Love that you bring up that Sam Gamgee quote. Often the fear that my stories are too predictable is what makes me freeze up (and the “plan” amplifies that feeling), when really what matters more is whether the outcome is realistically predictable to the characters in the story. Because that’s what makes a reader invested: good characters that don’t know what’s going to happen to them.
I love this. In university, when a prof asked for an outline, I had to write the essay first to get the outline. I have NEVER been able to work from an outline and have abandoned hoping to do so. I have also stopped envying writers who seem to have their ducks in a row with said outlines and colour-coded highlighters and flashcards. I think novelists all start out looking for some kind of shortcut to the finish line. It's a messy, time-consuming, alternately frustrating and rewarding process writing a novel. Reading is what keeps the novelist afloat. If you're lucky, you had bookshelves at home or spent enough time at libraries to find the instincts to carve a path through the forest. I think of my novelist self as a crow looking for shiny bits in life. If I drop enough of those shiny bits into an interesting framework and people it with compelling characters, the reader will stay with me for the journey. That's my hope! Thanks for this.
Love that you bring up that Sam Gamgee quote. Often the fear that my stories are too predictable is what makes me freeze up (and the “plan” amplifies that feeling), when really what matters more is whether the outcome is realistically predictable to the characters in the story. Because that’s what makes a reader invested: good characters that don’t know what’s going to happen to them.
I agree. Tolkien had that figured out long before the writing gurus appeared.
Writing my novel was an adventure
I love this. In university, when a prof asked for an outline, I had to write the essay first to get the outline. I have NEVER been able to work from an outline and have abandoned hoping to do so. I have also stopped envying writers who seem to have their ducks in a row with said outlines and colour-coded highlighters and flashcards. I think novelists all start out looking for some kind of shortcut to the finish line. It's a messy, time-consuming, alternately frustrating and rewarding process writing a novel. Reading is what keeps the novelist afloat. If you're lucky, you had bookshelves at home or spent enough time at libraries to find the instincts to carve a path through the forest. I think of my novelist self as a crow looking for shiny bits in life. If I drop enough of those shiny bits into an interesting framework and people it with compelling characters, the reader will stay with me for the journey. That's my hope! Thanks for this.