# Fictional writing, do you outline or are you a SOPer?



## petite libellule (Jul 4, 2012)

I write a sentence (answer) to the question: what's the story about. IT's about ... and then I write a 2-3 sentence summary of it, elaborating on that sentence a little more. That's my outline. If it's non-fiction. I write the same (what is this about) and then I bullet point 3-5 points (the take away). Sometimes I struggle on fleshing it out, other times, I struggle on filling it in. Just depends on what I'm struggling with in my head and how distracted I am. I suppose it might not be traditional outlining but I find it perfect because I tend to need a little freedom for my creativity but I also very much need a sense of direction - or I don't really get anywhere.

this concept pretty much permeates my personality. I speculate that the way people outline or don't outline, how someone goes about accomplishing a story whether fiction or non, is reflective to how they're able to accomplish things outside of this skill. Discipline in one area applies to others ... so if you're the type to need traditional structure, then strict outlining would probably be of benefit. If you're someone like me, who just needs guidance, a summary/description type of lose outline might work. And other people need complete autonomy from the process and just write ... 

definitely no wrong or right way to go about it. definitely intriguing to read how people vary in their approach.


----------



## Himistu (May 24, 2014)

I prefer writing down ideas, lots of ideas, fleshing out characters and how they will change, what the plots are and how the plot twists fit together. It makes the stories interesting. However, once I write all these ideas out, I may get bored and never finish. And this happens because the idea is simply uninteresting - it's better to find out then rather than writing a bunch of junk you don't want to share anyways.
My best written story was one where I knew the general plot points and twists but didn't have the dialogue or exact details and transitions between scenes written out. It was an adventure for me as a writer but one where I had a still had a map.


----------

