Hello friends!
I am, undoubtedly and unabashedly, a plotter when it comes to writing. Outlines are my friend. Names and places are the right way to go. While there’s a time and a place for discovery writing or pantsing, I don’t believe you want to be doing that when it comes to drafting.
This is why, for the entire month of June, I held off on writing. I pivoted to a new project, but I didn’t write a single chapter. However, I outlined. Like a lot. And planned. And created characters to populate my world. And gave that world quirks and depths and hidden shames.
In the last month, I have outlined a full novel by character arcs (beat sheets!) and by chapter. I’ve titled thirty-something chapters. I’ve named almost seventy characters, most of whom will have little bearing on the story. And I’ve had a blast doing it.
Now, going into July, I’m ready to write this novel over the next couple of months.
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What I wrote this week: Finley plotting and outlining; “Gabi, Filled with Wonder.”
What I read this week: Dreadnought by April Daniels; Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun by Jonny Garza Villa; American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell.
Belinda McCauley 