Screw it! I was going to wait until my story was fully polished and looked completely perfect, but I need to know what others think of my writings.
I miss getting comments and I miss having people tell me what they like or dislike from my stories. More importantly I miss having fun.
However, I want to post my story as I write it then plot and outline.
My question(s) to you all is a ridiculous one: Would make more sense to plot and outline before I start and post the story? Can I try plotting and outlining as I write and post my story?
What are your thoughts? I think the kicker is realizing that once I do post my story, I can’t quit halfway and get tired of it like most writers who post their work online.
Maybe this will help me out greatly.
I love my writing and yes it can use some major work and TLC, but I love it regardless of what anyone thinks. I just want to share what I love with people who could feel strongly about it as well.
I usually plot and outline as I write my stories. I find it more dynamic and easy to work with, personally.
However, I’ve found that this causes me to have to backtrack and change things because my plot train gets knocked off it’s tracks and old foreshadowing, etc, no longer works. This has always caused issues when I uploaded as I was still writing my story. Even with my current book on Wattpad, I ended up having to go back and scrap an entire chapter, and when I did and posted a notice about it, I lost 2 of my 3 readers lol. So definitely risky to do, especially if you’re someone who goes off track regularly like me!
After that experience, I’m still plotting and outlining as I write, but I’m waiting until the whole book is finished before I start uploading because it feels safer to me.
For me, I don’t think I can wait till the book is done.
I need to have other people see what I wrote and know that it is fine even if I think it is pure garbage that can possibly be turned into treasure. Even if they don’t like it, I can at least ask them to tell me what I did wrong and how I can fix it in the edits. Unless they are trollish assholes or something along those lines.
I completely feel that! I’m lucky to have writing buddies who will read the story on google docs as I work on it ahaha. We have this “party doc” where we all work on our stories on it together, usually at the same time but on different pages. That’s honestly how I get away with not posting it on Wattpad until it’s done. It’s so nice to have that little support group. So I completely get it if you want to go ahead and post for that community feeling. It’s definitely worth it. But it will have some risks involved if you plan as you go, rather than planning before you start.
Unless I do schedule for my writing. Four days of plotting and outlining the novel then three days of writing and posting the story’s chapters or vice versa.
Sounds weird done in this manner and a bit of a hassle, but I have to make some type of change.
I don’t think it sounds like a weird schedule! I think I would personally do 3 days of plotting and 4 days of writing, but I’m a 300-600 words a day kind of person, so I would need more writing time throughout the week. But on the other hand, with only 3 days to write, the deadline could be motivating when you’re not feeling the story!
I am going to see what I can do with the novel. I will still keep the idea of posting my story online.
I am going to post on FictionPress. I refuse to go back to Wattpad.
Frankly, I think most writers are pantsers, so there’s no need to outline at all if you don’t like that process. By trial and error you’ll figure out what works for you. Good luck, whatever you do! ／(=＾ェ＾=)＼
Oh gosh I haven’t used FictionPress in years! I transitioned to Wattpad back when it was actually good (like 10 years ago now lol) and I’ve had such a hard time switching to a different platform since. This probably isn’t the thread to ask, so I won’t go off topic too much and ask why you prefer it ahaha. I feel like I’ve already gone too off topic
I think it depends on what your writing style is. If you prefer plotting before, plot before. If you prefer doing it as you go, do it as you go.
For me, I need to have an outline before I start, and then I keep changing it as the story changes. But I also no longer post my work anywhere, so that is one thing to consider.
Yup! Plansters do exist! I think I’m one, too, because I usually only outline the bare basics of the book and then jump into writing. My characters are all discovery-written, and my worlds are also usually discovery written, too.
That’s kind of how I’m writing mine right now. I have a general idea of what I want to happen but I’ve mostly been planning in chunks as I go. Every time I hit a milestone on my high level general plan (like shift into act 2, midpoint, ect.) I stop writing and set some time aside to plan the next chunk in more detail.
It’s worth trying out and tweaking it as you go along if you need to.