To Write Or Not To WriteWritten by Mallory York
To Outline or Not To Outline? by Mallory York Ah, age-old writer's debate--to outline or not to outline? Outlines have proven quite effective for a lot of writers, and many of famous stories we know and love--such as Star Wars--were outlined before they were fleshed out into a living, breathing story. (Well, metaphorically living and breathing, anyway.) But many of stories that touched us most--like real-life experiences--simply happened, no outlining was needed. Some stories just come to you, while others need some refining before they're ready to be written. The question is, which one works best for you? I have always been a 'seat-of-the-pants' writer--that is, I've just sat down and written most of what I want to write, without any outlining or prior planning. However, on several occasions I have actually written detailed outlines and come up with very rewarding and satisfying pieces of writing for my efforts. Some people swear that they can't write a single sentence until they know what end is going to be. Other people--like me--are opposite. They can't write ending until they've written beginning. They have no idea how story will end when they type in that first sentence. Some people even write an outline for each scene, number them, put them in order and then write them in that order, without considering which to write first--ending, middle, or climax. For me, outlining in too much detail takes all of spontaneity out of writing. It makes me feel like I've already written whole story before when I sit down at keyboard to start typing. I know from experience that if I outline scene by scene, going through every hand motion and every eye motion and every tilt of head that my characters are making--it won't be as new and exciting when I'm doing actual writing. And I will get bored. Not being one to outline by trade, I sort of made up my own outlining style, and it is actually more of a summary than an outline. For example, I have a 36-page 'outline' for a novel I want to write. Every time I sat down to write on it--excited about finishing this story and getting it published--I would read first few lines of outline, try to start where I left off last time, and fail miserably. The outline was just too detailed--I felt that it took away all of freedom I have as a writer. So I thought it over, and decided that an outline was just a tool, and we all use tools differently. Now, if I have an outline at all, I consider it a "rough draft" of story, and so I can change things around if I decide it's better that way. But you're asking, "Do you mean that answer to 'to outline or not to outline' is not to?" Not at all! Outlining works for some people and it doesn't for others. I believe that everyone should write in whatever style works best for them. If you find yourself at a dead-end in your creativity (sometimes known better as 'writer's block') you might want to examine what an outline means to you.
| | In Praise of Personal PronounsWritten by Robert F. Abbott
Rudolph Flesch, a pioneering advocate of readability, put great stock in liveliness of written word.One way of getting that liveliness into our writing, he said, is to use personal pronouns: you, me, I, we, us, he, she, him, her, and they. When we use personal pronouns, several important things happen. For starters, we personalize our writing, and that makes it easier for readers to relate to subject. For example, which of following two sentences would be more effective? (1) The use of personal pronouns personalizes written communication. (2) When we use personal pronouns, we personalize our writing. I think you would agree that sentence 2, with several personal pronouns, is more lively and more likely to be understood. That sentence allows readers and listeners to relate to words; in other words, there's a personal connection. On other hand, first sentence is a collection of abstract concepts.
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