Dept. of Almost
May. 14th, 2026 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaffy_rOutlines: Threat or Menace?
Today, I took a walk to my local hipster coffee shop (any coffee shop within walking distance apparently falls under that designation, I suppose, but this was the one closest to me), armed with nothing but my phone and a yellow notepad. And in between drinking a passable cup of coffee with a reasonable amount of oatmilk and some fake sugar, wrestling with my phone, I actually got to work on an outline for the story I've already written more than 50,000 words in.
My type of outline, which is my outline. I want my outline, Nurse Ratched -
Pay no attention to that.
It doesn't look like a classic outline of any type, more like "and then this happens, and then this happens." But I did preface it by asking two questions: What are my characters' goals? And, more importantly, what is my goal? With those two questions asked and answered, I felt a little more sure of where I want the story to go.
Yes, I wrote a novel's worth of words with nary an idea of what the hell it was doing or where it was going. Moving on ....
I still have some more outlining to do, but I declare my time at the hipster coffee shop a success.
Regarding the coffee shop, I got a kick out of the fact that the music they had playing was the best of 1980s new wave. If they didn't know it was roughly 40 years old - frankly, if they did know and were being all hipster retro - all I could think was "They are such children." Heh.
And with that, it's time to retire, but not before I wishthisbluespirit a belated happy birthday. I hope it went well.
Today, I took a walk to my local hipster coffee shop (any coffee shop within walking distance apparently falls under that designation, I suppose, but this was the one closest to me), armed with nothing but my phone and a yellow notepad. And in between drinking a passable cup of coffee with a reasonable amount of oatmilk and some fake sugar, wrestling with my phone, I actually got to work on an outline for the story I've already written more than 50,000 words in.
My type of outline, which is my outline. I want my outline, Nurse Ratched -
Pay no attention to that.
It doesn't look like a classic outline of any type, more like "and then this happens, and then this happens." But I did preface it by asking two questions: What are my characters' goals? And, more importantly, what is my goal? With those two questions asked and answered, I felt a little more sure of where I want the story to go.
Yes, I wrote a novel's worth of words with nary an idea of what the hell it was doing or where it was going. Moving on ....
I still have some more outlining to do, but I declare my time at the hipster coffee shop a success.
Regarding the coffee shop, I got a kick out of the fact that the music they had playing was the best of 1980s new wave. If they didn't know it was roughly 40 years old - frankly, if they did know and were being all hipster retro - all I could think was "They are such children." Heh.
And with that, it's time to retire, but not before I wish
thisbluespirit a belated happy birthday. I hope it went well. 
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