Outlining from a Pantser's Perspective

 I am a pantser, someone who writes by the seat of their pants. It's how I live life, and if I'm honest, I'm happy with that. But when I was writing my first book, I was struggling to get it finished. I would jump around from chapter to chapter, making little to no progress. After researching how to publish a book, one thing stood out to me above all the information that I had found. Start with an outline! Today's episode talks about outlining form a pantser's perspective.

When I started writing, I would have scoffed at the idea of doing an outline. I used to think that any planning would stop me from being creative. Outlining was something to be avoided. But after years of fruitless effort, I needed to try something new, and it changed my perspective.

Now, as I work on writing my first fiction book, I am actively considering using different outlining methods. In this episode, I give a brief overview of three of them that I am considering. The first is the snowflake outlining method created by Randy Ingermanson. The second is called outlining in reverse, where you start with the end of your book and work backwards. The final way is the classic three acts structure. While I highlight these three methods in the episode, they are far from the only one's out there. If none of these work for you do some research on outlining methods to find one that suits your style.

03:08 First start with an outline.
04:25 I thought having a plan would stop me from being creative.
06:39 Use outline methods as a simple framework to help you plan your book.

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