T.D. Severin - Award-Winning Medical Thriller Author

  Back to outlining. A while back, when I started the  first outlining post  I answered the question, "Should I outline?" with a flippant, but honest answer. Yes, if it works for you. No, if it doesn't. In truth, very few people are capable of writing a successful novel without some sort of outline. Even the most free-flowing of us has some idea of what the novel is about. And even if they never commit this to paper, in their mind, if asked, they'll have an idea of where the story starts, who the characters are (at least some of them) and a vague idea as to what will happen in the book. Even if it's a totally vague idea, they'll at least know that their novel is a story about Mandy and Mike, growing up in a small town in Oklahoma, and they fall in love, but as economic hardship strikes their town, they break up and have to deal with the question of whether or not to have their unborn child or abort it. Etc. This little sentence may be all the author knows abou...

  Some debates can't be settled with the passage of time. When it comes to writing, the question I'm asked more than any other is; do I outline? And the truthful answer is, it doesn't matter whether I outline or not, what you really want to know is; should you outline? It seems that very little can rile up as much contention, debate, anger and anxiety as this one very simple question. Should I outline? And the answer to that can only be: Yes, if it works for you. No, if it doesn't. How's that for a vague way to start a new series of posts? For some reason, outlining seems to be this mysterious process, knowledge hidden by reclusive writing gurus, kept in secret, protected from the eyes of the rest of the world. Or else it seems to be this amazingly tedious, painful, arduous process, like a scientific experiment, that can only performed in one precise way to get the proper results. If done incorrectly. . . BOOM! The whole novel explodes in a silty smoke of disaster. ...

  When I first started this blog, my original intention was purely to get my thoughts on the revision process down on paper to help me with my current work. I wanted to use this as a think pad, a guide book, to direct and focus my thoughts on what I needed to do. The results so far, based on your feedback, has been greater than I ever expected. Thanks to all who've written with your encouragement and thoughts. Now the reason I mention all this is that my intention directed my actions, and those actions led to results, perhaps even results I didn't anticipate. That's a powerful statement and one that needs to makes its way into our writing. Knowing the intentions of your characters, in each scene, can be a vital tool to drive the drama and power of your writing. I mentioned this earlier in the  Ten-Point Revision Strategy  under " Know your Character's Motivation ," but it's worth exploring deeper. I don't know about you, but when I write, I often like ...