Today's Mood: Up-beat. Today's Music: Ray LaMontagne--Till the Sun Turns Black. (Great smoky voice!) Today's Writing: Started I Feel For You. Today's Quote:
Rage is the only quality which has kept me, or anybody I have ever studied,
writing columns for newspapers.-Jimmy Breslin
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How much of an outline do you do before you start the actual writing? Or if you write, say, poetry, do you jot all your ideas down first? Or do you just start in with the writing? Maybe with shorter pieces it is not as important to outline--but even the essays I write, I have to have some idea of where they are going--else how am I going to know if I get there?
I'm struggling with this right now because I want to start writing--but I know from past experience, that it is helpful to have an outline to refer back to when I get stuck and don't know what to do next. Besides, I have several different themes, subplots that need to be woven through the whole thing. I have a bad tendency to get going on one idea and forget about working in the other threads--then I have to try to go back and that's a bit like weaving a tapestry. Much easier to weave all the threads in from the beginning rather than go back later and have to loosen everything up enough to weave the new threads in.
I wonder if it's possible (read helpful) to write some each day--and also do some plotting (outlining) each day? I think this would move the whole process along. Besides, I don't always know before I start writing exactly how the characters are going to come out--express themselves.
Anyway, just curious to hear your thoughts on outlining/plotting. I know some people think it stifles creativity and some people swear by it. How about you?
2 comments:
I don't write many lengthy pieces, usually 2,000-2,500 max. I do use sort of a loose outline of points to cover. I write mostly essays. I usually don't have to deal with characters or plot. I can proofread a piece in just a couple of minutes and revise without worrying much about a time sequence, eye color, etc.
Corey Ford, an outdoor writer as well as a screenplay writer in the 30s and 40s wrote his most famous story, "The Road to Tinkhamtown" without any revisions. Any anthology of great outdoor writers will have this story. Here's his opening sentence;
"It was a long way, but he knew where he was going. He would follow the the road through the woods and over the crest of a hill and down the hill to the stream, and cross the sagging timbers of the bridge, and on the other side he would find the place called Tinkhamtown. He was going back to Tinkhamtown."
The story eerily became a premonition of his own death; the story was published by Field & Stream posthumously. He is in a hospital dying and backflashes in and out to hunting with his dog and the reality of his hospital room.
Awesome first sentence! Maybe the whole outlining/notetaking thing depends on what type of writer you are. Even when I write essays, I still know what I want to include and where I want it to go. Often--although not always--I write down my main points before I start actually writing the essay. I do lots of revision, but most of it is done as I go along and not after I am done with the whole piece. I keep thinking I have to learn how to just write like bleeding--let it flow out of me and don't worry about it til I'm bone dry--then go back and revise. But I can never seem to do that. I write one sentence and then go, "no wait, that isn't right. She wouldn't say it that way." And I change it. Sigh. Maybe next time.
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