Outline Almost Done
I’ve always been the kind of writer that likes the comfort of having an outline. My basic story idea for the first draft is contained in my little black notebook, but I’ve been transcribing and expanding that into an outline so that I can see and reference the structure of how things will go when I need it the most. That’s not to say that I’m going to stick to the outline exactly as that’s part of the fun of writing a first draft. If the story takes you into a different direction, you have to follow that when it feels right.
Considering I’m going to be writing this novel, primarily in the early mornings before getting ready for my day job, the outline will be helpful in getting me on track before the coffee kicks in. And yes,… there will be coffee.
I had started my outline in Microsoft’s Word, but I came across another author’s comment about a program called Scrivener, which helps to keep all the different components of a long document neatly organized. After checking out the many positive comments left by some of it’s users, and getting the free trial myself, it did appear that this would really help me to concentrate more on the story, and less on my reference materials.
I had been planning on printing out my Outline and Character Sketches so that I’d have them handy, and had saved some scientific information I needed for reference as browser favorites, but this program will help with all that. Within Scrivener, I can write the novel, chapter by chapter, organize thoughts on scenes using a cork board card feature or synopsis and easily move things around as needed. The program also allows you have reference material and research right within the same program and easily accessible during your writing process. When the writing is done, it then can compile the finished document into a number of different formats, and puts all the chapter pieces into one document.
I’m hoping this new software will help me to concentrate on the writing since I’ll have everything I need in the one application. It won’t write anything for me, which I’m glad for, as that would be a bit much. Not to mention, no fun for me.
With this installment on my blog, I’ll put down the date as this will keep me more accountable. Hopefully soon, in my future post I’ll be able to announce that the Outline is done and I’ll have begun the writing of the first draft. Then I’ll date each post and put in a current word count to again keep me accountable. A novice novelist’s worst enemy is procrastination, so the thought that I’ll hold myself accountable with these blog posts will help me keep on track. The thought of showing little progress on the grand task of writing this novel will hopefully keep me going when I’d rather sleep, rather surf the web or have doubts about what I’ll ultimately produce. This will be an arduous journey, but I’m looking forward to it.
December 26th, 2013:
Current Novel Word Count: 27 Words (Title Page)