Novel Parkour is the chaotic baby of plotting (having a detailed, scene by scene outline for your book) and pantsing (just rolling with the story as it comes to you, by the seat of your pants). It takes the best of both worlds and turns them into an ADHD friendly approach that gives you enough structure to let your brain follow along, but still has plenty of space for you to change your mind and follow inspiration where it leads you.
During the three days of this challenge, you'll have a chance to:
Brainstorm and flesh out your concept into characters, plot arcs, and the overall theme you want to convey
Outline the major plot points, conflicts, subplots, and HOLY SHIT plot twists you want to keep track of
Identify your creative blocks that keep you from moving forward on your writing projects
Get coached by an author/journalist/creative coach who is the human embodiment of warm fuzzy hugs
Share your outline with the group to get real time feedback and workshop the parts that aren't quite right
Decide on your next steps to finish your book for real!
Maybe a "What if..." plot idea came to you in the shower, or an amazing title beamed into your head on a walk. So you've got an idea that you know would make a good book. But how do you write it? And then where do you go from there?
When you search online for writing guidance, you're overwhelmed by the deluge of neurotypical advice like just getting up early to write before your day, or committing to a daily word count that people can somehow manage to achieve because I guess they don't have variable energy and pain levels?
Outlines are NOT a one-size-fits-all solution to writing your novel. But in the process of outlining in the Novel Parkour Challenge, you'll come away with not only an outline but a better understanding of your story and how all its pieces fit together.
Here's why Novel Parkour is different than the standard outline.
Time limit: When you're jumping from one plot point to the next with a time limit, it means you can't spend hours upon hours getting one scene perfectly outlined. You just have to keep moving forward with your momentum.
Fill in the blanks: We start by filling in what you already know about your story, and then your ADHD brain is free to do what it does best: see patterns and magically hurtle toward a conclusion based on just a few loose ideas from your outline!
Coaching support: Doing stuff with a group (and a mentor) is easier than doing it all by yourself. That's just science.
Best case scenario: You use your Novel Parkoured outline to write your entire book.
Worst case scenario: You spend a week getting to know your characters and story better, regardless of your next steps.
Or your money back! (That's a joke. This is free.)
Each time you have a book idea, you get excited to begin only to end in frustration and literal tears as the words on the page seem to laugh at the beautiful idea in your mind. Whether you make an outline OR try to pants it, you just end up blocked and miserable.
It's TOTALLY NORMAL for you to have trouble articulating the idea and making it into a true plot and story.
Thing #1: Most writing advice is geared toward neurotypical thinkers rather than autistic and ADHD brains... so when you try the advice and it doesn't work for you, you internalize that YOU are the problem. You're not.
Thing #2: It is SOOOO easy to get hung up on the perfect way you want to say something in your book, but you're just working on the first draft. It's okay to let it be messy right now!
The idea of outlining your book without crying and throwing your computer out the window isn't just a fantasy. It's real. And it's FOR YOU. In the Novel Parkour challenge (a FREE 3-day challenge happening live from May 16-18, 2025), you'll spend enough quality time with your story idea to do right by it...
without going down a rabbit hole of research that prevents you from ever starting
in a way that supports your neurodivergent learning and working styles
while enjoying the process and having FUN facing plot holes
When you're done with this challenge, you'll have a solid outline for your story that feels supportive without being restrictive.
We'll be outlining a basic plot structure that includes the inciting incident (the action that kicks off your story), an OH SHIT midpoint, the "Dark Night of the Soul" or lowest rock bottom moment for your protagonist, a climactic final conflict, and the resolution.
If you prefer to follow the Hero's Journey or any other story structuring system, the Novel Parkour approach is easy to switch out for the structure of your choosing.
This is the great part about Novel Parkour. We outline just enough to give you a basic structure, and then you're free to fill in the details with your imagination in the moment. There's likely a handful of elements that you feel very strongly about keeping intact throughout the story, and these things can be noted as MUST KEEP elements, as opposed to things that you're writing just to get started but might want to change later.
Changing your mind is normal. And it's a lot easier to do once you have the basics of your first draft sketched in. You'll be able to stand back and see the project from a distance, as a whole, and change it however makes it feel more in line with the story in your heart.
If you want to scrap the whole thing and start over again, you'll have the resources to Parkour up another plot in no time (seriously, you can do it in an hour).
As detailed as you want it, but probably like a third as detailed as you're worried about. #Math
Truly though, the outline you produce in Novel Parkour will be broad strokes of what you want your story to be. It does not have to be super detailed and I encourage you to keep it as loose as you can, because there's always room to have a new idea and still fit it into the existing outline.
As an auDHD writer myself, I understand the experience of being neurodivergent. Most advice in the world is written by neurotypicals for neurotypicals, so I strive to be a resource for those of us with spicy brains to have a safe place to figure out what actually works for us. I work with my clients to support them in ways that align with their specific needs and work styles.
I am a recovering people pleaser and perfectionist -- AKA a former gifted kid who alchemized A+ grades into love and affection. It wasn't the most healthy, but it DID give me razor sharp wit, a reading and writing level well above my peers, and the curse of nailing the final draft on the first try...
UNTIL I WROTE A NOVEL.
My novel has been a labor of love, and a labor of re-learning everything I thought I knew about writing (and how smart I was). I'm now on my third draft and I've written a ton of words, scenes, and chapters that will never make it to the final copy. And that's a GOOD THING. Because the revision process is where the beautiful magic happens, when you take the sketch of the first draft and breathe life into it.
Why am I telling you this?
Because Novel Parkour helps you outline your FIRST DRAFT, which means we don't have time to be precious about things that will happen later in revision. That's why it's parkour. You just jump from scene to scene and make it work enough to keep going.
Perfection is not invited.
But hey... don't take it from me. How about these famous authors you look up to? Will you believe them?
“The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are. In hesitation is thought. In delay comes the effort for a style, instead of leaping upon truth which is the only style worth deadfalling and tiger-trapping.”
— Ray Bradbury
“The first draft is a skeleton….just bare bones. The rest of the story comes later with revising.”
— Judy Blume
“I just give myself permission to suck. I delete about 90 percent of my first drafts… so it doesn’t really matter much if on a particular day I write beautiful and brilliant prose that will stick in the minds of my readers forever, because there’s a 90 percent chance I’m just gonna delete whatever I write anyway. I find this hugely liberating.”
— John Green
I'm the kind of creative coach who will tell you to do the thing that makes no sense on the surface. Because we NEED to be weird. Normal is boring. And you are not normal. Or boring.
Embrace your darkness, your whimsy, your dreams of making a historical fiction novel end with "and then they lived happily ever after as lesbians on a beautiful island with cypress trees."
You're the writer.
I'm the guide.
Am I the guide for you?
Let's do a vibe check! I am...
Neurodivergent (autistic, ADHD, anxious #AAA)
Unapologetically fat and feminist
Really sweary
The human embodiment of a hug
Our three day workshop takes place beginning Friday, May 16 through the weekend, ending on Sunday, May 18. But in the meantime, check out the prompts and resources in this section to get your ideas flowing so we can jump right in!
Without overthinking it, day 1 will help you identify the major parts of your story, including its characters, conflict, worldbuilding, and overall plot structure.
It's time to apply the Novel Parkour method to your story! Organize your known plot points from your brainstorm with an easy to follow outline and then let your imagination fill in the gaps. Don't overthink it. It's parkour!