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'm so invested in her. I'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'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've also been watching, rewatching and taking notes on outlining and character creation videos by youtubers Sarra Cannon (Heartbreatings) and Abbie Emmons.

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

my own creative process. Nothing is set in stone and that's okay. For now, I'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's going to be a series, so there's an overarching plot and-

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

Atm I'm a bit of in a blackout of ideas for my outline. So I'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'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'm just enjoying watching my project morph into its own enigma. It's a wonderful thing, breathing a world into life.

Quick accountability tweet

Outlining Progress (May 2020):
- One page summary of my series' plot
- Foundational beats for 3 MCs' overarching storyline
- Foundational beats for book 1
- Foundational beats for MC#1 (Huanayla)'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's book 1 arc
- Hekkin finish that book im reading

(Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon bec i love dragons)

baby steps

So a lot of changes happened since the last post in this thread. I completely recalibrated my plans for this project. I've found that I'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'll focus on building only one and really polish that character arc. I've done all of the planning (that I need), and I'm very happy to say that this late august, I finally transitioned to the drafting stage of the writing process

It wasn't an easy decision to make because I did love all my other MCs, but as I said, I'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'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's subject to change.

In the end, a book is a book. If I plan and plan and not write the words, I won't finish it.

So ig what I'm doing is instead of letting the outline lead the writing, I'm letting the writing trace the outline - like inking a pencil sketch. It won'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't it?

I have no idea how to close this sappy update

But for accountability, here are my drafting goals

Estimated word count: 75,000

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

I'll be tweeting word count updates every other week on this thread

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