Outlining your novel

Why is it bad practice to outline the events that will happen in your novel?

a) it isn't
b) because you can't follow the characters as they naturally grow. You're following what you think SHOULD happen. You have to write like you're a reader, excited at each moment of the story

It would be better to keep the vague outline in your head to give your story a sense of direction as you write, but be prepared to go a different direction if that's what's called for

Because it interrupts the God-given gift of poesy that naturally flows through you without your choice and for which you are merely the spokesmen, rendering to man the revelations of Art so that he might see it through your pen.

Not unless you spend more time outlining than writing.

sauce

Because you'll spend forever outlining.

I got 15,000 words of outlining over 4 years in a document somewhere, but no story.

She's on plebbit gone wild

Metaphorically speaking keep a skeleton rather than an outline. A skeleton might be interesting but provides none of the experience the actual flesh of writing can provide. The appearance your novel takes as it grows from a skeleton retains its foundations in terms of structure, giving you solidity as you write, but not holding you back in terms of changing things like musculature, skin tone, facial expression, or anything that really strikes readers as they get into the full body your writing takes once it's finished. Having those being pre-set in a detailed outline leads to stoppages in the flow of your novel's growth like describes.

And her name and patronymic?

Lilcreamycat

God bless

The excuses of born losers never cease to amuse me.

Ah yes, forever researching.

It's not, if you do it right.

It's bad practice to treat an outline like a prison.

I have often noticed that the clearer my outline is, the more my writing comes across as a rush from plot point to plot point rather than natural storytelling. But I'm not sure if the solution would be to get rid of an outline altogether.

wtf? damn, dude, talk about doing it wrong. maybe you're not a writer? if all you do is outline, seems the creative spark or possibly the drive to compose prose isn't there for you.

Basic outlining is key. You need to know what you're working with, where it's going and the major points to touch on towards achieving the best ending. If you nail down too much you won't enjoy the actual act of writing from which a great deal of enjoyment can be derived.

>You have to write like you're a reader, excited at each moment of the story
this
you have to pretend the characters are real and that you're simply retelling the events as if they were true. when you put yourself in this mindset, it becomes much easier to create fully realized characters and coherent plot points until eventually the story "writes itself", per se.

Agreed. Write about the things that excite you. It'll be a better story that way

this is the kinda shit that should be day 1 creative writing for college/hs students. one of the best tips for writers new/trying to get real gud at longform prose is to insert yourself into your pieces as best you can and let them come together organically from the perspectives you occupy.

>another thread with mediocre nobodies pretending to be authorities on the creative process

Sad
I notice no citations on any of your claims of "method"

it's not bad practice. literally doing any work at all on your novel is good practice.

>compose prose

Does this also apply to making an album?

just do whatever it takes to get an album made. there are no rules

I'd be interested in someone experimenting to see if it is. In theory being excited about your music and the sounds you're making/trying to compose something you personally feel is beautiful as you go is a sort of creative process mantra that works for everything, but starting with a musical idea/goal and working from the inside out on it is a neat way to think about producing

I did not outlining on my last book, but I have a better idea of what I want to write this time plot wise, so I'll try to stick to a pre-determined progression of larger events.

I have a question:

First I'm just doing it for fun. I get ideas about short histories and get excited to write them but I start and feel too tired after getting less than 2k word. Is this happening because I already know what will happen next and next and next? Should I try to complete the narrative on the fly? how it won't end a totally le pengu1n of d00m fanfic?