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Definitely an outliner! Though I’m not quite as pedantic about it as others are and my outlines are usually only about 2,000 to 3,000 words long (uh…I think i just exposed myself as an outlining fanatic) and I do go off outline quite regularly. I find when I pants, as I’ve done occasionally, I lose motivation quickly and I don’t think I’ve ever finished any of my pantsed projects.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
I agree! Although I don’t outline as much as I used to, it feels almost impossible to start writing a story without some idea of how the story is going to go.
Are you currently outlining your WIP or in the middle of writing or editing it?
2,000-3,000 words? You don’t worry about me thinking you’re an extreme outliner, because before I started my current method of both outlining and pantsing, the outline for the WIP I’m writing was 16,000 words long. XD It’s kinda a shame that I ended up scrapping most of it, but the protagonist wanted to take the story in a different direction.
@kathleenram I am reading my 3rd or 4th draft aloud to myself before handing it over to my beta readers.
Cool! What’s the premise, if you don’t mind me asking?
Oh, okay then 😀 That definitely makes me feel better. I used to think I was very obsessive but maybe I’m just normal 😛 😛
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@kathleenramm Heh, that’s an excellent question. I have a one-sentence summary, but that doesn’t exactly do my poor convoluted characters justice. So:
Horace has a problem. His half-brother Rand was on schedule to marry Lady–er, Queen Tinumali in a week and forge the strongest political alliance of the decade, but Rand is nowhere to be found. Now Horace has to find Rand, make sure his servant doesn’t run away again, and keep Tinumali from letting her newfound power slip through her fingers. And now his ex keeps showing up trying to threaten him into giving her the throne. It’s enough to give anyone a headache.
Arvi has a problem. It’s bad enough that he has ten years of vassal-ship left, or that he’s a vassal to Horace of all people. But now he has two months missing from his memory, magic that won’t act right, and one last chance to earn his freedom before he spends the next decade a slave. All he has to do? Pretend to be Rand until Horace finds the missing prince. Hopefully it won’t be harder than he thought.
Tinumali is the problem. Or, at least, that’s how she feels. Her grandfather is dead, her family is in hiding halfway across the world, her sister hates her guts, and she’s getting married to someone she barely knows. Oh, and she’s the queen of Rumir now, and her powerful neighbors have given her a year to prove her worth before they annex what’s left of her kingdom.
I apologize for the absolutely massive wall of text, but it’s honestly the easiest way to get the gist of things. The reason it’s a duology is 1) there’s too much going on to fit into one book and 2) I have an idea for a really evil cliffhanger for the ending of book 1 and want to take full advantage of it. *evil grin*
Also, I’m super intrigued by the idea of you writing of a novel with your siblings! That’s such a neat idea. How do you guys go about it? Like, do you all come up with ideas and one person writes it down, or do you all contribute pieces, or does each person have a specific character/POV, or…?
(I think I messed something up the first time I tried to reply to this thread, so my apologies if this post shows up twice :P)
“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it?”
@kathleenramm
To stand up for what is right and not let fear control you.@kathleenramm I used to not-outline. Not because I thought anything degrading on the matter, but rather because I got bored just thinking about it. And THAT is precisely why I wrote so many great beginnings of stories. I loved writing beginnings. Especially when they were interesting. Actually, I’ve got several great ideas for novels written down somewhere…with great beginnings. But I never followed up after the beginnings and that was why I failed and failed again in my writing career at an early age.
And now. I outline. Just a bit on the eccentric side, actually. In fact, some could say that I outline too much. After all, I’ve been outlining my fantasy world for something of five years with no end in sight.
Gosh. Another book idea. One sec…
@leon-fleming
Wow, five years you say? Well, LotR took fifteen years to write, so… maybe that’s a good sign? When it comes to outlining there’s never a very clear set end to it all. You could outline a novel in a day, or in a decade. Just depends on what story your trying to tell and what kind of writer you are.
@kathleenramm Yep. I’ve been working on them throughout all of the time I’ve spent writing. Oui, oui! Perhaps.
Ah, yes; that’s why I’m enjoying working now in this mystery genre (outlining). Besides the fact that, as with any other genre, ideas are plentiful, I enjoy writing mystery.
Yes, exactly. That’s a great question: what kind of writer are you? (Hint, hint: topic of the week? XD) Or how about this: How would you feel about writing in a genre that you’d never considered writing in before? Or even: If you had to read a book that was 800 pages or over, what book would you read? Or even: What’s the maximum amount of characters that you’d put into your book and why? What’s the minimum? Or even this: Which do you prefer to write with: pens, pencils or markers? (XD) Or even something like this: What’s the maximum amount of pages that you’d allow for your novel and why? The minimum?
@leon-fleming
Those are some great topic ideas! You don’t mind if I steal some of them do you? And if any other topic of the week ideas pop into your head, I’d love to hear them.
Maybe a topic of the week could be, “What do you want future topic of the week to be?” XD. I bet a lot of people have some killer ideas that I haven’t thought of.
@kathleenramm Heh-heh; didn’t see this until now, oops.
Gee thanks! No, of course not; go ahead. Alright, I’ll think on it!
XD Yeah, maybe; there could be, “Do you usually drink some sort of beverage/drink while writing? And if so, what is it?” Or: “What time of the year to you most enjoy writing in? Spring? Summer? Autumn? Winter?” Or: “What sort of writing utensils do you usually use?” Or: “About how much do you spend on paper, notebooks, writing utensils, etc. each year?” (XD) Or even: “What’s the longest word-sprint you’ve had?” Or: “Do you use notebooks? If so, what kind?” Or: “Do you prefer wide-ruled notebook paper or college-ruled best?” Or: “Do you use pencils or pens when writing?” Or: “On what arm do you wear a watch if any? And does that ever effect your writing habits?” (?) Or: “Who’s your favourite fiction author?” Or: “What are your thoughts on Charles Dickens? Do you think his novels would be more enjoyed if more people in today’s society read them more?” Or even this one: “If you could meet your favourite author and ask them three questions, what would those be?” Or: “Have you listened to the Howard Shore soundtracks to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings film adaptions?” Or this could be good: “In your opinion, which was better: the novels or the films of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings?” Or: “Who’s your favourite fictional character of all time? Why? And what theme/moral/etc. does that character portray?” Or: “Do you prefer large amounts of characters, small amounts of characters, or both in the stories you read and write?” Or: “In your reading experience, what would you label the best-written novel you’ve ever read, excluding the fact of whether you enjoyed it or not?”
Yeah! People probably have a lot of writing questions that they need answering, or questions that they need to answer.
How’s the superhero novel going? Have you begun the first draft yet?
Or even: “How do you come up with character names?” Or: “What has been the best source of writing inspiration for you in the past?” Or: “What author(s) have inspired you the most in your writing?” Or: “How do you plan to fuel your writing towards glorifying God?” Or: “What digital writing tool do you enjoy most: Google Docs? Pages? Microsoft Word? Etc.?”
XD Or even this one: “What’s your favourite word, and what word(s)/phrase(s) do you think you use too much in your writing?”
Or even: “If you could meet with a group of characters from one of your books/book ideas, which would you pick?” Or: “Do you act/talk the same way online as you do in regular life? Are your characters like this? Do some of them act differently in different atmospheres, or do they act the same everywhere?” Or: “How many notebooks have you bought at the same time?” (XD)
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