Finished outline, now what?!

[LadyLazarus]

I have just spent the last fortnight or so working on an outline for a novel. However, now I've come to the end of the outline, I'm not convinced I want to write the story. I like the main characters, I like the ending, but I'm not convinced the beginning and middle of the story are solid enough (there's really not much going on in the middle at all). I'm aware that I do need to get drafting something at some point soon, but am concerned that if I begin writing this particular story, then it will collapse before it has begun. I don't know if it's just a case of 'over-outlining', and that if I sit down and write something, perhaps I'll see a way round it.

Other options I've considered are, rather than scrapping it altogether, using the ending (which features a murder) as the basis for a more traditional 'crime-genre' novel (not sure what genre it fits into as it stands at the moment!), so I can still keep the characters and the ending...I was just wondering what others here thought the best option was?

[Button]

For a first novel? More than likely. I don't know how many chapters I spent on novels, like thirty page novel starts, only to end up tossing the lot.

I'm not an outliner. I can't stand them. If it doesn't come naturally, then it won't come out. I might think about where it is heading, but I never really know until I learn about my characters. And I learn about them as I write.

The next step, of course, is to actually sit down and write. Your questions, I think, :) Are just procrastination. Sit, write. You'll know better once you've started. If the beginning sucks, toss it and write another one. The thing about outlines, or so I've heard, is that you have to be willing to change it as you write.

[LadyLazarus]

Your questions, I think, :) Are just procrastination.

yes, I did wonder if this was the case!!

[Button]

Don't worry. I do it too. :) I'll sit in message boards going "How do I, what do I?" when no one really can give you a strait answer. :) And that much time I've spent reading and writing back tends to eat into my writing time.

We do need to ask the questions, more out of companionship along a road meant for one, but I think all the questions fall into place once you begin writing yourself. :)

[AdamH]

I agree with ButtontheCat, a LOT of this is just procrastination. I think all writers waste a huge amount of time trying to hold off writing when they don't know what to do next. Myself included. :)

But, at the same time, if after you start writing it and you don't get the feel for the story. Hold on to EVERYTHING! You never know when you'll get inspired to continue this story later...or use some of it's plot devices for other stories. I've got a lot of ideas on my "back burner" that I've used in other stories that I would've normally forgotten about. I try my best to save everything.

Hope this helps! :)

[Shadow Otenaki]

I used to write outlines, but then I found out when writing from the outline, that it felt unnatural and weird. So.. I'm not an outliner. I just write straight from my head. ^^;

[LadyLazarus]

Well, I agree that this is probably Major Procrastination, so I've just spent the last hour writing a couple of scenes from a totally off-the-top-of-my-head story, that's not related to the first (outlined) one. Think I might put it on hold / on the backburner for a while, see what happens with these scenes I've written, if they lead on to anything bigger and better (certainly has potential). Bit frustrating, but I genuinely don't feel like writing that story now I've spent so long outlining it! Perhaps there IS such a thing as over-outlining? I think for the next project I'll just try to have a rough mental idea of where it might be going, but will leave some of it to 'chance' (as it were).

[BenMears]

Writers seem to range over a wide spectrum on this one. I am near the opposite end from Button, for example. I have tried going without outlines, or very brief outlines, in the past, and always crapped out once the opening section that I could visualize very clearly was past. The only thing that seems to come to me out of the void while I'm actually writing is the nagging feeling that I don't know what I'm doing.

Currently I am trying to be a little more specific in my outlining, and am hanging in better. The middle of my story is still weak, however, and I am still having trouble. Next time I will definitely do more outlining up front, and I will go back to the outline drawing board to rescue what I'm currently working on. I was planning to outline in detail before I did the second draft, but without the first draft there is no second, so in my view now, the outline comes first.

Your discovery in outlining that the middle of the story is weak is very valuable. It's much easier to make changes before you've actually written 40,000 words or so. I would suggest to keep wrestling with it until you feel good about the outline. Maybe you never do. Okay, next story. Better to learn that in the outlining stage than after spending six months trying to write the thing and finding out that the problems don't solve themselves.

Of course, this is the way my brain seems to work. If you haven't tried writing a novel before, maybe you should plunge in and see if you happen to be one of the ones for whom it does work itself out as long as you just keep writing.

Good luck either way.

[katdad]

You may have indeed out-written yourself. But actually you are okay. Just start writing, and write with the mental admonition that you'll only follow your outline if it makes sense, and you'll depart from it should the muse guide you otherwise.

I have departed from my outlines many times, and it hasn't bothered me a bit. I just go ahead and move forward, using my outline as a "thinking point" for my writing -- a general guideline and not some iron-clad regulatory mandate.

[l.stormgaye]

After all that, I suggest you let it all resonate within you. Read a book by an author in your genre. Take a couple days off work and hang out at the beach. Visit old friends from high school. Visit a homeless shelter, nursing home or geriatrics/cancer wing of your local hospital.

Come back to the project with renewed vision, motivation, influence, objectiveness and inspiration. Then you will be able to see the project for what it's worth and prepare it for submission.

[Julie Worth]

...The only thing that seems to come to me out of the void while I'm actually writing is the nagging feeling that I don't know what I'm doing....


That's what God thought too, so you're in good company. I don't outline. I can't even imagine doing an outline. How boring! Worse than boring, impossible! Like going back and padding a book once it's finished. Write in the darkness, I say. Create the light.