Pro tip: stopped outlining every chapter before writing a single scene

I spent three months mapping out a whole novel in advance, chapter by chapter, scene by scene. When I finally sat down to write, the story felt dead and forced on the page. A writing group member in Denver pointed out my outlines were killing the natural flow of discovery. Has this approach worked for anyone else after switching to a looser method?

2 comments

2 Comments

davidwright21d agoTop Commenter

Outlining saved my last manuscript from being a total mess.

charles50821d ago

Doesn't outlining just kill the fun of discovering the story as you write? I find it way too rigid for my style. But I can see how it keeps things from falling apart.