Realized outline-first beats character-first for my short stories

I spent 2 years starting every story with a cool character idea and then trying to figure out what happens to them. Usually got 3 pages in and hit a wall. Last month I tried the opposite - sketched out a basic plot structure first on a napkin at a truck stop diner near Flagstaff. Then dropped a character into it. Finished my first complete draft in 2 weeks. Anyone else find that switching the order of how you build a story makes a difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

jason_stone18d ago

2 weeks from napkin to draft is insane speed. I tried that with a noir story after reading @olivia_wilson's post about plotting first and ended up with a detective who hates coffee in a story that really needed a barista scene.

olivia_wilson18d ago

Oh man, I totally did the same thing but with a comic book idea and it just clicked when I jammed the hero into an already plotted heist.