October Novel Prep Challenge

Yesss, brainstorming is wonderful! There is absolutely a place for structure, but I've found the ideas tend to flow best when I'm just letting my brain go nuts and I don't feel too bad pressing enter six times and writing—

NO WAIT THAT'S STUPID. What if, instead...

I yell at myself a bit, really clarify what scenes and themes my heart is in, and often talk myself through story blocks.

I found out the hard way when I was young that excessive structure and no-holds-barred outlining satisfies my need to tell a story, so by the time I finished writing a 35+ page outline for a failed novel when I was 15, I felt satisfied that I had already "told" the story I wanted to tell, and that fire went out... having never become an actual story! So, now, when I'm writing outlines, I limit myself to chilly, fact-based scene descriptions of (ideally) fewer than six words, but often up to several sentences. The need to make those scenes real is left to simmer for as long as it needs, and I don't spend it on an outline.

I can't imagine the effort that goes into running an activity like this one and revising the assignments so they work well for the most people. I think the assignments are quite nicely balanced. Thank you so much for the huge amount of time you've put into making the prep such an amazing activity for writers!