fuck outlines

3. It blocks the creative flow

Having an outlines make your writing and thinking more robotics in my opinion though it is great for structure and organization. While writing an essay or a blog, an outline is always preferred so that you can easily organize your scattered thoughts. But in my opinion, it constraints you massively in creating new ideas. If you have a page essay, it is basically impossible to add some grandeur ideas when you have been following your outlines for 2 weeks and have already halfway through finishing the whole essay. The outlines may benefits you a lot for keeping you on track and be productive by following a defined journey but it is simply just not fun. Don't get me wrong, if you're trying to finish that boring essay in that social science class, please use an outline so you can get over it. However, if you're on your way in writing the next Paul Graham's level of influence essay or the next Game of Thrones, a few bullet points would not be the wisest choice. All of these works require a lot of iterations and changes and an outline is preventing that drastically. Just let your thinkings and words flow and breath.

1. What is an outline?

An outline consists of bullet points and numbered list of the main ideas in anything content related. Even a coding assignment or project can have an outline. It is a structured section that try to encapsulate the whole content. You can also see it as the thumbnail of your writing. It is also always mentioned in top ten tips in copywriting and collaboration.

2. Why do I hate is so much?

It just make the writing and content boring. Although this structure bullet point is great for keeping a collaborative writing piece to be coherent among different writers, it just take out many of the creative part of writing in improvisations and spontaneous "eureka" viewpoints. I believe people should still use outline but I just think we need to spend more time to develop them. Coming back to change the outline frequently is also great. But if you're a hardcore writer, let's try to just let our thoughs flow. Human are capable of more than just linear thinking and our mind can handle chaos and complexity pretty well too. So yeah, fuck the outlines but don't forget them. It's kind of a hate love relationship with writings.

Instead of an outline, I advocate for a whiteboard solution or maybe even a drawing. Actually, every essay needs a thumbnail first. That'd be helpful.