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For my third post on 100 Musings on Writing Fanfiction I talk about my complicated relationship with outlining (okay, it's not really that complicated) and a scene that almost made it into a fic I'm writing, but thankfully did not.
Also, I feel like some kind of very odd journalist interviewing myself or something. Yay?
Outlining:
Once upon I time I never outlined. All of my fiction writing and school essays were straight from my mind to my fingers. That was how I wrote for years and I never really got how outlining could work for me. That started changing when I started writing longer fic for deadlines (read: big bangs). I would get about halfway through the fic with a general idea, and then wind up outlining to the end so I could see how much I had left before the end in case I needed to alter something to meet a word count.
Strength of the Pack was one of the first stories I wrote almost directly from an outline. The prologue and the first chapter came out of thin air, all I knew was I wanted to write an early series story where they could shift into wolves. Then I listed the scenes that I'd envisioned as happing later, and after that came a general chapter heading outline. As I came to each chapter I made scene by scene bullet points. It came so naturally and before I knew it, I was outlining just like they'd taught us in school that I'd never used.
The Harry Potter - Bones crossover story came to me all at once and I did a scene by scene outline so that I wouldn't forget by the time I was ready to write it. This was only the second time that an entire story, including the all important ending, ever came to me all at once. Usually I start with a scene, a kind of focal point, and I work out from there. The first time was the first section of the Morgan/Reid fic that I'm still working on, that I have about 12k left to write on before I send it off to be betaed.
So, long story short (too late), I now love outlining and it's pretty much the first thing I do when I sit down to write something that will probably be 10k or longer. Short pieces, particularly ones that are working from prompts, usually get a sentence or two about the main point or where I want to wind up with them. And really, just writing the words "main point" and "outline" make me realize how much having an English degree has influenced the way I think.
Scenes that Never Were:
Now for the anecdote about what I'm currently writing. Ever since I posted the first of these 100 Things blog entires I've been working on that same story that finally shook loose what was supposed to happen. Now, since we've just been talking about outlines, this falls in that murky place between when I started outlining and when I was just writing out pieces of important information in a separate document. So, while looking over the attached document of what I planned to happen in the second part of the piece, I realized that it completely didn't fit and would have to be scrapped entirely.
It isn't just that I originally envisioned this piece as a Morgan/Reid piece, starting with friendship and moving into a relationship. Now I'm working this more as a Reid-centric team piece, where several team members will get to have view point sections (right now I'm thinking JJ and Hotch will get view point sections and Morgan has already had his, with conversation scenes with Garcia, Rossi and Emily). Even if I'd kept this as Morgan/Reid, I would still have to scrap the scene because the premise is just ridiculous. What was I thinking?
The scene, as it was outlined, was basically Reid struggling with past trauma during a hand-to-hand combat training with Morgan, and a Morgan and Rossi conversation following. I'm not sure why I thought that was a good fit for this particular story. I suppose right now I should just be glad that it took me a year to get back to this piece, because otherwise that scene might have ended up in the story. Yikes!
Interestingly enough the main parts of that scene have already shown up in other ways in different pieces I've written since the time that I wrote the idea down. The Morgan/Reid part of it shows up in the Morgan/Reid story that also encompasses part of 4.07 Memoriam, in a far less Alternate Universe way. The hand-to-hand combat part of the scene wound up in Strength of the Pack. The only thing that's really lost is the Morgan and Rossi conversation, which I think I can streamline into the scene the directly followed the revelation point.
So, basically, working on these two Criminal Minds stories have taken over my entire brain and not left room for anything else. I'm pretty sure I can't complain.
Also, I feel like some kind of very odd journalist interviewing myself or something. Yay?
Outlining:
Once upon I time I never outlined. All of my fiction writing and school essays were straight from my mind to my fingers. That was how I wrote for years and I never really got how outlining could work for me. That started changing when I started writing longer fic for deadlines (read: big bangs). I would get about halfway through the fic with a general idea, and then wind up outlining to the end so I could see how much I had left before the end in case I needed to alter something to meet a word count.
Strength of the Pack was one of the first stories I wrote almost directly from an outline. The prologue and the first chapter came out of thin air, all I knew was I wanted to write an early series story where they could shift into wolves. Then I listed the scenes that I'd envisioned as happing later, and after that came a general chapter heading outline. As I came to each chapter I made scene by scene bullet points. It came so naturally and before I knew it, I was outlining just like they'd taught us in school that I'd never used.
The Harry Potter - Bones crossover story came to me all at once and I did a scene by scene outline so that I wouldn't forget by the time I was ready to write it. This was only the second time that an entire story, including the all important ending, ever came to me all at once. Usually I start with a scene, a kind of focal point, and I work out from there. The first time was the first section of the Morgan/Reid fic that I'm still working on, that I have about 12k left to write on before I send it off to be betaed.
So, long story short (too late), I now love outlining and it's pretty much the first thing I do when I sit down to write something that will probably be 10k or longer. Short pieces, particularly ones that are working from prompts, usually get a sentence or two about the main point or where I want to wind up with them. And really, just writing the words "main point" and "outline" make me realize how much having an English degree has influenced the way I think.
Scenes that Never Were:
Now for the anecdote about what I'm currently writing. Ever since I posted the first of these 100 Things blog entires I've been working on that same story that finally shook loose what was supposed to happen. Now, since we've just been talking about outlines, this falls in that murky place between when I started outlining and when I was just writing out pieces of important information in a separate document. So, while looking over the attached document of what I planned to happen in the second part of the piece, I realized that it completely didn't fit and would have to be scrapped entirely.
It isn't just that I originally envisioned this piece as a Morgan/Reid piece, starting with friendship and moving into a relationship. Now I'm working this more as a Reid-centric team piece, where several team members will get to have view point sections (right now I'm thinking JJ and Hotch will get view point sections and Morgan has already had his, with conversation scenes with Garcia, Rossi and Emily). Even if I'd kept this as Morgan/Reid, I would still have to scrap the scene because the premise is just ridiculous. What was I thinking?
The scene, as it was outlined, was basically Reid struggling with past trauma during a hand-to-hand combat training with Morgan, and a Morgan and Rossi conversation following. I'm not sure why I thought that was a good fit for this particular story. I suppose right now I should just be glad that it took me a year to get back to this piece, because otherwise that scene might have ended up in the story. Yikes!
Interestingly enough the main parts of that scene have already shown up in other ways in different pieces I've written since the time that I wrote the idea down. The Morgan/Reid part of it shows up in the Morgan/Reid story that also encompasses part of 4.07 Memoriam, in a far less Alternate Universe way. The hand-to-hand combat part of the scene wound up in Strength of the Pack. The only thing that's really lost is the Morgan and Rossi conversation, which I think I can streamline into the scene the directly followed the revelation point.
So, basically, working on these two Criminal Minds stories have taken over my entire brain and not left room for anything else. I'm pretty sure I can't complain.
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