Writing Passionates discussion

What do you guys think of outlines? Do you use them? Or not?

I usually outline in my head. But lately, everytime I get an idea (for a character, usually) I write it down under the character's name, and that leads to something else and something else and I just scribble down stuff when I think of it. That way, I think of what will happen bit by bit, keeping it in a written record to play with the idea.

but that's only the little details. the main plot, which can get quite complicated, is kept in my head. And it can stay there for a very long time, even if I turn away from one story to work on another story.

But I can't just sit down and outline, because then I will start actually writing scenes and it won't be an outline anymore...

I sometimes outline. I do it a lot with characters - listing their attributes and descriptions and whatnot. I sometimes outline a plot, but I often stray from the outline or completely ditch the story alltogether, so they don't really help me that much.

I like outlines, because they help me know where I'm going with a story, and what is going to happen. I find that many stories which I just write blindly, without some form of an outline, usually gets stuck. I have some sort of outline for most of my stories, although there's only one story that I've outlined all the way from beginning to end (Outcast.)

But my outlines aren't very neat or organized- and they're not actually "outlines," just numbered notes. But they do really help me.

Most of my stories ARE outlines. I can't give them any length. Like I'll come up with a few things to happen, then it's the end. I usually write 1-8 pg. long stories, if that.

IDK.
I HATE OUTLINES.
Even though they work, I hate them. I just don't like to use them.

How come?

sometimes i use outlines. but i usually only outline PARTS of stories that i'm having difficulty with, not like the entire book.

I don't know why, I guess whenever I come up with an idea, it just turns out outside of the outline I came up with, like sometimes, it just happens totally different, than I wanted it to be.

same ...

yeah, that's true...i can't always follow the outline...but it helps me to at least have some basis of what i think will happen. and if the story leads me in a completely different direction, that's fine too! :D

I guess I do like outlines. I hadn't thought much of them. I make them without even realizing it. When I think of something for a story I jot it down on a sticky note and post it on my wall ... I've got a lot of them now... XD

Lucky you.
My ideas turn out really dumb, or relate too well to the story I'm writing.

eh, oh well. But I got an idea today, and then I got an idea that would combine it with another idea i had last week, and I'm gonna use it for nanowrimo!

yay!

I know! It involves World War 3!

Yes, I am daring to do it. I prefer to write about the present or future because I know about the present, and nobody can tell me that I'm wrong in the future! That's why it won't be set in the past. I think I'm going to do some crazy outlining though to pass the time until november. I mean, I could have a whole backstory set up on how the war started, what the normal world is like, and so on. Ooo, so many ideas to play with. But I've got to finish a french project instead even though I want to work on it now!

wow that sounds really awesome! :D
my story's gonna take place in the future too ... it might be a little like uglies, only ... weirder. i can't explain it very well. lol.

AWESOME!

I love how I'm talking about WWIII and you are saying that it's awesome. And Brigid's story too.

I mean, it sounds like a cool story (except I've never read uglies, I'm just going off the weird part, mostly, as well as the future part) but is everything that happens actually awesome?

also, my story is going to be about ghosts. Of course, it's still a little bit about world war three. but it is actually mostly ghosts.

u haven't read uglies? u r a deprived person!! lol. XD aaah i <3 uglies ...

but ANYWAY. yeah ... well my story's not going to be REALLY like uglies, but it's going to have a similar concept; it's going to take place in a future where everybody gets this injection that supposedly eliminates all their evil/unpleasant/impure thoughts, but of course everything goes WRONG!!! SUSPENSE MUSIC! DUNH DUNH DUNH!!!!!!!

i <3 uglies too. XD

tehee. i know what goes wrong in brigid's story!! MWA HA HA!!! lol XD

i have two ideas, and i'm not sure which one to use yet...one of them is this vampire story, where this vampire girl is hunting this person who she THINKS is an ordinary human, and then it turns out that he's actually a vampire hunter in disguise. BWA HA HA. XD

or I'll do the other idea, which is about these mist creatures who can shape-shift into humans...and they prey on people's souls...yeah sorta weird. XD

weird but AWESOME!!! XD

Hmm, I like the second idea better.

The first one is, oh, I don't know. It's sort of like buffy with the vampire hunter. But I'm sure that there wouldn't be any other similarities. Perhaps the reason it doesn't seem as interesting is that vampires have become a thing that seems almost steryotypical to write about.

