go inside, it’s muggy, there are bugs bigger than your head everywhere, everything’s trying to kill you, and your water bottle ran out an hour ago. Once you get to the other side, you can look back and laugh about it later, but you’ve got to press on. If you stop at every turn and think that another path looks better, you’ll only end up walking in circles.

Finally, if you absolutely hate the idea you’ve got, and everything else looks more interesting to you, take a break. I got burned out writing Girl in Red more times than I can count. I remember a time, about a year before I finished it, asking myself “What will it feel like to have it finished?” It brought me down when I realized the answer would be relieved. I got burned out on it, and after a time, I reminded myself that I had committed myself to seven years at Hogwarts, so I started writing again. It can be hard to take a break when you’re working on something, because sometimes, it feels like you’ve given up, but you’ve got to let yourself have a break. If you don’t, you’ll end up with a bad final product, and that feels even worse.

It can be hard to stick with your main idea. I often had to put Girl in Red down, as I’m trying to do now with my current work. It paid off in the end, and I’m hoping to remind myself of that once more.

#Essay #Planning

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Before one begins to write a story, one must know what one wants to write. As I realized Girl in Red was coming to a close, I started taking note of all the random story ideas I was having.

But even having several ideas didn’t help as much as I’d hoped. Few made it past the initial “pop into my head” stage. Only one of those (“Idea 1”) had lasted much longer than that, and the more I looked at it, the more I didn’t like it. I eventually scrapped that idea, but another came to mind back in September 2019. It’s since changed a lot, but there are two methods that shaped this.

Write What You Love

The first method is simple: write what you love. If you wouldn’t read the story you’re writing, you shouldn’t be writing it. That’s the philosophy I had with Girl in Red: Even if no one else enjoyed it, I did.

It’s easy to know what you enjoy. Just ask yourself: what are your favorite books, movies, TV shows, or other content medium of choice? Anything that’s caught your attention that forms a narrative can help you here. You don’t have to analyze one book or movie; I can’t tell you what my favorite movie is, but I can tell you the top five. It’s the same with books and TV shows. For each type of content (books, movies, etc.), make a list of your favorites. It doesn’t have to be long, just give you a sense of what it is you enjoy. You don’t have to do this, but I’ll reference it later.

That’s the easy part; the hard part is understanding what it is about them that you enjoy. Is it the characters? Something about the plot? What about that book had you saying “this is my favorite”?

Of course, visual media isn’t as helpful here. For example, RWBY is one of my favorite shows, but part of that reason is because I enjoy the visuals. When you start to analyze what you enjoy, if you realize that the visuals are the only reason you enjoy something on that list of yours, then it won’t help you here.

If you want to dig deeper than just your instincts and vague recollection of something, there’s a website you can use. Before you do, set yourself a timer for 20 minutes. The moment it goes off, close every tab you opened in that time. I tell you this because the site is TV Tropes, and its very easy to get sucked in and lose track of time. Look up your favorite content on there and read the list of tropes (Again, 20 minutes, tops). A “trope” is like an ingredient for a story, and the point of this is to understand the ingredients you enjoy in a story. When you read one and think “Oh! I loved that part!” then that’s part of that content that you enjoyed. I didn’t use TV Tropes when I was working out what I wanted to write, but I did start looking harder at my favorite movies and books. I did something else that helped me figure it out as well.

Look Over Your Past Work

I’ve mentioned before that writing every day is helpful. One good use of this is going through whatever it was you wrote and figure out what stuck and what didn’t. Especially look at the snippets you wrote that got you to keep going. What about it did that?

Once I had a spark of an idea in my head, this is what helped me flesh it out. I kept looking it over until I had something I could use. This also helps you understand what you like to write and don’t like to write. A few examples that I’ve found from writing Girl in Red:

• After a scrapped idea from Crimson Caster, I learned I don’t like world building
  • This is the reason Idea 1 fell through: too much world building
  • At the same time, I did enjoy the little bits of world building I did with Hermione and Luna’s plot lines in Crimson Caster
• I enjoyed writing romance a lot more than I thought I would
  • The cutesy scenes in Amber Abandonment with Neville and Luna were some of my favorite parts of Girl in Red
• I don’t like dealing with a large cast of characters
  • I found a good rhythm for it with Crimson Caster, but many times, I’d leave a few characters hanging around doing nothing
    • I especially noticed this in Amber Abandonment with Ginny
• After reviewing Scarlet Sociopath, I learned I don’t like writing too much action sequences
  • I do still enjoy them; the third task in Cherry Champion is one of my favorite scenes
• I like darker writing (plot and humor), so long as there’s a light at the end
• I don’t like straight comedy
  • I prefer drama with comedy sprinkled throughout
• Having an overpowered main character was fun at first, but got old quickly

In Conclusion

It was harder than I thought to find something about which I was excited. Even looking back at Girl in Red, if I were to write it again, it’d be a different story. There were several times I wanted to stop, but the idea of what would happen next kept me going. It changed a lot along the way, but so did I.

It’s important to write something you want to read, otherwise it’ll ruin the writing, and you’ll burn yourself out.

Remember, this is your writing. It’s worth the effort.

#Essay #Advice #Planning

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