Dr. Frankanstein Shoulda Outlined

I have a great story concept.

The MC has an unsolvable dilemma. And the story is about his (failed, because my MCs never win) attempt to solve it.

And, back in the dark old days of February or so, I would go straight from my rough 10-beat outline to the page.

But I've done that before, and destroyed a book. In that manuscript, I wondered all over the place until the whole thing collapsed around word 30,000. Writing it was like playing one of those arcade/Chuckie Cheese games where you steer the car all over the road, running it everyplace to collect more tickets (in my case, words).

It was fun at the time.... until it crashed and went KABLOOIE. Then, it felt horrible.

As for the novel I'm polishing now: I'd written another manuscript (over the course of eight months!) that turned out to be the chrysalis for a kick-ass outline.

I had to throw that manuscript away... but three months later, I'd turned the outline I'd built from its ashes into (ta-DA!) a(nother) solid rough draft.

Still, even this manuscript required a lot of revisions. The pacing especially was a *BITCH*.

So, I've tried:

1. SEAT OF THE PANTS, NO CONCEPT (novel manuscript 1- finished eventually, but it was horrible/unreadable) *FAIL*

2. SEAT OF THE PANTS, BUT GOOD CONCEPT (feature script 1- the parts I've got are awesome, but I've only written 30/100 pages... and not for lack of trying) *FAIL*

3. ROUGH OUTLINE, GOOD CONCEPT (novel manuscript 2- couldn't finish. The structure fell apart, and frankly, the writing wasn't any great shakes either) *FAIL*

4. STRONG OUTLINE, GOOD CONCEPT... but NO RESEARCH (novel manuscript 3- finished, and it's pretty good. It's taken a loooooooooooong time to get here, though).

5. STRONG OUTLINE, GOOD CONCEPT, LOTS OF RESEARCH (tv script 1- finished, and it's also pretty good. There are structural polishes I still need to take care of, but I did so much pre-writing that the script came out fast, and re-writing was a breeze. Well, more like a gust. But not the gale-force sh*t of novel manuscript 3).

SO-- I know what works for me:

1. Strong CONCEPT (CHECK)
2. CHARACTERS. Their backgrounds, motives, and goals
3. FIVE ACT rough outline

I. Inciting incident/Problem
II. Easy Solution (fails)
III. Life is HORRIBLE
IV. MC realizes what needs to be done
V. S/he does it!

4. BEAT SHEET/OUTLINE. Roughly comes out to: 1 beat/1K words
5. Polish the outline! I know that polishing an outline sounds rediculous, but in my experience, if the outline is solid, the draft will come easy, and the rewrites even easier. If you're *absolutely* sure your plot twists are shocking/fun/exciting/the best you could possibly do, it leads to--

A FAST AND EASY FIRST DRAFT!

My goal is to be able to concentrate on line-editing in the *second* draft, instead of having to tear the rough draft apart and sew it together...

I think this process will lead to a more streamlined, cohesive, and coherent final product, as well as saving time and stress.

Re: this new novel manuscript, I'm figuring out the characters (early days, I know). Well, I'll keep ya updated. :)