Novel building and rocket launching: both end in explosions.
Those of you who follow me on Twitter* may have noticed, interspersed with the power ballad lyrics and coffee adventures, that I was outlining again last week. Not a new project; just fine-tuning some of the details for the end of the current project.
You see, I have passed the halfway point on this novel, which means it’s time to start planning for the end.
I set a goal to have the manuscript done by July 1st. That gives me just a scooch over two months to type The End and mean it. Do-able, certainly. But not without a plan.
I knew, roughly, where I had to go when I started, but then I had to go back, look at all the threads I’d developed, and figure out where to tie them off. It’s time to start resolving things. But what, and in what order, and how…I had only the roughest idea when I started.
Time to plan it out now.
The result of that second-stage outline is that I now have a solid plan for the rest of the book and I can estimate how many more words it will take to get us there. I usually tack on an extra 10,000 words to that estimate, because sometimes things come up in the end that I get all excited about and it takes longer to get through them than I think. Divide that by the number of weeks I have left, and the number of days I usually write out of those weeks**, and I arrive at a daily word count that I need to hit to make that goal.
It’s about 2000 words a day. Which is well within my ability.
Having a plan of attack for the second stage of novel writing serves two purposes. One, there is far less wondering what the fuck do I write today when I get to the computer in the morning. The longer I spend thinking about that, the less I get done, and the further behind I get. Which, if I want to hit my deadline, is another source of worry.
And two, it gives me time to plan a kick-ass party for when I finish. I’m thinking BBQ. Because summer should be here by then. Maybe.
Does anyone else do this? Who out there does second-stage outlining? Or do you know how everything goes when you start? Or, hell, do you just wing it? TELL ME YOUR SECRETS.
*Your poor bastards.
**Usually five out of seven, for what it’s worth. I take Saturdays off and Sundays are for minor edits and planning out the rest of the week.
Bare Knuckle Writer 
Sounds like a great plan to me. I’ve outlined the first 30 or so chapters of my work in progress and have a sketch of where the novel is going from there, but know I have more work to do with my second half outline as well. So sounds like we are on the same track.
I just finished my first novel and just polishing it up for sending to publishers. Wish me luck! As a first-time novelist and a nobody, I have gone through many drafts and many outlines. I can almost say it is a safe bet to say I may struggle through the next one just as much. No matter which way you look at it, it is still a long, hard road. My outline started out as smaller and vague with many additions and changes but for me, an outline is necessary, to keep those thoughts together.
For me, it is the only track.