The scariest moment is always just before you start. — Stephen King
Although I’m not finished with planning yet, today I just had the urge to start writing my first draft. The first scene was in my head, just desperate to be poured out into words. Of course, I had my idea for the first scene down in my outline, but when I started writing, I kind of just went with the flow. The plot is still the same, the foundation of the scene is still the same, but the details are slightly different.
I like the possibility that my story can change and outgrow the outline as I write. Further down the line it might make me have to revise the rest of the plot, but I can appreciate that exploring outside of the plan can bring about a better story. I won’t shackle myself to the original idea if new and improved ideas strike.
It’s also been a good opportunity to experiment with voice. Writing in first person, I wanted to try out a couple of different ways I could voice the protagonist. First, I tried sarcastic and humorous, which suited her character. However, taking into consideration that she has been through a lot of loss and trauma over the past couple of years, I thought her emotional state would somewhat cloud her character. Therefore, I tried a darker tone, slightly more sombre. I’m going to have to give this a bit more toying with.
I am super excited that I have actually started writing my novel, but I don’t know if writing whilst still planning is a good idea. I guess we’ll see.
