Thread by @LClaireRuiz, Last January, I had no concrete idea who my MC was and [...]

Last January, I had no concrete idea who my MC was and why I& #39;m so invested in her. I& #39;m proud to report that not only have I fixed that, but I have also drafted an over arc for her spanning 3-4 books. I& #39;m currently self-studying craft. By May 1st, I should be ready to plot book 1.

Updating just to give myself a sense of accomplishment. Since I posted the og tweet, I have been able to study the following books:
- Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
- Creating Character Arcs by K.M. Weiland
- Super Structure by James Scott Bell

I& #39;ve also been watching, rewatching and taking notes on outlining and character creation videos by youtubers Sarra Cannon (Heartbreatings) and Abbie Emmons.

I& #39;ve found a structure that I want to try to follow, but of course, I& #39;m still dipping my toes and trying to find-

my own creative process. Nothing is set in stone and that& #39;s okay. For now, I& #39;m giving myself until the end of August to figure out the foundational beats of this story I want to bring to life. I know that it& #39;s going to be a series, so there& #39;s an overarching plot and-

then there are the individual book plots to worry about. Lots of work to do.

Atm I& #39;m a bit of in a blackout of ideas for my outline. So I& #39;m trying to type away my first few chapters to see what works. Maybe the creative block is also caused by my recent-

reading slump, so I& #39;m also trying to get back into habit. Lots have changed since I gave myself one year to write my first draft from scratch. I can barely recognize my MC (I literally gave her a new name!).

Right now I& #39;m just enjoying watching my project morph into its own enigma. It& #39;s a wonderful thing, breathing a world into life.

Quick accountability tweet

Outlining Progress (May 2020):
- One page summary of my series& #39; plot
- Foundational beats for 3 MCs& #39; overarching storyline
- Foundational beats for book 1
- Foundational beats for MC #1 (Huanayla)& #39;s book 1 arc

#WritersLog #WritingCommunity
#amwriting

Also, I dabbled a bit in early may. That one had 3,197 words.

June Goals:
- Finish profiling MC #2 & 3
- Foundational beats for MC #2& #39;s book 1 arc
- Hekkin finish that book im reading

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😅" title="Lächelndes Gesicht mit offenem Mund und Angstschweiß" aria-label="Emoji: Lächelndes Gesicht mit offenem Mund und Angstschweiß"> (Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon bec i love dragons)

baby steps

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So a lot of changes happened since the last post in this thread. I completely recalibrated my plans for this project. I& #39;ve found that I& #39;m an intuitive writer and I get lots of ideas as I sit down to write, so instead of getting obsessed with plans and trying to juggle...

multiple MCs in my first book, I& #39;ll focus on building only one and really polish that character arc. I& #39;ve done all of the planning (that I need), and I& #39;m very happy to say that this late august, I finally transitioned to the drafting stage of the writing process

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🥳" title="Partying face" aria-label="Emoji: Partying face">

It wasn& #39;t an easy decision to make because I did love all my other MCs, but as I said, I& #39;m an intuitive writer, so what happened is I would plan to the detail and then when I get immersed in the world as I write, the story changes and a lot of the minute details don& #39;t fit anymore

While I still need an outline to work, I can only tie myself down to the major story beats, and even then, that outline would still be a working outline that& #39;s subject to change.

In the end, a book is a book. If I plan and plan and not write the words, I won& #39;t finish it.

So ig what I& #39;m doing is instead of letting the outline lead the writing, I& #39;m letting the writing trace the outline - like inking a pencil sketch. It won& #39;t be a perfect copy and it might even take a life of its own, but the inked drawing is the one that you really love, isn& #39;t it?

I have no idea how to close this sappy update

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😅" title="Lächelndes Gesicht mit offenem Mund und Angstschweiß" aria-label="Emoji: Lächelndes Gesicht mit offenem Mund und Angstschweiß">

But for accountability, here are my drafting goals

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🏆" title="Trophäe" aria-label="Emoji: Trophäe">
Estimated word count: 75,000

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Min words/day: 500
Target deadline: April 30, 2021

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙏" title="Folded hands" aria-label="Emoji: Folded hands">

I& #39;ll be tweeting word count updates every other week on this thread

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