On Writing Without an Outline

Word Count Update: 4,318 (I'm not quite done for the day though. I will make my 4,500 word goal by the end of the day).

You know those people who have pages of outlines and notes before they start a novel? I'm not one of them. I really just had a basic idea and one character. I just write what comes to mind in whatever order it comes to mind in. That said, this current word count is split between two different sections of the book, neither of which is the beginning. I see author's on various blogs and forums posting about how they use excel to predict word count and how far they are in outline. The truth for me is that I have no idea where I'm going. I have a couple plot points worked out, but the rest of it will just have to happen.

When I was in college, we always had to turn in long assignments explaining our characters and outlining the plot of our story. There are a lot of benefits to this method. I'm still getting to know my main character and that will lead to massive amounts of editing at the end for the parts I'm writing right now. A good outline would prevent the days (that I'm sure are coming) when I sit down to write my 1500 words and discover that I have nothing to say, but that would take time away from the actual writing, which is what I love to do.

I've always been told that there is no right way to write. You can use an outline, but you don't have to. You can write from beginning to end, but you can also write scenes as you find the inspiration. Whatever you do, just make sure it works for you :)