No Net

I’d mapped out a storyline for the sequel to First, but I’m now writing without a net. As sometimes happens, the story and characters take over and what I had planned at a very high level has kind of been pushed aside. Writers who work from an outline and plan the whole story would lose their grip on reality if they had to do what I’m doing right now. Like I mentioned last week, I’ve kind of lost track of time during my writing sessions and to me that’s a good sign. It means the story is flowing and ideas are, too. There’s nothing wrong with outlining and writing from that. I did a rough outline of bullet points I wanted to follow, but guess what? I’m not following them anymore. Given the multiple false starts with this story, it’s nice to be in the zone, so to speak. All that said, it’s not just fun and games. I already know I’m going to have to go back and change a few major plot points. The more I write, the more I’ll probably have to revise earlier in the book. That’s the danger of writing like this, but right now I wouldn’t trade it, not even for an outline.