How I used to outline my novels vs how I do it now

For years I would sit down with a notebook and map out every single chapter beat by beat before writing a word. I thought that was the only professional way to do it because every writing blog said outline first. Then last summer I wrote a 70k word fantasy draft with no outline at all and it felt like I was discovering the story as I went. The characters did things I never planned for and the plot went in a wild direction that actually worked better. Now I just jot down a few key scenes I want to hit and let the rest happen naturally. Has anyone else made this kind of switch between being a planner and a pantser? What made you change your process?

2 comments

2 Comments

bennett.vera23d ago

70k words with no outline? That's insane. I can barely keep track of a grocery list for a week, you just freeballed a whole fantasy novel. I tried pantsing once and ended up with 3 characters named Jake and a talking cat that died in the first chapter and somehow came back in the last one.

the_eric23d ago

Life's full of messing up and rolling with it, ain't it @bennett.vera?