Gather Writing Essentials : Tuesday Edition : Outlines

wow ..wonderful story line Fred ...maharani ..
its always good to have a plan that works for you ...I am trying that ..:-)

are you planning to come to India to see all these beautiful places ... It will be great idea ..My aunt lives in Shimla and its one of my fav places ..
p.s . please let me know when you are here ...I can't miss the chnace of meeting you

Thank you Amar.
Yes I will come. I'm planning something.First to Mussoorie where I'll spend 2 months learning Hindi. I want to see all the beautiful places that I've read about, seen in travel videos, seen in Bollywood videos.

I've studied the various Indian dances and I want to go go poetry readings and listen to music. I want to be there when traditional players lose themselves in their music.

I know about Simla and that amazing train ride that you have to do to get rhere. But I won't dance like SRK on the roof hahaha.

Of course we'll meet. For sure. I'm waiting for some news from a Bollywood producer.

I am in the middle of a 5 paragraph analytical essay on Brautigan's" Trout Death By Port Wine" It's making me crazy!!!!!

Thanks for your article showing the step by step way you set up writing your novels.

wow! Fred thats like a true seeker , you want to see the real India. wish you best for everything. Hope things go well!

I am writing a love story that can be divided into three parts as

part one: a man's struggle to balance past and present .flashback of his love life .
part two: his coming back to india.his daughters love life ..its in Chandigarh , shimla and amritsar.

part three : discovering his own dreams in his daughters love ..supporting her when he should be the one opposing ....

this was great, Fred. Love to see flesh added to bones, the individual styles and methods of creative writing are numerous and varied

Yes I do Amar.
Things will go well. They always do, in the end. As long as you truly believe in your vision.

That's a summary of a great story with with wonderful emotional content.
Three stunning localities. You've got the ingredients of a great love story movie there.

Keep going. Don't give up. Put it aside some days but then please go back to it again with enthusiasm.

Glad that you liked this summary Ed.

Of course, each person developes his own style. While writing, I'm not a strict disciplinarian. My thoughts come as they wish to. I just try and place them in proper chapters and then sequence the chapters in the most gripping way.

Go well.

Dear Fred..again a big big shot..well written...Oh my...such an adorable story...I AM EAGERLY WAITING FOR MORE PARTS..


you can understand what's going in my heart when I was reading your story...

Home sickness ...a lot...

well all my stories have a beginning middle and end,

I usually know what the beginning is and how generally I want the end to be, but the middle as I write it takes a life of its own and can effect the ending.

I don't like a tight outline, I like to see how my novels read and edit as I go along.

for example, in angels watching over me, the character Jean was originally written out in the first 5 chapters, towards the middle I didn't to bring her back after the fact and she then became a very important character in the development of the book and the contributed to its conclusion. In the original concept she had no part in it at all.

Fred, I would like to read this book once you have completed it.
Outlines seem to be the mantra if one wants to write with some design..which one should.
I am afraid, I ramble..

Good Morning dear Bhawana

I do understand. I know what a hold a beautiful and ancient and caring land like your home can have on you. It has this on me and I don't even come from there.

I'll release some parts so that you can get the feel of my stories.

Be brave dear... fred

I can but agree with you Carol
I also agree that it's well nigh impossible to plan a very creative work.
In my own case I see the story develope in front of my eyes. From beginng then middle then end.

BUT...then comes the time when you say "do I have a marketable product here?" Well the answer is that you won't have unless you arrange it (in my case) as I outlined above.

The editor will ask you to structure your story. It you don't have turnng points, focus points, dark moments and rsolutionsin more or less the right moments you're sunk.

Let's say you don't have a "hook" within the first 3 pages you will probably be turned by the editor or readers or both.

It's better to have a lan that you veer from than to have no plan at all.

PS...I don't begin with my plan. I introduce it about half way into my writing. That's when I cut and paste whole chapters into new positions.

Hu Minnie dear

As I've just written I ramble too...but only up to a point. There comes a time when you must ask questions like why is protagonist C or D there at all? Is he/she needed?

You must ask are there enough incidents which say much about the charcters of the various people?

That's when outlines become essential.

Minnie most of my stuff is 90 % completed. I'll post a chapter or two now and then, if you like.

Fred this seems like a great outline to a story that will surely turn out to be awesome!!!
sounds really interesting so far.. I think this is a great idea to follow for prose pieces...

Thank you Amy
That really keeps me motivated. Go well.

Hi Shruthi

I do like this story as it seemed to write itself. All I needed was to sit in my coffee bar whenever I could and drink many cups of coffee.

At about the 2/3 stage I sent it to a editor that specialises in cinwmatographic effects. Wow that was interesting. She helped me very much.

