I was so excited to plan out my plot this week. I started to work on it the other day. It seemed like things were going well. But, as I was going further and outlining more of my chapters I started to feel less confident in the story.
I stopped at chapter seven and was like nope not going to do this anymore.
I know I said that I was going to plan for NaNoWriMo, so I’m forcing myself to try it again. I don’t want to give up at the first sign of doubt. I’m a little mad that I gave into my doubt so fast. I wanted to have my chapters outlined by the end of the week.
It’s already Friday. When did that happen?
I said that I was going to let you guys know how I’m going with the planning, so that’s why I’m writing this post.
I have written character sheets for my main characters. I even got some pics of people who I think resembled their looks. That was a fun little task. I already had my Female Main Character’s “pick” in mind. But looking for a guy that sort of resembles my Male Main Character was a challenge. I eventually found a guy. I have to say the actors/actresses look too pretty for my characters, but they’ll have to do. It’s nice having images of the characters you are writing. It makes them feel a little more real.
Some authors I know are a bit more artistic than I am and are able to draw out who they see in their mind as their character! I think that’s awesome. I wish I could do the same, but alas, I was not born with the drawing gene.
As I mentioned earlier, I did start my outline. I don’t like it so I’m going to start over and work on it. I think my issue is that I’m coming into this like I’m writing a film. In film, something has to happen right away. You want to hook the viewer into finishing the rest of the two hours of the film.
I forget that in a novel, you can take your time. Let the reader get to know the characters and the world. Let the readers figure out the characters a little bit before we discover their “catalyst”, so when they react a certain way, it’s understandable/ relatable. I was really focused on putting that “obligatory scene” right in the beginning. I realized that I didn’t give my characters enough time to really show who they were. So writing the rest of the chapters after didn’t feel right.
So, my new task for next week is to take my time on the outline. I shouldn’t have to rush as I was doing before. If I really want to do this, I need to make sure it’s well thought out. Besides, it’s just an outline… the real writing will happen in November. I probably will end up going away from the outline anyway. 😉
Remember, this is a new process for me. In the past, I usually outlined maybe the first act before jumping into the actual writing. Just outlining the first act was great progress to me. But, I want to do more than that. I want to feel confident enough in my storytelling abilities that I can figure out the whole story.
Let’s see how next week turns out for me. I hope it’ll be a bit better than this week.
Thanks for reading!
-Emi