But, I think that you should go with whatever one you can get more ideas for.

well yeah there are a LOT of vampire books right now, so maybe you should go with the second idea.
but it doesn't matter really. whichever one you have more ideas for ...

well, the thing is, i have a whole outline written up for the vampire hunter story. but for the mist people story, i just have that one sentence for an idea, and i have no idea other than that. i don't even know what would happen or anything, or what would be the point.

so i think i'll do the vampire story for NaNoWriMo, coz i know i won't be able to get 200 pages for the mist story.

btw, what's buffy the vampire slayer about?

I've never seen the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I've heard stuff like:
1. Buffy is a vampire
2. She's a good vampire
3. she destroys bad vampires

But I heard this sort of stuff from people who have a reputation for lying so I don't know.

shes not a vampire... or wasn't when i stopped wataching.

i don't think she's a vampire ... i've never watched it but my friend tells me about it sometimes.
anyway ... sella ur vampire idea sounds really cool! i can't wait to read it. ;D

oh okay.

coolio!! XD i can't wait to write it!!

and since i really like the mist creatures idea, i'm still going to use- but on my own, as a regular story. but i'm going to hold off on starting it, 'coz i'm working on so many at the moment! XD

lol. i know what u mean ...

yup XD

oh geeze. I just ruined the entire outline that I had in my head from the beginning. My perfect ending is ruined, and replaced by an entirely different one and that might not even be a proper ending. But it's realistic fiction, so the ending can be crappy. I can always write an additional short story to acompany Roses for June where she has a mid life crisis and wanders back home.

you see, I just realized that I can't have the happy ending that I swore by less than an hour ago. Because I just figured out something. I suppose the ending that I had planned wasn't right for the way the story has been heading anyway.

I just feel sorry for her dad. I mean he does nothing wrong...

all because I made the final decision that goes against my other final decision on an important matter that I have been battling out in my head throughout the whole story.

This outline in my head has not worked. And the way I have it, something will have to happen not only to june but to harold as well, because he must have an entire personallity switch to do what he is about to do.

And to think that I can't even tell you guys, all because it would ruin the ending.

aww. I hate when that happens. Just one thing and it alters the entire course.

yeah, but I think it will be better as a result.

Maybe, maybe not. either way, it will be different.

but the two attachments...i know what do do with one, he's easy,but the other has a lot of options. I don't particularily want to kill him, but I might have to, so she can do what she can do with no strings attached. But I like him so much!

things aren't going as planned, all because of one stupid, four-lined poem!

by the way, if anybody is too curious to wait until I write it, I wrote about my agony in decisions. I accidentally posted it in the wrong blog though. Oops. Oh well. But anyways, if you do read it, don't go talking about my scribbling plan.

read the two closest to the top if you want to know.
http://theblogofronib-nonwritingrelat...

but I don't reccomend it if you actually want to read the ending.

change is hard.

aaagh, i hate when some small thing changes the whole entire story!!

Ok, well it wasn't just that. I think it was partially (or majoryly) because the way I had it won't work. I mean, the not for robots blog even mentions the snick, which I feel, just as the writer of that blog does, is essential.

and at one point, the way I had it was the answer. But it isn't anymore. It could be more that I've changed than my story. My personal views, experiences, and books that I have read have expanded a great deal since march. My maturity and even my writing has improved drastically.

I'm glad that it is taking me so long to write this story, because it will be better this way. My writing constantly is improving, and I don't think that I could have handled the way that this will end back in march. I certainly would never have considered that he could die...but now he has to, and it will be soon. I'm guessing at eleven or twelve chapters, maybe more if there is a part two.

yay! I love the traveling from an amateur, to novice, to expert for a writer! IT MAKES ME HAPPY!

yeah, the only problem is that I'm always improving. It makes me feel amateur/novice all the time. I don't know when i'll reach expert, if ever.

After all, writing is never perfect. There is always room for improvement, no matter how good you get.

Yup. But I've seen books that have been published but you guys write so much better than them.

I'm steering this a bit off topic...but the discussion IS titled Outlines, so it's not really off-topic...

PHEW!! I just finished writing the entire outline for my nanowrimo story!! Now my brain hurts. But I feel good. XD

Well, not entirely the whole outline...most of it. There's just the ending left to write, which I have on idea what it will be. GAH! I hate road blocks like these.

i hate endings. :P

i know!! gah!! D:

um, I'm going to do some character profiling before I can do some real outlining. that's because I'm having *counts* eight different perspectives.

yup, that's right. I'm insane. :)

whoa...!

:P yeah. It will be fun and torturous at the same time!

yeah! XD

Mmmhmmm, just make sure to never follow suit of my characters and do things like play with bombs *goes and writes down idea for Arnold*

lol! XD