I have a substantial commute to and from work every day, and I spend the time either reading or scribbling in my notebook. The scribbling often consists of lots of questions and not necessarily any answers. When I’ve got enough, I type up these scribbles so I can see if they fit together. Next I create an outline, a sort of loose map to follow, scene to scene, through the beginning of my book, inserting pertinent notes here and there.
This is what I’ve done for this nebulous new project I plan to work on for Nanowrimo. But at the moment I’m doubting my overly controlling outlining method of book-writing – at least for this first, rough draft. Now this book is a slightly more known-commodity: a list of bullet points on a formerly blank page. While usually that’s quite comforting, I worry that I’m squashing all the fun and spontaneity out of this project with my urge to make it seem book-like from the get-go, before I’ve even started writing the thing. What about just writing, allowing the characters to develop and see what happens? That sounds sort of exciting.
So I’ve quit outlining and note-taking. I think I’ll be glad of the map when I sit down and write, but there are still a lot of questions that need answering. Maybe that’s a good thing, and it will inspire something fresh and new to come out when I actually sit down to write on November 1. This Sunday!
http://knightreader.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/the-kings-rose/
http://www.devourerofbooks.com/2009/10/the-kings-rose-book-review/
I love that the internet is filled with readers, blogging about what they’ve read!
