Young Writers Society

I'm re-writing my first attempt at a first time novel. I have planned out the first 3 chapters...but I don't know whether I should carry on with the outline, or just start writing? What is the most common advice for this issue?

Carry on with the outline. I had the same problem, and I advise you to have a basic outline before you start writing. That way, even if you write and you go of course a bit, you still have a reference point or an event that the new changes will lead up to.

Depends on your writing style.

In my case, for the first draft I'm almost entirely spontaneous. I'll have a basic concept, some characters, or a world when I'm starting out, and I just write to see what happens. I've tried writing first drafts with outlines in the past, but it's never worked for me. With outlines, I already know what's going to happen and when, so what's the point of writing the story out?

However, I find outlines invaluable in later drafts. After the first draft is complete, I'll make a rough outline of the story. Depending on how long the work is, I'll have outlines for each scene or chapter. Then, based on that first outline, I'll see if I can reshuffle ideas so they flow better, move events around or combine them so they make more sense, and see if I can take out/add various things. I'll usually take out more than I add in. Then comes the rewriting, using the outline as a rough guide.

I repeat this process for several drafts until I'm finally satisfied with the story.

Having an outline is good because it helps you keep track of what events occur when, and it also helps you keep track of changes you make. It's very interesting to compare your first outline to your last, and you can learn a lot about how you write by comparing the differences.

You can write the outline as you go, or you can finish it first before you start rewriting. There are some advantages to writing the outline first, like being able to see the whole plot and how it works in one spot, but there are also advantages to writing the outline as you go, like being less likely to lose interest in the project.

Which way I go depends on the story; I say go with the way that feels right for you and for this story.