So, one day you’re going along your business when BOOM! It hits you: a great idea for a story! Awesome! Full of excitement, you launch right in, with tons of momentum behind you. Entire chapters fly from your fingertips!

…then, about 50 pages down the line, it all peters out. The motivation goes away. Ideas dry up. You’d rather barf than return to that hideous thing. What were you thinking?

Your work in progress gets deleted, or shoved aside for “later.” (Which in all likelihood means “never.”)

This happens with your next story idea too. Then the next one. What the hell is wrong with me? you might ask. Why can’t I finish anything?

The thing is, that initial spark of an idea is usually insufficient to get a whole story written, especially a long one. That’s because there’s a big difference between having a cool idea and having a full story mapped out from beginning to end.

If you keep petering out on stories, then maybe you’re just not a seat-of-the-pants type writer (also known as “pantser”). Maybe you should open your heart to the idea of outlining first, writing second.

Outlining is about defining the full sequence of events in the story. You’ll start very basic, then gradually get more specific, always asking yourself, “What happens next?” and “How will my characters react and respond?”

When you’re done, you’ll have full chapters and scenes defined. This is the roadmap you’ve been needing to guide you all the way through your writing journey.

Granted, the specifics are the real bitch. You know your hero saves the day, but for the love of Pete, how? It’ll take a lot of thought, possibly some hair-pulling. But, if you can map all that out- along with all your character-related planning- the actual writing part becomes (relatively) easy. You’ll know what to write, and just have to worry about good implementation.

That’s not to say that surprises don’t happen during drafting. You’ll constantly have better ideas and new takes on things. That’s great, roll with it! Don’t fight it- even if it means (gasp!) retooling your original outline.

Now that you have an outline and notes on character baselines, arcs, and relationships, you’re totally ready to go, right? Nope! Worldbuilding! Where’s the worldbuilding…?