Switched from plotting every detail to just writing the first scene and my output tripled

I spent 2 years outlining a fantasy novel with 14 pages of character bios and a 30 chapter timeline. Last month I just sat down and wrote chapter one with nothing but a vague idea of a guy finding a key in a drainage ditch outside Portland. I got 8,000 words done in a week. Has anyone else had more luck just writing blind instead of planning everything first?

3 comments

3 Comments

wilson.claire10d ago

You said you wrote "chapter one" but 8,000 words is more like three or four chapters for most novels. That's not just writing blind, that's writing fast and letting the story grow. The key detail is probably the real spark here, and your brain knew what to do once you gave it something to latch onto.

jenny_jackson10d ago

Honestly, "your brain knew what to do" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there Claire, my brain was basically a panicked goldfish throwing spaghetti at a wall. I hit 8,000 words just describing the door handle because I couldn't figure out how to get my character inside. So yeah, "let the story grow" is a very kind way of saying I accidentally wrote a novella about someone's front porch.

the_seth10d ago

Yeah exactly, momentum does half the work once you get rolling.