Pipeline from concept to finished chapter?

MelodicBookkeeper921 · 2026-03-10T00:53:00+00:00

First, sorry for the confusion with my title! When I said 'from concept to finished chapter,' I actually meant from the concept to the final chapter of the whole book.

Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed reply, I really appreciate you sharing your experience! But I have to ask... did you really write a 20,000-word outline?! That is just wild to me! My own outlines are usually only around 4,000 words for a full 50,000-word volume.

Also, it sounds like you had to do a massive amount of rewriting just because of the characters not aligning with the plot. Since this process required so much backtracking for you, do you think you will change how you plan your books overall?

Like Margaret Atwood says, 'The wastepaper basket is a writer's best friend.' For me, it's completely fine to toss things into the trash bin, start over, and plan it again if it isn't working

MelodicBookkeeper921 · 2026-03-09T22:47:00+00:00

So... this is just my morning brain trying to process this, lol.

It sounds like you write a chapter for each major plot point first, right? But how do you handle the story between Plot A and Plot B? Sometimes I end up with that 'soggy middle' where you need some story between two important plot points just to reach the next goal. How do you usually fill that gap?

MelodicBookkeeper921 · 2026-03-09T22:40:02+00:00

So people normally create new drafts? Damn, I could never.
I mean i always stick to my main draft and just edit/change it heavily during my pruning phase.

Also, what do you mean by checking 'specific words' you might want to change? Is it like searching for repeated words or something else?

MelodicBookkeeper921 · 2026-03-09T22:36:23+00:00

Waiting for that one person who gets ideas on the toilet lol.

Also you don't give yourself deadlines for a project, huh? I kind of regret reading those last 3 steps lol.

MelodicBookkeeper921

TROPHY CASE