Home > Work > Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success
1 " In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower "
― K.M. Weiland , Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success
2 " Most authors would be the first to admit the best of their writing is beyond even them. It comes from someplace outside the conscious realm. "
3 " • Tell your left brain to zip it for a while. Your left brain can be a pushy character. When he’s telling you he thinks he knows best how to write this story, tell him to stow it for a bit, so his chatter doesn’t distract you from the offerings of your right brain. Your left brain will get his chance later. "
4 " The magic ingredient in fiction is that special something that socks readers right in the gut and leaves them breathless with joy or sorrow "
5 " It’s not enough to create a character who does interesting things. He must also do them for interesting reasons. "
6 " Whether your stories are read by two people or two million, your writing is your legacy to the world. Make it worth sharing. "
7 " If you’re ever at a loss as to what to write about, ask yourself to imagine the one story, essay, poem, or book that you’d most like to read. Then write it.”25 "
8 " THE ART OF fiction is a wide-open sea of possibilities, in which the author is a wave-tossed ship along for the ride. And what a glorious ride it is! On the other hand, the craft of fiction puts that same ship under the expert guidance of a captain who knows how to decipher his chart of those seas and then furl, trim, and jib his sails so his ship will carry him through the story on precisely the right course. "
9 " How do you create emotionally resonant stories? It’s simple: Create stories with which you resonate. Learn to listen to your body and identify emotional connections and reactions. "
10 " the starting place for any powerful story must be the author himself. If a story doesn’t resonate first and foremost with you, why believe it will ever be able to touch a reader? "
11 " Backstory is there only because something had to come before Chapter One. "
12 " Writing a novel can be overwhelming. "
13 " Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it’s the life’s blood of a writer. "
14 " Calendar I collect old calendars and use them to map my story’s timeline. Surprisingly enough, the timeline is an oft-overlooked facet of outlining. I overlooked it myself for years, until I read about suspense author Simon Wood’s misadventure: "
15 " The author is the master of the outline, not its slave. "
16 " For example, one key character who was definitely not supposed to die did just that. I did everything I could to get her up again, but she just... died on me. "