Welp, after The Great Outlining Disaster of 2014, I went back to pantsing it. Going along great, words are flowing, not sure about Chapter 4, but I keep plowing along, and then, first slowly and then with increasing speed, the further I get, the more the derailed cars pile up. Scenes go nowhere. Characters say the weirdest things. Events that should happen from one POV are muddled because they are observed by someone whose goat is definitely not being fucked. (What? It’s a thing.)

So the upshot is….(mumble)

What, Patrice? What was that? (Hand to ear)

(….)

I can’t hear you!

I’M OUTLINING, OKAY?! WHY YOU ALWAYS HASSLING ME, MAN?!

Yes. Mea culpa. I am outlining. And (big sigh). It’s not so bad. I am going a bit slowly, but I can start the rewriting fairly soon. The outlining itself is helping me see the main story arc. I’m still having trouble trying to figure out exactly what the plot is (I know, right?) but this way when I throw out a chunk that goes wrong, it’s not 20,000 words.

I am probably going to discard at least 20,000 words (well, maybe not that much. And by discard, I mean put in my cut file. Always keep a cut file, children. Even if you are one of those damn outliners.)

So. Crow pie anyone?


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