One thing that may help you is a time line. It can help with character ages as well. Finding out what age they will be at a certain point. You don't necessarily need to describe everybody's age, but for you as a writer, it can be helpful. A time line can tell you the basics of what is happening at what point, and it can limit plot holes and confusion in some cases. The time line may go back to the birth of your main character, or further back. I find this stuff invaluable. It may not work for everybody, and very little of it would ever get into the story, but it gives me a good reference point when I am writing or plotting and planning. How detailed you do it is up to you. I only really use years - unless it's to do with pregnancy/birth times, then I need to go into months.
I especially agree about the time line. In my main series, I have extensive time lines. I have a "broad" timeline that goes back 30 billion years and lists major events (cataclysms, extinctions, superwars, big bangs, risings of gods, etc) and then each story's location is placed on it.
Then my series inside the series have their own timelines detailing what is going on throughout the series (both known and unknown).
(By "series inside the series", I mean to say that my current main WIP is a multiverse on the order of Star Wars, WoW, Dragonlance, etc. There is a "main series" inside this multiverse, and then there are side series, prequel series, world forming series, etc.)
Crafts take practice and expertise and hard work--just like anything.
but most real and traditionally published authors agree:
So your instinct to organize is right.
I will say that it i their fear of putting in hard work and effort that makes them lash out at the idea of hard work.
I'm not saying I disagree with anything you've said, but I don't think you get to quote yourselfLook at my signature -- concepts are easy, story telling is a gift, and writing is a craft.
The key is craft! Crafts take practice and expertise and hard work--just like anything. So your instinct to organize is right.
I'm a discovery writer also! But I outline out the wazoo. This is what keeps my discoveries in check. And this is why I also sometimes rush ahead and write scenes over a decade down the storyline. After figuring out what is going to happen later, I don't ask myself, "How can I make this happen?" but rather, "How can this happen?" the connotation is different even if the denotation is the same. On the one hand, an author asking how they can make this happen will probably have some contrivances; they run the risk of their plot being self-serving and having too many author "a-ha" moments as mentioned earlier. On the other, the author figures out a living, breathing world and sees what seems logical and makes sense and follows the world's natural path to the desired outcome, with some surprises (for the reader and the author) along the way.I've been entertaining the idea of writing an outline. However, when I sit and dedicate a block of time to it I find myself empty. It seems the creative juices aren't flowing unless i'm actively putting my thoughts in prose. I have a general idea of where my story is going, but I like to be strung along. It's as if I'm the reader creating the story as I go. If a scene does not entertain me, then I re-write it.
Yes, as a discovery writer, there are times I get stuck. I just walk away for a few day and come back.
As for keeping track of information, I do take note of this as I go. Locations, names, ages, genealogies, this all gets written down as it's created in the story.
they run the risk of their plot being self-serving and having too many author "a-ha" moments as mentioned earlier. On the other, the author figures out a living, breathing world and sees what seems logical and makes sense and follows the world's natural path to the desired outcome, with some surprises (for the reader and the author) along the way.
first time i write on the fly with notes tthen use that i guild
I'm afraid that I don't agree 100%, or, actually, do agree with what you said but have a quibble with what you said versus my perceived reality (should I add more qualifications, or do you think those suffice?).
If you follow the natural outcome, I agree that you don't risk the ah-ha moments. However, I think that outlining does not eliminate that particular danger. If I'm outlining, I can still think of an killer ending and then have to figure out how to get there. Additionally, I can follow a natural outcome as a result of discovery when each scene leads me logically into the next scene.
So I think that outlining increases the chance of forcing contrived scenes on the reader....
Here's an interesting question to turn it around on you:
You've got a great plot and figure out the perfect ending. To get there, however, you have to fudge it the tiniest little bit. Say you have to have your character behave in an inconsistent manner.
Is it worth it to save your awesome ending?
Outlining lets you build a stronger story where all of those scenes are directed towards building to the ending. I think it's far more contrived to write yourself into "nowhere," decide that the book needs to end, and then force things to come together in a way they were never building towards.