I am very used to writing off the top of my head. It feels like I am giving impromptu speeches or stories. It also is exciting because I don't always know where I'm going to end up. It is as much an adventure for me to write the story as it is for others to read it.
Suffice it to say, I don't use many outlines. The next thing I write is going to be based on what I just finished writing. Sometimes, though, I have to write something that is very exact. I need to plan out every step of the process, so then the outline comes out.
I must say that using an outline is a totally different experience. It feels like cheating. It's like looking at a walkthrough to beat a video game. When I have an outline, I have the entire piece written in shorthand. All I need to do to "write it" is transcribe it into longhand.
But outlines aren't cheating guides; they're organizational tools. I am a huge proponent of using logic and planning in writing, and outlines are the perfect way to do that. Although I don't always use them, they are definitely a good idea.
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