Huh. I guess I do believe in outlines after all

[commodorified]

So a shocking amount of writing advice I've encountered is about cutting the excess away, and this has rarely been my problem.

I tend to produce first drafts so condensed as to be downright gnomic, and then show them to friends who are kind enough to be informatively bewildered at me until I unpack.

Related to this, I always said I don't outline, at least outside my head. It occurs to me that my first drafts ARE outlines, really. Just, I outline in actual paragraphs.

Huh. That's an oddly useful insight.

In other news I forget where I recently saw someone comment that you can tell the difference between bad allergies and a cold because colds are PAINFUL, but that, sadly, is also very useful information right now.

Comments

[izzy]

I've been told on more than one beta-occasion, "izzy, we don't know what's in your head. you'll need to actually write that bit down." "oh yeah. thanks." But then I've also been told that I produce "solid" first drafts, so six of one, I guess. (I don't think I've ever outlined for something fic-like. I'll fill a separate document with rambly notes, but I feel like that's a different thing?)