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My Weird Fiction Outlining Technique
Both a Pantser and a Plotter Be?
Some writers are “pantsers.” Some are plotters. Yet is it possible to use both processes? Can some writers squish the two processes together? Yes, we can!
A Caveat: Many articles on writing fiction try to tell you that this author’s process is the crown jewel of all writing processes. They insist that their tip works for everyone and that you should ignore all the other writing processes. This is not one of those articles. I don’t know if this process will work for anyone else but for me. It doesn’t always work for me!
Lured by the Need to Write This Darned Thing
Just weeks ago, I got an idea for a Gothic romance story. An old school Gothic, like the ones remembered by the My Love-Haunted Heart blog. But my Gothic romance would have a modern twist or so.
The idea was inspired by a recent horror movie — but also (ahem) sad yet sexy fan art of the villain. (Note: It would be a major spoil to mention which movie because the villain’s very existence is a spoiler.) The darned idea was haunting me.
Wait… Write a new story? When I should be editing the ones I had? (Except I wasn’t ready to edit the ones I had.)
I could have done fanfic. But I wanted to do something inspired by the deeper tragedy at the heart of the movie. I wanted to make my own story.
But I wasn’t ready to start writing. Or was I? The idea kept bubbling to the surface. Like Swamp Thing.
So I decided to tackle this story as an outline.
Wait, don’t yawn get. This “outline” doesn’t contain bullet points. Not even chapter numbers. It rambles. (Much like this article.) It contains dialogue! (Gasp)!
One day, I created a file and tried this thing called … typing. It worked! The outline started coming out of me. In a file on my computer (and sometimes on my phone or tablet).
Throughout the plot, there are copious notes, from ideas that worked to rejected ideas. So I’m casting out feelers while trying to get the plot down. I’m open to suggestions — from my mind but also from other people.
