My outlining… a mistake?

My outline—a mistake?

I’ve never written a fiction book from an outline before. Literally, never. I’ve written 6 fiction books as a ghostwriter, and 2 of my own that will likely never be published (by choice). Not once have I used an outline. I’ve always just allowed myself to get into the characters and allow the story to flow.

For every non-fiction book I’ve written, I’ve always worked off an outline. It’s always gone really well and allowed me to produce the content I needed in order to garner the exact outcomes I wanted for the reader.

Here I am, nearly done with Book 1 in the Magnolia Isles series, and I’m frustrated. The outline, or rather, my commitment to trying to stick to it feels like I am trying to squeeze a blossomed body into the old jeans I wore as a child. It doesn’t feel good. It feels too tight, too restrictive.

Lee Child never once worked from an outline. You know I love me some Lee Child!

So today, for the first time—I stopped writing. I didn’t make my usual 3,000 word goal. I managed 1500 hard worked for words. And I stopped.

After thinking through it for a few minutes, I’ve come up with a plan. Today, I am going to get some creative rest. I’ll color, or paint, or craft. Whatever I can do to work in some creative rest.

Next, I’ll read. I’ll break my rule and start reading through the chapters before the entire story is out on paper. My sneaking suspicion is, I’ve rushed some of the story along the way in an effort to hit all the benchmarks in the outline. And possibly, I just need to rework those sections to make things flow better.

Each author has their own flow with things, and I’ve a sneaking suspicion I need to stop trying to make my non-fiction flow work for my fiction work.

I’ll dive in and keep you all posted on what happens next in my fiction journey. Stay tuned.