The Writing Project

So I have learned something important. A lot of people will tell you that the best way to write a book is to simply sit down and write. Not true. Don’t listen to them. I think it is absolutely crucial that you do an outline first. If you don’t know where you are going, how in the hell are you supposed to write?!?!

Many people over the years have told me, “Kristi, just sit down and write. Stop thinking so much into it”. Don’t listen. You have got to have an idea of where you are going. It’s not enough to think ‘I want to write a book about a woman who cheated on her husband with her husband’s boss and they go through a whole bunch of stuff and someone gets murdered and…’ No, that is not what I am writing about, but you get my point. That idea is way too vague. You can’t write if you aren’t exactly sure what you are writing about.

Here’s what happened to me.

I thought of a basic plot. To reveal one of the key components of the book- it has to do with someone having supernatural abilities. A girl has to meet a guy. Not going into detail about that, though. There are many other things I failed to research, but lets just roll with those two examples.

If I start writing now, how am I going to explain the abilities several chapters later? Everything leading up to that point should be vital information pertaining to the plot and how everything played out. If I don’t even know what will play out, how will I begin writing about it?

The boy and the girl have to meet. It’s destiny. I have gotten to the point where she is about to leave- yet I never figured out exactly how I am going to get her there and what I am going to do with her when she arrives.

This has caused me to write a lot of unnecessary details. I wasted a lot of time writing about things that will most certainly be removed, when I could have spent that time really developing the plot and researching important things such as location, setting, scenes, characters, etc.

Your outline should give you a full idea of what you want to happen in your story. Who, what, when, where, why and how. It would be very beneficial if you could begin by outlining your basic idea and going from there. After you have enough information, start laying out chapters and what pieces of information should go in those chapters, etc. Then, write out scenes to fill those chapters. Just basic descriptions, nothing fancy.

Next you should write out your first draft. At this point, it doesn’t matter what kind of fancy words you use or how well you describe things- just get it down. Then when you complete the first draft- the skeleton of the book, go back in and edit. Make changes. Take things out. Add things in. Etc. You get it.

Whatever you do, don’t sit down and begin pounding away at your keyboard if you aren’t exactly sure what you are supposed to be writing. It is a huge waste of time. Writing a novel is a lengthy process enough, don’t make it harder than it has to be by writing things that don’t matter.