From Twitter 05-11-2010

• 07:49:01: Really feeling rotten today. Soup and water and self-pity on the menu
  
• 08:49:27: @janjonesauthor Thanks! :)
  
• 09:33:02: Anyway, thoughts on outlining novels, anyone? Helpful or unhelpful?
  
• 09:35:59: @Scarimonious That's what I've found too. I'm toying with a rough outline for the Cassandra/angel/psychic/sewer lizard novel...
  
• 09:36:56: @Scarimonious ... just to see if it gets me working faster, but I'm sceptical
  
• 09:38:22: @wtfbrain See, that's what I want to try, I just don't know if it will kill my interest in writing the novel
  
• 09:52:07: @dbridger In the past when I've tried, it's kind of ruined the novel for me - I don't want to write it if I already know what happens, lol
  
• 09:57:18: @dbridger I generally have an end in mind, and a few key scenes to work through, but it all stays in my head. Something about writing it...
  
• 09:57:48: @dbridger ... down changes how I feel about writing it at all. I think I'm probably crazy, though
  
• 20:17:22: In lieu of packing or gardening, I am writing my horoscopes early. Procrastination begins at home!
  
• 20:23:43: I hate how slow my laptop is when not plugged into the mains. WTF, laptop?
  
• 20:25:26: Isn't technology supposed to improve my life? Then why is my laptop making me angry, and why do we still have weather?
  
• 20:26:09: And why isn't everything made of chrome?
  
• 20:36:28: @Scarimonious Not to mention robot maids!
  
• 20:39:24: I'm using my HP Lovecraft tarot deck for my horoscopes this month. Except gibbous and possible squamous predictions
  
• 20:52:26: @Scarimonious Yep. With Dagon advancing in Pisces and ziggurats for all!
  
• 21:21:55: I didn't vote for David Cameron. Then again, I never voted for Gordon Brown either, and it didn't stop him being Prime Minister
  
• 21:45:17: @cherose228 I'll watch with interest, but I'm sure in five years' time we'll be back to square one!
  
• 22:03:50: I always completely underestimate how long it will take me to write my horoscopes... No exorcism for Ethan tonight
  

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Outline v Organic

So I was asking people on Twitter yesterday about outlining versus pantsing. Generally the views were mixed, which leads me to believe that, like so many things in writing, it's case of "each to their own." Some people like to/need to outline first, some people like to go organic, and we're all cool with that. I personally am a pantser. I generally start a novel with an idea about the characters, the ending, and maybe a few key plot points to get in there. Everything else just sort of happens. Like shuggoths.

Every writer I know has a different method for preparing/writing their novel, and there are all kinds of tips and tricks around to help you refine or completely change your methods. I'm wondering if I can learn to be a plotter. Why, you ask? Largely because I'd like to get through projects faster, and I'm wondering if an outline of some kind would help keep me focused. Because I'm very prone to "Ooh Shiny!" Syndrome when writing.

My reservation is that I've found in the past that trying to outline anything in detail puts me off writing it. I know! But it's like some weird alchemical transition occurs in my brain where the minute I write down any notes, my mind decides it would rather write something else entirely. I used to keep reams and reams of story ideas jotted down in notebooks*, but nowadays I very rarely scribble anything down** - I just start writing and hope for the best, and it usually works out fine.

But as I'm now, like, under contract for stuff and hoping to be under contract for more stuff, I'm aiming to get organised. One of the crucial things I'm going to do when we move house is set up a proper working area, with a desk and no shiny things. I need to break the habit of slouching around on my bed writing; it's only making my arm worse, as well as causing a lot of back pain, which nobody wants, right? Right. In addition to changing my physical working habits, I'd like to have a crack at changing my mental ones. With that in mind, I'm going to attempt to outline the Cassandra novel (that really needs a title). Nothing crazy, just a quick breakdown of What's Going Down and Who's Going Down With It.

*That I never wrote, but that was probably for the best since they were all basically convoluted high fantasy nightmares involving Great Destiny and talking animals.
**I do keep series notes, otherwise I'm prone to forgetting characters' surnames and ages.

I cannot express how happy this picture makes me...

... Nor for how many reasons. Taken from the blog of "unnecessary" quotation marks.