Outline, Shmoutline…

I haven’t made a blog post in quite a while, but it’s ok because I have been really productive. I have figured out that I need to be working on multiple titles at the same time. I know, sounds screwed up, right? You’re probably asking, how do you stay focused on a project doing that? Aren’t you jumping around too much? NO! I am currently writing my fourth and fifth novels simultaneously while diving into short stories as well. Death’s Construction is currently sitting at 44,000 words and Stranglehold is at 23,000. But before I get into that, let’s go back in time a little and revisit my comments on outlining.

I tried it! I sat down and outlined Death’s Construction from beginning to end. I was so proud of myself. Best day ever! There was the whole plot for the thing. This was going to be so easy. All I had to do was sit down and write the damn thing. Point A to point B, rinse and repeat. The next day I wondered if it was a fluke, so I did the same thing with the novel Stranglehold. Bang! Lightning in a bottle! This was easy. So, full of my own bullshit, I sat down and began to write.

I have trained my brain and fingers to put out around a thousand words a day. I don’t go out to lunch at work but sit at my desk and eat while writing. In an hour, minus the time it takes me to make the food, I can almost always crank out a thousand in that amount of time. I started both of the new novels somewhere in mid-January, so that means I have written around 67,000 words in less than four months. Not too shabby. That isn’t including the short stories I have thrown in for a nice distraction when needed, but we’ll talk about those in a few. The big take away for me is that I need to be able to switch channels, so to speak, to keep my brain energized and interested. I’ll write for a while on one novel and when I hit a slow patch where I need to get it flowing again, I switch projects. the project I sat aside is always on my mind and while I’m working out the kinks internally, I go to town on the other one. It’s like turning the channel while watching TV. Don’t get me wrong, I know exactly where both novels end. I’ve written the final chapters in my head, but how they get there is a complete mystery until I puke it out on the page. It’s working for me. Try it. It may work for you too.

Now, back to the outlining. Here’s what happened. I started writing the stories and about six chapters deep into Death’s Construction I was totally off the rails. I started the Stranglehold novel and guess what? Yep, a few chapters in, I was completely out of what I had put down on paper for the outline. None of this held me back, though, and I am perfectly happy with the direction both novels have taken. The big lesson here, for me, was that we are all discovery writers (or pantsers, if that’s the term you prefer). When you’re writing your outline… you are pulling it out of where? Your brain and your butt. Discovery! When you have the outline done and start writing the book, where is that coming from? Same damn place! If you write a perfect outline and stick to it religiously, I will argue that you are still discovery writing. Each chapter might have a basic road map in your sweet little outline, but what’s in that chapter, what you’re writing is discovery all the same. When you wrote that outline you were discovery writing! I know, mind blown. Its’ like when as a musician you finally reach that place when you realize everything… is everything. (Oh, crap! I just let out the super-secret key to all music. There’s bound to be an Illuminati type musician’s society gunning for me now.)

But I digress.

Each day when I’m making my lunch, I’m wondering where the story is going to take Nikola in Death’s Construction or what the hell is going to happen to the team in Stranglehold. I don’t freakin’ know until I sit down and put my fingers on the keys. It’s improvisational jazz kids. That’s what makes writing fun for me. Hell, I may never get traditionally published, but I had a great time writing this crap and I hope someday you have as much fun reading it.

Now, let’s talk about those aforementioned short stories. I have mentioned in a much earlier blog that I enjoy listening to some writing podcasts and one of my favorites is the Writer Dojo. The hosts, Larry Correia and Steve Diamond keep it real and give some great nuts and bolts advice about writing and getting paid for it that you won’t get anywhere else. I get up on Wednesdays and immediately wonder what today’s topic will be. They had talked about short stories on several episodes, and it made me want to write one. Problem was I didn’t know how, so I dropped them a question about it at questions@writerdojo.com. What do ya know, they answered it! You can listen that episode on Spotify. The title is “How to Tell a Story in 5,000 Words”. They read my question and had some really great, encouraging things to say about me and what I’m doing. Talk about getting re-energized!

In the time between when I submitted the question and when it aired, I realized that I didn’t know how to write a novel when I sat down and wrote Shiva’s Eye. What the hell! So I wrote a short story called Drive Thru. I think it turned out pretty good. I may post it someday if I can’t get it published in the future.

I highly suggest if you are an aspiring writer, go and listen to the Writer Dojo. You won’t be disappointed. Go and read their books too. The Monster Hunter series is what put Larry Correia on the map and is one of my all-time favorites. Steve has some great horror stuff out there like the novel Residue as well. When, I started thinking about writing a short story, one of the first ones I read for inspiration was Steve’s, A Single Samurai from the collection, The Baen Big Book of Monsters. Great stuff!

Anyway, I think I have spouted on long enough. I’ll try to write these things more regularly in the future, but right now I am curious what kind of shit Nikola is going to face in Death’s Construction… back to the word mines!

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So Many Words, So Little Time