I’ve had a couple of days where I needed to take somewhat of a step back from writing a little bit. With everything that has been going on if my life at the moment I just needed to take a couple of days to re-focus. I had a moment on Thursday where I actually considered quitting writing. I haven’t felt like that in quite some time.
I am stuck with Penal Earth at the moment, I’ve made the same mistake I make time and time again where I haven’t gotten it planned out properly. That tends to lead me into holes I can’t get out of, so I’m putting the breaks on and will try and figure out where I want the story to go from here. I have got other stories I want to write soon so I’m going to work on some outlining and see how I get along with that.
With The Space Watch, Owen and I had a chapter-by-chapter outline which I didn’t get along with. So, what I’m planning on trying now is to get a one or two page outline done and have a few bullet points of important details I want to include in the story.
Speaking of The Space Watch. I’ve finished red-penning the draft this evening and will start making the alterations in the next few days. I’m not sure I’ll do anything on it tomorrow as I’m going to work on tidying up a couple of short stories that I want to add some spice too. I want to get into some outlining as well.
That’s it for now. I’m totally wiped out and my bed is calling.
Peter Germany's World 
I must admit, I find masses of biker points better than chapter by chapter outlines, though the bullet points sometimes turn into that, depending on the project. Somehow, even then, bullet points feel less daunting.
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That’s a good point, I hadn’t thought of it like that. I found doing the chapter outlines to be torture, and when I did start writing I quickly drifted away from the outline.
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Yeah, it’s easily done. Sometimes, just a little nudge is better than a full structure for breeding creativity. To me, bullet points are like the literary equivalent of working on films like Happy Together or Blair Witch, where the script was sparse and things could flow naturally.
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Yes, I’ve also heard some writers saying that if they do a detailed outline then they feel like they’ve already written the story and it can take the wind out of their sails.
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I could see that. Detailed plans for odd scenes I can understand, especially if there’s a lot to cover, but doing the whole thing like that always feels like overkill to me.
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I agree, although I’ve heard some authors doing 50+ pages of outlines. I struggled with ten lol
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