#260. Student Spotlight: From Stuck at 25k Words to a Finished Draft With Lindsay Sfara

After stalling out on a draft she'd already outlined chapter by chapter, Lindsay Sfara discovered the story development work that has to come before an outline—and turned that stuck manuscript into a published debut novel.

Today I'm chatting with Lindsay Sfara, superhero fantasy author of Aero Knights: Origins and a Notes to Novel graduate, about how developing her story before outlining it finally helped her finish the book she'd been trying to write for years.

In this episode, you'll hear us talk about things like:

• [07:15] Why her outline looked complete but left her with no idea what to write next (and the plotting advice that made it worse)
• [09:45] The relief of finally knowing what her book was really about underneath the plot—and how it shaped the character development for all three of her leads
• [15:07] How she turned a list of disconnected events into an outline where each scene set up the next
• [17:41] The simple question Lindsay kept asking about her antagonist that helped her come up with ideas for conflict in the messy middle
• [23:04] What happened when she sent her draft to beta readers before hiring a developmental editor (and what she'd do differently next time)

If you're currently stuck in an outline or a first draft, Lindsay's story proves the problem probably isn't your talent, your motivation, or your idea. Press play to hear what her outline was missing—and how to build the same foundation under yours.

🔗 Links mentioned in this episode:

• Aero Knights: Origins by Lindsay Sfara
• Lindsay Sfara's website
• Follow Lindsay on Instagram
• Join Lindsay's writing streams on Twitch
• Join the Notes to Novel waitlist

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