Yesterday, Brian James said something about taking notes when I run, which I do, but not with paper or anything. That would be problematic, especially on days like today when it is pouring freezing rain and there are wind gusts of -- I'm estimating -- pug-levitating velocity.
But I am going out in 90 minutes from now, anyway.
Wish me luck. I will have floaties.
But Brian's question made me realize something because I am, even as I write this, in the midst of it: I do take notes. I write notes about what I'm writing and what I plan on writing all the time. I do not outline, though. Outlines are different.
They are oppressive.
Notes are kind of like the ingredients in a recipe. If I look up a recipe for something, I can tell everything I need to know by its list of ingredients. I already know if I'm going to like it or not.
So, even though this is a recipe for disaster -- despite the fact that I've promised myself there would be a National Not-Writing celebration looming in the outline of my future -- I have begun assembling notes on yet another novel that I -- God help me -- will start writing in the next couple weeks, after I've assembled the whole list of ingredients.
Scary.
8 comments:
My life is woven in notes.
I don't think outlines don't have to be oppressive if used as a rough guides to organize the pacing of a story and placement of events, especially in a nonlinear story or one with multiple narrators.
I do the same thing, write while running (or hiking or biking or swimming). Not only write, but rewrite, edit, and revise. Often when I return home, the precise wording is seared in my brain and compulsively spills out through the keyboard onto my screen before I can engage in any other activity. Granted my "writing" is blogs and emails and book reviews, but I imagine the process must be the same for book writing.
I make notes then stick them everywhere and still forget then I make countless lists and if I don't loose them it works out. But my best friend is my hand written calendar.
Maybe you should carry a small tape player (showing my age) and record your notes - expect on raining days of course.
**do they still teach students how to create an outline in school? Because my 14 yo didn't know how and I had to teach him at home.**
Brian, I'm one of those refuse-to-follow-a-roadmap kind of guys. But I always get there, I guess. As soon as someone gives me steps to follow or a list of rules, I feel the muscles in the back of my neck tighten up. That's what outlines do to me.
Degolar, that's the same thing I experience. In fact, sometimes when I'm feeling like what I'm working on is stuck in low gear, I'll go out and go for a run. There is no such thing as writer's block.
And Connie, I do use the voice memo on my iPhone, or sometimes I'll use it to jot down a note or send myself an email.
What's a tape player?
Cute.
I write only while writing. The rest of the time I just go around pre-occupied and snappish because some book or another is running in the back of my head. I have 7 books to write in 13 months so I expect I'll be a real bitch. Such a contrast with my usual sunny disposition.
Wow. I never thought James Patterson read my blog.
You could sub out to me, AuthorX. I'm unemployed.
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