Thursday 2^nd July 2020

So I have an outline.

There’s a part of me that feels I must have somehow cheated, that I’ve cut some corner and not put the work in. I worry that Ill start writing and find how little I prepared and then have a hellish writing experience.

But, I’ve documented what I done, from creating a discussion document to creating a brand new document comprised of parts from different drafts. I’ve added in extra index cards to note character progression, and today I added my notes.

Scrivener has the ability to add notes to a scene. It’s found under the inspector. When I’m writing something new this is where I might put a chapter outline before I start writing. But when I edit or rewrite, this is where I put notes.

These are to myself. They don’t have to make sense to anyone else. However, I have to realise that I may be coming back to these notes weeks down the line when my head is full of story and the thoughts I had when creating the discussion document are distant memories.

In practical terms, I’ve copied and pasted bits of my discussion document into the notes for these. These are specific things. I used to keep character arc notes in them but I need a bigger view which is why I’ve now swapped to index cards for those.

Instead, the notes I now keep are more along the lines of changing a bit of backstory on a character, or showcasing a skill when I introduce a character. They are things that belong to that chapter and nowhere else.

There weren’t too many of these notes so my outline is pretty much done.

I have a scene I’m adding in that was removed from one of the two drafts that make up this outline and I want to make sure it fits in. This subplot was removed from the latter of the two drafts, so putting it back in, causes me a little concern, but my general feeling is that it’ll go better than I expect.

So there we go: it’s ready to write.

I’m probably going to leave it a day or so and then begin at the weekend. I can then put some time in and get a good way in from the start.