Words/Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes working on the outline for “Outcast.”

There are 2 distinctly different, yet related story lines in “Outcast.” When I wrote the first version of this story, I wrote the story lines separately, and then intertwined them. The method worked perfectly, so that’s what I plan to do again. As such, I have outlined just 1 story line so far (which I just finished today). Tomorrow, I’ll start on outlining the 2nd.

I’ve come across an interesting conundrum that I will have to seriously consider. At one time, I thought I could just revise the fanfiction version of “Outcast” to fit into my current story world. It would be heavy revision, sure, but a lot of the story isn’t dependent on the setting or mechanics of the story world. But later, I realized I wouldn’t be able to do that, because it would just be too much change. And why would I want to, when I’ve grown so much as a writer since I wrote it?

However, in writing this outline, I noticed just how much really is the same from before. And while I have grown as a writer in the 10 years since I wrote it, it was also what I would consider a turning point in my writing ability when I wrote it. It was the best writing I’d done up to that point. So to save some time, and frankly to avoid making the writing process super hard by trying to re-write it without either consciously or sub-consciously trying to state things the same way, it still might be better to revise, but with heavy focus on re-writing any sections that are weak, not as well written as I feel it could be, or of course needs to change because of the different story world. There are definitely sections of the outline that are just completely different because the game mechanics that just don’t translate to the more real-world setting I’ve created.

In the end, it might just be laziness. I see a lot of writers talking about re-drafting stories, sometimes more than once, but I don’t like the idea of writing something, then writing it again (from scratch) unless the original just did not work at all. So after I finish the outline, I will set it aside, because my current long-term writing goals don’t include re-drafting or revising “Outcast” yet, but when that time comes (which might be before the long-term goals are finished, if I decide to work on this for Camp NaNoWriMo), I will most likely start with revising, and see how it goes.

This was a long explanation, I know. I often overthink things.