Outlines

Quick Link: How Strong is Your Skeleton?

by

Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

You need a strong backbone to be a writer. You need one to actually sit and write, and yet another to hold your story straight. A new site to check out, Two Drops of Ink: A Literary Blog. There Michelle Gunnin discusses ways to keep your story skeleton strong.

~ * ~

How Strong is Your Skeleton?

By: Michelle Gunnin

One Halloween during my childhood, I was waiting in our backyard to go trick or treating. I was dressed as a scarecrow.  This was in the days when you made your own costume from what you had readily available. Our backyard had grass and straw, so I was literally stuffing myself when I looked up and saw a skeleton climbing our back fence.  My heart skipped several beats.  I froze.  My eyes were glued on the glowing bones which were rapidly coming towards me.  I was squinting in the darkness to try to get my mind to understand what I was seeing; my mind felt that I should run and instructed my legs to do so.  In tears as I raced into the house, I was about to tell my entire family to hide from the skeleton, when the back door opened and in walked one of my brother’s friends.  My skeleton had a name.  Randy.  His costume was store bought and therefore, the coolest one around because it glowed in the dark.  I was embarrassed that the terror I felt came from my belief that the skeleton was real and dangerous.

I tell you this little story to illustrate a point.  When you write, you start with your skeleton.  Your story has to have strong bones so that you can put some meat on them.  Many writers I know are afraid of skeletons.  They brainstorm their ideas, but then they jump right into the writing without a plan of any kind.  They fear the structure will dampen their creativity, and that somehow they should run from skeletons.  However, in hindsight, they will realize that there is no need to be afraid because a skeleton is your friend.

~ * ~

If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: How I Use Skeleton Outlines to Write Faster

by

Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

I confess to being partial to today’s post because using skeleton outlines is how I like to write. To me it is almost magic how the story unfolds and almost creates itself. So if you are interested check out ‘s post on All Indie Writers.

~ * ~

How I Use Skeleton Outlines to Write Faster

by | Nov 6, 2016

A fellow writer mentioned that client projects sometimes took longer than they’d hoped, and they wanted to learn to write faster. While there are plenty of ways you can increase your writing speed, one tip I gave them was to try using what I call “skeleton outlines.”

I worked through the beginning stages of one while they watched just to show how quick the process could be. And today I’d like to share the resulting example I created so you too can give this technique a try.

This post kicks off a new series where I’ll highlight some of my favorite writing resources and strategies, showing you exactly how I use them, and occasionally sharing my personal tools that I’ve created to use in the day-to-day running of my business.

Let’s take a look at what skeleton outlines are and how they can help you get through writing projects big and small.

What Are Skeleton Outlines?

A skeleton outline is a high-level breakdown of your content. It lets you know what’s coming — what you have to write — without you actually thinking about the meat of that content.

~ * ~

If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.