Clearly, madness breeds genius.
But sanity can breed it, too, yes? Maybe? PLEASE.
Probably not. BUT. Even if it's not genius, I did manage to think of something to write about today. I DID.
I'm a self confessed outliner. Before there is any writing that can count toward word count of a story, I write a one-liner pitch thingy, a query, a synopsis and a three act outline. YEAH. So when I sit down to write I know my stuff. I know exactly where this story is going. And I like that. Still. Even the best laid plans can rot (or something. I feel like Russell Crowe said this in Robin Hood but I'm probably wrong...). When I write my outlines, I think of them as shells. The scenes are objectives - this and this needs to be accomplished to get from point A to point B. How it's accomplished is completely up to my characters. By the second chapter, they're calling every. Single. Shot.
But having a shell, I've realized, is different than having a skeleton. All the gooey goodness that you need to make a story work falls out. And right now, half of my story is a shell, and the other half is a skeleton. I need it to be all shell to make it work. Umeko and I need to sit down and have a thorough heart to heart about WHAT SHE WANTS TO DO. And what Jackson wants to do. And who's gonna get busy. And who might die, be left behind, alter the course of the universe (their universe).
SO. Yes. Outliners (and non-outliners) what makes up your shell? Do you even NEED a shell? Please. Tell all.
