I can't seem to follow my own outline. Does anyone else experience this?

Well I think you’re both very lucky to have that kind of ability. Even when I was writing I never topped 1,000 WaD. Most days resulted in a few hundred and some days a big fat zilch.

 

Forgive my romantic nature, but it really is. You just know when it's right. In fact, I'm borrowing your simile to explain it to people.
Using the same metaphor, keep at it until you find the manuscript you're in love with.

 

I can't tell you how you know that something is done... At some point I just notice that any change would either be so major I might as well write another story or so minor they're inconsequential - and so, not necessary

However, I do have a monstrous ill plotted mess of a story that I regularly come back to to try and finish it (it never works). At this point it has strata, you could probably identify what was written when lol. I don't really intend on fixing it by now, I go back to it for a while, and the actual good ideas that came up get distilled into my current WIP. It's like a place where I can experiment with themes and character interaction with these characters I know super well...

I guess my point is that finishing the story isn't the goal, finishing *a* story is the goal. Pick one. Accept that it's not going to be perfect. Finish it, then move on. Cringing at all the shortcomings of your previous work is a *good* thing actually, it means you're getting better.

Maybe if you feel like doing a complete overhaul it means the story as it is is *done* and you can either edit for style and clutter removal, or leave it as it is and use the new idea in your next work...

Edit : better, more detailed, conclusion

 

My outline started with one of 5 characters being a hidden psychotic, the root cause of all their problems, and although not the MC, most certainly the most integral character in the story.

Its final draft ended as a bit part love story, with the psychotic bloke barely a bit part player, and perfectly level headed.

I gave new life to dead characters, hell, I even made the world live again when for 2 years of planning it was dead, but it fit the story I realised I was going end up with.

My point is never ever set out an outline and ridgedly stick to it. You will end up trying to shoe horn it all together when it just doesn't work, and if you are to complete it, possibly cutting g over 60% of the draft out completely like I did. Very harsh lesson

 

I used to divert very often from my outlines. Then I found a new technique which worked for me. It was the following, although the titles probably have some flaws.

Summery: Maybe half a page or so.

Example: Mike came to the kitchend and eats a sandwich.

Outline: Write up with some more details.

Example: Mike walked down the stairs and enter the kitchen. He walked to the fridge and grabs the sandwich and starts to eat it.

Text form: Start to essentially write the final text for the story or part of this story.

Example: The stairs creeked as a yawning Mike came down in his pajamas. He went straight towards the kitchen under the guidence of his growling belly...

You probably get the idea for this develops. I find that this has helped me a great deal to follow the outline and prevent me from diverting away from my original idea. I don't know if it will help anyone else but having several steps to expand the story between the first summery/outline and the final text certainly helps me.

 

Hi,

It seems to me that your problem isn't following your outline. I have that problem - or I did the one time I tried to follow one. I'm about as pure an example of pansterism as you can get (discovery writing as people here want to call it - not doubt it sounds better!). The one time I tried I wrote a ten page plot and I was so impressed I began writing the book. By the end of the first page I'd wandered off the outline so far I had to completely rewrite the outline / plot to match. Then I carried on - and you guessed it, another page into the work, I was off track again and had to do a complete rewrite of the plot. It was in short, a disaster. I cannot write to a plot for love nor money. But this isn't your problem from what I can see.

To my mind you just aren't settling down to finish a story. You can't complete. You just keep having ideas and then changing things and having to rewrite. That's not a plotting versus pantsting problem - that's a discipline problem. At some point you just have to knuckle down, accept your first draft, then start editing. Ignore the brand new ideas floating around in your head - it's too late for them - and just bite the bullet. Or alternatively accept that you are never going to complete your story, you're just going to keep doing this forever and hopefully enjoy the writing process.

I'm not sure that anyone here can help you make that decision. It's yours and yours alone. But you do have to make it. Otherwise you're just going to keep torturing yourself. So all I can suggest is that you go back to the basics and ask yourself - which do you want to be? Do you want to be a published author or do you just want to write for the pleasure of it and give up on that dream. Both choices are equally valid by the way. The only problem you have is that you can't seem to decide. And I have a horrible fear that whichever choice you make you're going to be unhappy. Either you're going to publish and then spend ages thinking - I should have written it this way. Or you're going to just keep rewriting and torturing yourself with the thought that you should be publishing it.

Sorry if this seems harsh. But it's one of the tussles many authors have to deal with. And the only thought I can add is that often - not always - the decision isn't about finishing the work at all. It's about fear. I don't know if this is you, but a great many authors can't finish their books, simply because they're afraid of actually putting it out there for others to read and criticize. And that is a very scary thing as probably all those of us who have published, know.

Cheers, Greg.

 

I have to admit, you have good insight. I am a person afflicted with self-doubt (maybe that turns into fear) a lot of the times. I am working on that, as I know it doesn't do anyone any good.

Although, since I've posted this, I've already decided to stick with my original ideas, and allow myself to make minor changes along the way - changes that add to the already established plot, at least. I have figured out a method that works for me: I write out the parts I want to change (but don't overwrite anything I currently have), and make myself wait a day or two, then read both of the possible parts and see which one I prefer. I think by writing it out, my brain can let it go, and I'm ok with deleting either the previously written part, or the newer alternative, but I force myself to choose one and not to look back. I've also realized that this all stems from my putting all this pressure on myself, and I have finally accepted the fact that my skills are in no-way up to par with a "best-selling author", and yet I'm still going to publish. I've seen books that I read (not on best-seller lists) that I loved, and they still get the occasional poor review. On the other hand, I have read books from best-selling authors and have abhorred them. Thus, I am learning to accept that not everyone will like my story, and I have to be ok with that. If I make any money off it, it will just be a bonus. I just need to get it out there (when it's ready) so that my brain can finally move on to another story.