Yes...I agree...this is for prose...for poetry I just hold the pen. The poem writes itself.
OK I edit it and check the bounce but I don't plan it. I just wouldn't kmow how to do that.

Like you I cut and paste entire chapters and move them around. I don't really work with a formal outline but the skeletal plot is written in my head. It usually changes quite a bit though and my characters take over. I let them write their own stories. I find they are better at it than I am.

What you say makes so much sense Marge.

Hahaha I agree that the characters seem to take over. That's exactly as it is. They become people that you know and they talk to you.

Let's not get the outline wrong. Let it not play a definitive role in the beginning... as the story is born and begins to grow. (See Amy's poem).

But use it as a check when you're half way or three quarter way through the writing.

Why? Because the elements that I mention in my list are important and should be considered before submitting a work to an editor.

Thanks for the tips and suggestions Fred. Yes, I can understand that publishers of prose are looking for those criteria in the order that you have put them. Since most of us are writing in the hopes of being published it serves us well to follow your list.

Hi Fred, this outline sounds like a great story to me! I hope we will read more!

How is your plan for the children's book coming along?

Fred ...do you sleep?

Haya is a nice name...Fred ,I am sure that you are going to do justice with your characters as you are such a caring person in reality..

Haya means Shyness as it's an arabic term . Am I right... !

Thank you Marge
You are so right. The editor has the last say. One must play by his rules. Good luck with your first book BTW.

Hi Cristina
I'll publish a few parts of this book from time to time.
My childrens book is just about ready. Needs a little final work. Thanks for asking.

Hi Bhawana dear
Yes I do sleep. All my stories are born while I sleep. I usually wake up and have to hurry through breakfast so that I write things down before I do any work.

Dear, my names???? I don't know where they come from. hey come into my dreams with their names. They are born as friends and this one said "Hi I'm Haya".

If it means shy then it's what she is but also what she isn't. She's both...but not when it comes to flying. Someone said to me it's a call to dance...and in a very important scene that's what she does.

Hey, I'm so happy. I found my dancing couple. I was looking in the wrong place.

Thanks Fred ,your answer is like an inspiration for me to think more about writing styles.

That is a wonderful guide to any writer. I will memorize it as a useless writing tool in my development. Before joining Gather, my writing consisted of song lyrics (I almost always composed the music first then plugged in the lyrics) and academic research articles for university journals and bulletins. The academic articles are highly touted as excellent sleep inducers. My method of writing to this day is the Sir Francis Bacon method for scientific research. I collect data for my hypothesis. I arrange the data to fit a timeline. I decide on the presentation method (rhetorical pattern). Check data and supporting details. Then I write the first draft and check to see if it fits my original intent. The worst thing about my method is that it usually is too time consuming. I'm finding that writing stories is a much different animal than writing a research paper. The wild card is the creative impulse. It seems ideas grow out of ideas and I have to have a separate notebook to write down these ideas as they come. If I don't write them down, I forget them. The farmhouse was my only real attempt to write a short story. It was from a campfire story I had made up. My intent was to write only two chapters, but the story kept growing and growing. This rather shocked me because I never thought I'd write so much. I am still learning the craft of writing. It was much easier being a teacher and using a set of objective criteria to evaluate student compositions. Your article is very helpful to my journey. Thank you.

Thank you Bhawana.
If I could help you in your writing in ANY way then I'm overjoyed...because you are already very good. I hope that you had a great weekend.

Hi Bill
You seem to be reluctant to admit that you're a great story writer. You may not think so but it took a lot of story telling to take us on that trip to OZ.

Ah campfires are great for storytelling aren't they? I've heard so many great stories around the fire. Is it the fire, the beer or the companionship...but the stories just flow.

Don't you think Bill that your trips to the East have materials for many stories. I can still remember my first meal in Tokyo. I could write a story on that alone.

Come on Bill...give us a good yarn. You can do it.

OZ took a lot of time in collecting the data, but after that it was just a lark of putting a crazy story down in rhyme. I intend to write two more OZ chapters soon.

Great Bill
We must carry on with the OZ Odyssey. Let's have it when you're ready.

Fred I don't do what y'all out down, I go to sleep with Little Feather
on my mind. Then it all comes to me in my dreams this is true and now
I will retire for a couple of hours and awake refreshed with another
great story floating in my mind. *smiles*

Hey Babara
That's exactly what happens to me. I wake up with the story in my mind and I do what I have until I can find time to go to the coffee bar and write.
Then it just pours out. *smiles back*

PS it's the editing that gets me.

Nice to hear all these great tips from the pros. I will also want to read this book Fred. What a trip to make. That in itself will make many great articles. You will still be on Gather? Thanks for this. Ellen B