Writing During an Apocalypse

This method doesn’t even really need an outline. Sometimes, if I want to do something creatively fun or just get a little writing practice in, I’ll come up with a concept and an end destination, then let myself go and see how I’ll wind up at the end.

• A man is lost at sea.
• He winds up an undiscovered island.

This outline is so short that I don’t really need it. The purpose of this type of story is to exercise my imagination under low stakes. It has a single character, a single setting, and a bare-bones premise. If I end up writing something that I ultimately don’t like, no big deal. I can toss it or rework it if I want. However, if I was trying to write something as complex as The Matrix without an outline, that thing would be all over the place.

And that’s it! It’s a really good idea to approach your work with the appropriate level of planning. You want to have enough structure to keep your work moving forward, but you don’t want to be so rigid that you stifle your creativity. Like with anything else, it just takes practice!