Wanted Assailant Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Are you NOP (Non-Outline People) or OP(Outline People)? NOPs are the writers who have no possible pre-planned data for their funsy tales. They just frolic through the beautiful meadow and jot down the down the characters and plot that sprouts in their mind. OPs are the writers who set out an outline plot with much specifications. Reworking plot patterns until it sees fit, making sure the storyline is directed the way it should. There's both positives and negatives in these types of writers. An OP can build a soldily structured plot, but will not most likely have the freshness annd spontaneity the NOPs are known for. An OP fights his characters and images, chaining and torturing them until they go into a right submission. Although, they might veer off taste that would would make his plot original. NOPs have the gift of being joyful along the way with the showering of water over their heads, but they might be stomached from the fact that some brilliant archs might be scattered along a confused building of plots. I'd have to be an OP through the first quarter of the piece, but mostly after all of it, I'm a NOP inevitably throughout. Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxidizer Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 I'm a NOP unless I've got writer's block and then I'm a OP while I'm waiting for the block to clear. In a way, it's a lot better to wait and take your time with something (just not as much time as me ), because then you get a really solid story. Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058902113 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochie_old Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 NOP all the way, I feel that when I plan things they don't work out the way I want them too. Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058902163 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyZimmzy Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 OP. I plan, and plan, and plan. I plan. Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058902174 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omnia sunt Communia Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 I spend too much time planning, and not enough time writing. Can you guess which I am? Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058902179 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 It all depends on what I'm writing. If it's a serious piece, I'll be an OP, but if it's just for fun, NOP. Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058902445 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vercetti21 Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 OP, for the most part. I like to know where my writing is going rather than just working out of the blue. Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058902479 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Branston Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 I never outline. Which would come as no surprise to anyone who looks at my fanfiction writing history. Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058902546 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxidizer Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I'm a NOP unless I've got writer's block and then I'm a OP while I'm waiting for the block to clear. In a way, it's a lot better to wait and take your time with something (just not as much time as me ), because then you get a really solid story. This little problem just got me a new symbolic character for AM, which I am so glad for. Now, for the love of god, let me write this thing! Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058906376 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canofceleri Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I used to outline pretty intensely, scene by scene. I don't anymore, but I certainly have the story in my head pretty much from start to finish. Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058907615 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhoda Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I try to write at least a summary for my writing, because I find if I'm too anal regarding my plots, narratives and chapters, I get bored and complacent very easily. I assume the audience knows as much as I do, and therefore consider it boring when it's bound to seem monotonous to me after months of planning. To you, the audience, it's going to sound brand new and fresh (not blowing my own bugle here, but I mean brand new and fresh in the sense that you haven't seen it yet) but that's an obstacle I have to face. Then again, if I write spotaneously, I dry up, and then desperate clutch at straws to find a satisfying ending and maybe even "the stuff that goes in the middle" if I'm doing really badly. I'm fighting this however by not planning too rigidly. In 2009, I hope to build up quite the portfolio of novellas and short stories, and I'll be doing this through rough outline sketches of ideas, consisting of beginning, middle and end. Hopefully this will give me enough incentive to write and keep myself entertained without drying up. Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058911327 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaghetti Cat Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Nice Topic...maybe it should be a poll? I tend to paint in broad ideas at first. There maybe a specific idea that starts the snowball down the hill, but I tend to chew on that idea in my head like a tough piece of gristle. Plot and theme can come to me pretty quick. Characters and dialog usually take a bit of work. Once it starts to take rough shape, I can then find something that ties it all together. Usually for me that event is stress, either finical or GF (or both) that will trigger something. Then it's like a sponge filled with water, everything comes flowing out. First-draft's are never pretty, but if I can get a structure and rhythm going then i can hang the layers of character development on top of it. So I guess rough OP in my head and then NOP in practice, but by then its natural. BTW 1st post in the Writers' Discussion forum woot! Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058928069 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan. Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 NOP, all the way. I love being spontaneous, although I want to be an OP. Weird. Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058930461 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Struff Bunstridge Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 NOP, definitely. Great for writing short stories, as it can be quite easy for me to get bogged down in details if I try and plan it too much. Not so good, however, for my only effort at a longer piece so far, The Diary, which stuttered and stopped due to lack of forethought. Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058933192 Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeperRed Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 I have a a basic plot in my head i.e. where it begins and where it ends But the journey there is unplanned as is the dvelopment of the character. I feel its more creative to do it that way Link to comment https://gtaforums.com/topic/393779-to-outline-or-not-to-outline/#findComment-1058954534 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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