When starting a novel, is it good to create an outline of ideas or just to write the ideas into the story and hash it out later?

I’m Florence Witkop and I’m an author and have been one for many years because I love stories and the characters that people them. If you, too, enjoy reading about the sometimes amazing situations people find themselves in — and how they get through those situations and not only survive, but thrive — then check out my books.

My favorite genres are science fiction and paranormal so my books often combine the two. My stories are always clean and almost always contain at least a touch of romance.

And all my books end happily. Always. You can come after me if that’s wrong, but it’ll never happen.

Check out the covers below to see some of my stories. All are available on Amazon. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

When starting a novel, is it good to create an outline of ideas or just to write the ideas into the story and hash it out later?

Either way works fine. It’s a personality thing.

Are you the type who jumps into everything you do feet first? Or the type who researches everything before making a move?

Which type you are tells you which way you should approach the craft of writing a story.

Personally, I started out by jumping in feet first but, over time, decided that I put less time and effort into a story if I research and outline first. So I made myself slow down and learn how to do just that.

I’ve never regretted changing methods, but what worked for me might not work for others. So do what feels right for you.

florencewitkop

Romance Writing, Short Story, The Craft of Writing, The Writing Life, Writing Fiction

characters, fiction, short stories, stories, writing

3 responses to “When starting a novel, is it good to create an outline of ideas or just to write the ideas into the story and hash it out later?”

Frank Frisson

July 13, 2018 at 2:04 pm

I’m a strong believer in write-what-know. Whatever I write, I first put down what I know then do research afterwards. Works for me.

Reply
1. florencewitkop
  
  July 13, 2018 at 5:06 pm
  
  Exactly, and don’t let anyone tell you to do a single thing differently than what you are already doing!
  
  Reply
  1. florencewitkop
    
    July 13, 2018 at 5:07 pm
    
    And actually, now that I think about it, your way is a very good way indeed. You get the writing done and you do research, but only for what needs researching. No upfront research for things that never end up in the story.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Enter your comment here…

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)

Name (required)

Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: