I just finished the first draft of a 7,100 word short story called "Animal Control" that literally poured itself onto the page over the space of the last four or five days.
I've been working on a novel since January, working at the pace of about 2,500 words a week in my spare time, and feeling pretty good about that progress. But 25 pages in four days makes me feel as prolific as Stephen King (though to date, not quite as marketable).
I'd been noodling on the story for a few weeks at night, and approached it in a completely different way than the novel. I started with a 1/2 page outline for every scene and wrote from there. The final outline for the 25 page story was almost 6 pages long. This made the whole thing very focused, tight and controlled, building gradually to the conclusion. I'm starting to think that this might be the way to go for every story - outlining in such detail that every paragraph is building towards something. I've heard Elmore Leonard's outlines for his novels weight in at around 400 pages long, so he knows exactly what's going to happen in each scene before he even gets started.
Anyway, I'm spent. Time to watch some mindless TV on the couch for a few hours. If you're reading this, post a comment and let me know how your outlining process works, I'd love to hear about other methods.
About Me
- David Eric Tomlinson
- David Eric Tomlinson is a professional copywriter and aspiring novelist who has an unhealthy relationship with caffeine. David has an undergraduate degree in creative writing from the University of California, San Diego. He can usually be found huddled over his keyboard in the coffee shops of north Dallas furiously finishing his first novel.
4 comments:
I'm more of a pantser -- coming from writing flash, everything tends to be fairly tight anyway, so I don't outline. There was a big discussion about this on DorothyL recently, it was amazing how many people on there don't outline. Made me feel better, lol.
David, that sounds like a very helpful outlining process. I do rough outlines. I'll sit down and write the basic idea out on paper, jotting down a rough synopsis. Then I just start writing. A lot of times, my first draft acts as the outline, and the second draft is the process during which I fine tune and revise the overall idea.
I did use a full outline for one of my NaNoWriMo projects, but it stalled me out completely. It felt very stiff for me.
Some writers work with outlines well. If it works for you, I say definitely go with it! And kudos on finishing your short story. I hope I have the honor and privilege of reading it one day. :)
No outlines for me. As stupid as it sounds, I just sit down and the story seems to write itself. I had no idea how either of my first two novels would end until the words were on the page. And I tend to be surprised as characters and situations pop up in the story without me ever expecting it.
Before I started writing novels, I thought that people who spoke like this were earthy-crunchy lunatics, but now I know that for some people, this is the way that it works.
But admittedly, it requires a lot of faith, never knowing if there's actually an end to the story.
25 pages in four days is definitely something to grin about. good work. there was a great TED Talk by Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) about the rush of creative genius, where it comes from and who it favors. You should check it out on the TED site.
In any event, keep writing David. Can't wait to see some stuff. I am working on some short stories right now as well (actually planning to compile them, as they all have a common thread or two, into a concept novel) but that's our little secret.
Some are posted on my A Writer Under The Influence blog.
Along with other self-indulgent quips.
ever onwards
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