further rambles on outlining
Feb. 3rd, 2009 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliWas working on an outline and pondering the process. . . .
Another thing an English teacher would not approve of in my outlines is -- you know how you are supposed to put things of equivalent importance on the same level? Forget it. Sometimes I write down the details of a dialog exchange, or even a perfect, gemlike line of dialog. Sometimes a scene gets a sentence.
Leads to one less than pleasant consequence: I can't estimate how long a story is based on how long an outline is, except in the loosest terms. A novel outline is longer than a short story one, but I can't really tell how long a short story will be, based on its outline. Or worse, whether it will fall in the Unpublishable Void of lengths, when you can't sell it as a short and can't sell it as novel, and no matter how gem-like in perfection it is, it's not going to get out.
Another thing an English teacher would not approve of in my outlines is -- you know how you are supposed to put things of equivalent importance on the same level? Forget it. Sometimes I write down the details of a dialog exchange, or even a perfect, gemlike line of dialog. Sometimes a scene gets a sentence.
Leads to one less than pleasant consequence: I can't estimate how long a story is based on how long an outline is, except in the loosest terms. A novel outline is longer than a short story one, but I can't really tell how long a short story will be, based on its outline. Or worse, whether it will fall in the Unpublishable Void of lengths, when you can't sell it as a short and can't sell it as novel, and no matter how gem-like in perfection it is, it's not going to get out.