I wrote about 3500 words today. I didn’t manage to do any editing, though. I’m interested to see where book 4 ends up. I know generally what I want to happen, but a lot of the details are still in the air. I used to be very much an outliner, though I built in some flexibility. Now I seem to be more of a mental outline writer. I know generally what I want to happen, but how I get from one point to another can be interesting.
In fact, I sometimes make drastic changes based on the feel of the story. For example, I originally planned Empire of Chains to be something like 8 to 10 books. Then I cut it down to 7, then 5.
Then, right around the time I finished the third book, The Gilded Empire, I realized I only needed one more book to tell the story.
I’ve had a similar realization with one of my other series, Sunweaver. I originally planned for it to be 4 books, but I think it will be stronger if I cut that down to 3 books.
I guess that’s part of being a writer. You always tweak things in the process. If you’re not constantly trying to improve, you’re doing it wrong.
Ryan W. Mueller: Fantasy Author 