Walking the Line: How I Outline the First Draft

So I thought I’d talk a little about my process of starting a story. This past week I broke ground on the sequel to my novel, Trial by Song, which I’m prepping for publication, so I’ve been paying a lot of attention to how to get this new story off to the races. I’m always interested in the different approaches writers use when sitting down to write a story. I know people who rigidly plot every detail scene by scene. And that method tends to create very tightly crafted stories. I know other people who sit down and let the stream of consciousness carry them away to see where it takes them.

I fall right smack dab in the middle.

I prefer a very loose outline. I know the major beats of the story, but I give my characters the freedom to react to those situations. I view it as a test for how…