My Writing Journey

February is here! While I did manage to finish the outline for my novel I also decided changes needed to be made. I have extended my time frame to finish the outline by a week. Hopefully by the time I write my next blog at the end of next week I will be ready to start writing. Writing an outline is fun but it is also easy to get carried away and it turns into a monster of sorts! In fact a friend told me that an outline is not a novel when it is finished. Maybe he knows something I don’t! I’m outlining two different time periods with two POV characters and possibly three, so with all those dates and interweaving of characters, events and time frames . . .
The beauty of an outline is that I can write any chapter in any order. In a notebook I write answers to my research, characters names, meanings of characters names, in fact anything that pops into my head relating to my novel. I always carry a notebook and pen/pencil with me wherever I go. I have several filled notebooks already on my desk although a quarter of what’s written in them will not be used. It’s a gathering process from which I winnow out what I will use in my story. I don’t research greatly before I start writing because I never know what I will need to research; why research shoes if your character doesn’t wear them? I do the usual things that most writers do: listen to music of the era, watch movies, read books and diaries. I find diaries are a very good source of information as are contemporary books from the era. As I mentioned earlier it’s fun! Have a good writing week and thanks to the people who have commented on my blog and are now following it, cheers Elise