Really thoughtful piece on outlining, amongst other things, from scifi writer Gary Gibson (I read three of his last year – very good if you’re into Alastair Reynolds or Iain M Banks) –
http://whitescreenofdespair.blogspot.com/2013/01/book-names-outlining-and-future-projects.html
Yet again, good to see someone with my own philosophy. The key point for me is that you do not lose spontaneity by outlining. You save thousands of words and months of work, you don’t write yourself into corners and you know everything that has to happen to support your conclusion. My dialogue is improvised, particularly the complete arsehole that is DI Brian Bain, and gives me free rein to explore my characters – I put some flesh on subplots in later drafts that may come out of improv but I haven’t buggered my story up by going off on a tangent.
— Ed
GHOST IN THE MACHINE (Scott Cullen book one) is FREE –
UK Kindle – http://amzn.to/Ih2ros
US Kindle – http://amzn.to/IzknfQ