The bulk of “The Guardians of Gaia” (the series that “Savior of the Damned” kicks off) has been written or outlined, and so I’m taking a break. It still has a ton of work that needs doing, but mostly it’s all there and I’m happy with the results. It’s been making me think of outlines, however, and I’m going back to trying them.
At this stage of the process, I’ve stepped away from Guardians of Gaia and I’m outlining future works. Historically, outlining and I haven’t gotten along too well, but a lot of it has been struggling to make it work for me. So far, the best method for me has been to outline the major plot points, generate a bunch of ideas that I sort know where they go, and then go hog wild. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best method, or that I’ll stick with it forever, so I’m trying outlining again.
Previously my rough drafts functioned as a sort of long-form outline, and so I’m drawing on my experiences with that to make this new one. I’m summarizing each chapter, taking my time to sort out what should go where, because part of my issue is impatience. I don’t want to wait, I want to dive right in, but that can, and often does, cause issues. Days will go by where I don’t know what I want to write about, and that’s what I’m trying to fix. I’m hoping to streamline my process enough to make outlining in some form viable, because I love the idea. Mostly, though, I love the idea of not getting stuck so frequently.
Another problem I’m having is when I reach the end of a story, even if I just outline the last bit, it checks the “done” box in my brain, and I have to find something else to do. Even outlining. But if I can make that work for me, maybe I can skip outlining individual chapters as they come up and I get stuck, and go right from an outline to a finished first draft. There is nothing wrong with outlining chapter by chapter, mind you. It’s worked for me for about six books now, and multiple novellas and shortfics too, after all. But if I can get down outlining before starting, I’d love to do that. It’s so mesmerizing how people can do that, and I’d love to learn how. Even if I don’t use it regularly, it would be handy to know. If nothing else, it’s information to pass on that might help someone else.
I’d also love to be more organized in general. The writing process has really highlighted how disordered my thinking can become. It’s part of the way my brain is, but when I step away from a project, it makes it that much harder to sort everything out when I come back. That’s a pause I’d love to minimize. There will always be problems gettiing back into the swing of things, but if I can reduce the frustration of trying to sort out last year’s thought processes, it would save me a lot of grief. But that kind of organization doesn’t come easily. It’s not that I can’t learn (I did learn how to take notes in school eventually, after all) but it’s a fight to get there. Good things are worth the time invested, however, and that’s the approach I’m taking here.
Part of writing is learning as you go, after all, and while you might not master everything you want to when it comes to writing, you should at least try to understand it on a basic level. That’s what I’m attempting now. And I’m reminding myself that it took a long time to learn how to study too, and that certainly paid off as well. Good skills aren’t always easily picked up, and that’s okay. Some things only stick after trial and error, and even if you decide it’s not for you, you’re better off knowing how that specific component fits into the grand scheme of things. Any little thing that helps make the process easier is a good thing to know if you ask me.