Outlining

So, yes, I am reading yet another book about writing! Quelle surprise! as my old French teacher would say. But, but this is a good one! LOL

It is called Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success by K. M. Weiland

Actually I have gotten something out of it and I am only to chapter four. It describes exactly what I do, which is to get a good idea write furiously and then... I get lost. I don't know where I'm going with it and I give up in frustration.

It was suggested that I need to brainstorm a lot more than I do in the book. Aha! I started doing that, writing what if this or what if that on scraps of paper and notebooks, highlighting the ones I liked, and this is where it got good - I transferred them all to a program called Scapple by Literature and Latte, the same folk who make Scrivener.

I like mind mapping and do that for the programs I put on at work but it hasn't worked for me with novel writing. Scapple does. I can throw up on a page anything I like, color code them, move them around draw arrows or put up pictures or whatever. It is kind of like a giant poster board plus sticky notes for the Mac.

After doing that (and I am continuing to do it) I was able to solve some early problems that would have stopped me. I'm getting a hazy idea of my characters, too. And most importantly, for the first time in whenever, I know what the ending will be. That is REALLY BIG for me. Generally, I haven't a clue.

So here I am outlining, a first. :)