Revelations

Recently I went on a writing retreat. My goal for that weekend was to get some progress made on my most recent WIP (a YA novel, merging present-day with Emmett Till's life. I figured I'd get thousands of words down.

And then I realized. I'd done the same thing with an earlier draft. I typed and typed and typed... and the plot went nowhere. I reviewed the book Save the Cat Writes a Novel  for WOW, and I was amazed at how much sense it made to organize and outline a manuscript. I promised myself I would not be a pantser this time. This go-around, I would not write by the seat of my pants.

So that's what I did at the retreat. I started from the beginning, outlining scenes (not writing them) and incredible things happened.

• I learned about my main character's enemies. I saw what horrible things happened to her in the hallway and the cafeteria--just from roughing out some scenes.

• I discovered my main character (Emma) is a cutter. That was not part of the original plan. But as I learned more about Emma, this part of her life was just revealed to me.

• I realized that organization is not a four-letter word. Doing the "pre-writing" first--getting the story outlined--makes sense and will (probably) make it easier when I get to the drafting stage, because my writing has some direction now. Who knew that would happen?

Did I get any words down that weekend? Not many. I outlined about half of the story, then knew I had to do some deep thinking, so I started drafting the first scene. I still haven't gone back and finished the outline, but neither have I charged ahead with writing an aimless story-that-has-story.

If you're unfamiliar with the book and its concept, check out this article. It might give you an idea whether or not you'd like it.

Sioux is a middle school teacher, a dog rescuer and a freelance writer. In her spare, she reads and knits (like Madame DeFarge). If you'd like to read more of her meanderings, check out her blog.

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