Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 6 Issue 2 | Page 21

Outlines (Cont’d)

Initially it can be nothing more than the mass of your ideas and research all put
together, written in free flowing, stream of consciousness. It doesn’t have to be
highly detailed and the ideas do not have to be fully formed. If there’s a scene
bubbling around in your head that’s dying to get on the page, condense it down to
a key phrase, a snatch of dialogue, or a brief description. Think of this snippet as a
tab on a file in your mind that will produce the whole file when you pull up on it.
Hold off on the actual writing until the time comes to allow your subconscious to do
what it does best. Give it time to cook. More often than not, your subconscious will
toss up bits and pieces of what it’s cooking.
Matt Pallamary, author of ten books ranging from cerebral to visceral. After 25
years of presenting workshops relative to dramatic writing at writer’s conferences
like the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and the Southern California Writers
Conference, to name two, he wrote his award-winning book “Phantastic Fiction A Shamanic Approach to Story.”

WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE

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MARCH - APRIL 2016