The Falcon's Claw: On Outlining & Planning

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The Falcon's Claw: On Outlining & Planning My Fantasy Story

I'm not very big on planning stories. Usually, I start writing, then, as I write, I form an idea of where I want the story to go - a sort of vague vision. When I first seriously started approaching my writing, I tried planning things out. My biggest pet peeves with the process of planning and outlining my stories are that:

  1. It seeps all the motivation and desire to write the project right out of me. There's something about outlining that makes me feel like now that I've completed the outline, I don't want to continue and actually write the story.
  2. When I get writing, I usually end up straying for the outline I've just spend hours working on - often within the first chapter. And then it's back to the drawing board!

Overall, outlining hasn't been the most pleasant experience for me. I'll admit that it might be because I've been doing it wrong, so I haven't completely given up on it. For my fantasy side-project, The Falcon's Claw, I have been trying to outline each chapter or episode of the story in order to ensure that all of my chapters have a cliffhanger ending and a plot-altering event.

 


So far, it's been working well in that I've kept my planning to a minimum and focused on striking some kind of balance that allows me to keep my motivation and still get all - or most - of my ideas out on paper. The goal, after all, was to make sure that the entire first "season" or plot arc of the story was all planned out so that writing it out would be a lesser chore of just expanding on the notes I had for each episode. But in terms of that second pet peeve...

Well, right from the first episode, I ended up changing a pretty major plot point! I try to veer back onto the planned path whenever I invariably deviate, but it's easier said than done, and as a result, there have been a few areas in which I've changed not just the plot points, but also the ways that certain characters act and are perceived.

Neska in particular is turning out to be quite different from what I'd imagined her, but the more I think about it, the more fitting her behaviour is in these first chapters I've written. It's a good introduction into the complex character that she is, and I'm sure readers will be thrown by her more than a few times throughout the overarching plot of The Falcon's Claw.

That being said, I don't think that this pet peeve is harming my story - more so just annoying me as the author who then has to go back and fix the outline I had spent considerable time creating. At the end of the day, I feel the choices I'm making and the changes that come with them are all for the best, improving the story and enriching the mystery.

Hopefully readers feel the same way when I'm able to start sharing "Season 1" of The Falcon's Claw.

🗺️

If you haven't already, check out my eerie suspense novella Apartment.

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