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mbarkerWriting Excuses 12.22: Hybrid Outlining and Discovery Writing
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2017/05/28/12-22-hybrid-outlining-and-discovery-writing/
Key points: Sometimes, you're not sure what you are going to do until you are halfway through it. Many writers transition from discovery or outline writing to a hybrid approach. What can discovery writers learn from outlining? Thinking about the shiny place you want to take the story before starting to write the prose can be very useful. Knowing your beats allows you to map and combine, then hit those beats. Unconnected vignettes need structure added -- it's easier to start with a structure, and fill in the vignettes. Avoid hijacking, because sometimes you just need to save that new, cool thing before it derails the whole book. Outline the plot, discover the characters. Free write characters, outline plot and setting, to give yourself a framework to work in. What can outliners learn from discovery writers? Joy! Be flexible and dynamic, to take advantage of those new spins, zings, twists, and epiphanies you find while working. Outlining shrinks the gaps, discovery writing fills them in. What goes in the outline and what doesn't. Have circumstances forced you to use a tool? Submit an outline! Proposal is outline plus three discovery written chapters. Barcon: Great story concept, please send us a proposal. Self-imposed practice!
( In the gaps of the outline, a bit of discovery writing... )
[Brandon] In that name, I actually have some homework for you guys. A different kind of restriction. I've been thinking about what we could do for this one, because we've forced you to do discovery writing and outlining so much. I want to shake it up a little bit. I was thinking about my assistant, my editorial assistant, Peter. When he goes through a copyedit, when he's going to copyedit something, he does it backward first. He starts at the last line of the book and works forward. The reason being it lets him take those sentences away from the context he's used to seeing them in. Because by then, he's read the book several times. It allows him to approach them freshly and make sure the grammar and punctuation and things… In the copyedit, he's only looking for that stuff. He's not looking for the larger scale things. So I thought I would suggest you guys try to write a backwards story. Now, these are not fresh and new. They… It's not that new cool thing that it was when Memento came out and things like this. But I still think it could be fun to force you to look at stories in a new way, the structure of a story in a new way. By starting with the last sentence, and then working backward. You don't have to actually write each sentence backwards. You can write each paragraph backward, would probably be easier. Do a paragraph, then the paragraph before, and then the paragraph before. But see what happens if you try to write the story backward, having no idea where you're going. Use one of our writing prompts that we give on this as the last line instead of the first line.
[Howard] But they lived happily ever after, anyway.
[Laughter]
[Brandon] And then they found Howard's pants.
[Laughter]
[Piper] Okay. I can't tell you the images that just popped into my head.
[Brandon] It's a running theme for Writing Excuses. Howard's pants, for some reason. It goes back into the first season.
[Howard] Which I've never, never come to record without, except for maybe that one time… I'm making that up! I'm making that up.
[Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2017/05/28/12-22-hybrid-outlining-and-discovery-writing/
Key points: Sometimes, you're not sure what you are going to do until you are halfway through it. Many writers transition from discovery or outline writing to a hybrid approach. What can discovery writers learn from outlining? Thinking about the shiny place you want to take the story before starting to write the prose can be very useful. Knowing your beats allows you to map and combine, then hit those beats. Unconnected vignettes need structure added -- it's easier to start with a structure, and fill in the vignettes. Avoid hijacking, because sometimes you just need to save that new, cool thing before it derails the whole book. Outline the plot, discover the characters. Free write characters, outline plot and setting, to give yourself a framework to work in. What can outliners learn from discovery writers? Joy! Be flexible and dynamic, to take advantage of those new spins, zings, twists, and epiphanies you find while working. Outlining shrinks the gaps, discovery writing fills them in. What goes in the outline and what doesn't. Have circumstances forced you to use a tool? Submit an outline! Proposal is outline plus three discovery written chapters. Barcon: Great story concept, please send us a proposal. Self-imposed practice!
( In the gaps of the outline, a bit of discovery writing... )
[Brandon] In that name, I actually have some homework for you guys. A different kind of restriction. I've been thinking about what we could do for this one, because we've forced you to do discovery writing and outlining so much. I want to shake it up a little bit. I was thinking about my assistant, my editorial assistant, Peter. When he goes through a copyedit, when he's going to copyedit something, he does it backward first. He starts at the last line of the book and works forward. The reason being it lets him take those sentences away from the context he's used to seeing them in. Because by then, he's read the book several times. It allows him to approach them freshly and make sure the grammar and punctuation and things… In the copyedit, he's only looking for that stuff. He's not looking for the larger scale things. So I thought I would suggest you guys try to write a backwards story. Now, these are not fresh and new. They… It's not that new cool thing that it was when Memento came out and things like this. But I still think it could be fun to force you to look at stories in a new way, the structure of a story in a new way. By starting with the last sentence, and then working backward. You don't have to actually write each sentence backwards. You can write each paragraph backward, would probably be easier. Do a paragraph, then the paragraph before, and then the paragraph before. But see what happens if you try to write the story backward, having no idea where you're going. Use one of our writing prompts that we give on this as the last line instead of the first line.
[Howard] But they lived happily ever after, anyway.
[Laughter]
[Brandon] And then they found Howard's pants.
[Laughter]
[Piper] Okay. I can't tell you the images that just popped into my head.
[Brandon] It's a running theme for Writing Excuses. Howard's pants, for some reason. It goes back into the first season.
[Howard] Which I've never, never come to record without, except for maybe that one time… I'm making that up! I'm making that up.
[Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.
