A lot of people view outlines as rigid, immovable objects that restrict their creative freedom or something to be afraid of. I take a much more fluid view of them. In my mind an outline is how things fit together, at the moment. They can and do change constantly whenever they need to, and that’s ok. Making changes to an existing outline has its limits though. Sometimes you need to just start a fresh outline from scratch so you can focus on picking out the good pieces from the previous version and adding in the new stuff without all the old stuff cluttering the space around it. That’s ok too. You know more now about your story now than you did when you started your previous outline. As you find out more about your story, your outline should change to reflect that new knowledge. This can be anything from adding or changing characters and events to a reordering of chapters. Each time you get closer to the final version.
Continue readingCategory Archives: The Gray Shift
Outline Update & The Perils of Writing Near Future Satire
It’s been a while since my last update. In the last 9 months (eek!) a lot of things came up but I have made some slow progress despite the pandemic making a mess of everything.
Continue readingNanowrimo 2019 Recap
As of 5pm today I stopped writing so it’s time to go over the totals from this year’s Nanowrimo. While I certainly didn’t start and finish a novel, I actually got a lot done this past month, including writing every day! Here are the totals: Continue reading
Halfway Through Nanowrimo 2019
This year I decided to do a modified Nanowrimo and focus on outlining my next book with goal being to have no 0 word count days. 15 days in and I’ve managed to keep that streak alive! My totals so far are below:
The Gray Shift: Outline in Progress
After a long break I’m finally back to writing somewhat consistently, getting at least one day per week where I get stuff done. Right now I’m about 75% through the high-level outline for my next book The Gray Shift. I thought it would be fun to share how I’m trying to outline this book. Continue reading
Another Year Another Book: The Gray Shift Plan v1
Well it’s new years resolution time and what better way to kick off the new year than to start on a new book. I haven’t really done much writing wise since I stopped running the Facebook Ads for Full Coverage. My goal this year is to self publish at least one more book. Sorry this won’t be a sequel to Full Coverage (though I am collecting ideas for that right now and if all goes to plan that will be the 4th book I self publish), but this will instead be something completely different. I haven’t quite nailed down the tone I want yet but it will be called The Gray Shift and will be a Dr. Strangelove meets 24 dark satirical thriller sort of thing. It’s always tricky explaining how the various bits of my books come together (Well, you see there’s assassins and bioprinting and health insurance and they all go together in a way that makes sense. Wait, where are you going?) especially when I haven’t even finished the outline yet. Continue reading
Books by Tom Reeve 