Outlining Your Novel_Map Your Way to Success Read online

  1. Big spaceship goes after little spaceship.

  a. Big spaceship catches little spaceship.

  i) Bad guy boards little spaceship; bad guy breathes heavily.

  That’s just a whole barrel of fun, isn’t it? Even with an exciting story, you’re more likely to snap your pencil point in frustration than wear it down to a nub with a flood of enthusiastic ideas. Formal outlines such as we learned in school may suffice for recording the bare bones of our stories. But, let’s face it, they’re not exactly enjoyable. By the time you reach “II. Farm boy goes on mission to save beautiful princess,” you’re probably going to be yawning and checking Twitter.

  Fortunately, outlines don’t have to look anything like this inverted staircase. In the next chapter, we’ll explore a variety of outline formats, but, for now, remember outlines don’t require the crossing of every T, the dotting of every I, and the buttoning of your top collar button. Rather, they should be opportunities for throwing caution to the wind, living on the edge, and breaking any rule silly enough to raise its head.

  Misconception #2: Outlines Limit Creativity

  Authors sometimes feel writing an outline will box them into a rigid plan, which can be deviated from only under risk of death. As soon as they put an outline on paper, they fear they’ve locked their story into an immutable form that can never be changed, even if they come up with a better idea halfway through the first draft.

  When I was a kid, I loved those connect-the-dots puzzles. The artists would remove the lines in their sketches and replace them with spaced-out dots, each of which was accompanied by a number. If I succeeded in connecting the dots in the correct order, I would magically end up with a kitten or a dolphin or a barn. It was fun, but it didn’t allow for much creativity. If I didn’t follow the dots exactly, I wouldn’t end up with a picture of anything recognizable. In other words, if I didn’t follow the predetermined outline, I was sunk.

  Fortunately, however, this needn’t be the case with a novel’s outline. Like the pirate code in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, we should consider outlines to be “more like guidelines.” A good outline should be a spur for creativity, not a stumbling block. The author is the master of the outline, not its slave. If and when you come up with a better idea while in the midst of writing Chapter Seventeen, by all means take a good tight hold on the muse and let its wings bear you to new and exciting shores—even if those shores weren’t originally on your map.

  Outlines should encourage wild creativity, daring experimentation, and focused inspiration. If you’re not encountering these elements in your own outline, you’re probably looking at the process in the wrong light.

  Misconception #3: Outlines Rob the Joy of Discovery

  Some authors rebel against outlines because they believe creating one will sap the joy of discovery they find in writing a first draft. It’s true that for all the benefits outlining offers, it also requires a few sacrifices. The opportunity to write a first draft full of unexpected discoveries is one of those sacrifices. But it’s not as black as it sounds. You’re not losing the opportunity for unexpected discoveries. Not at all. What you’re doing is moving those discoveries from the first draft to the outline. All the fun’s still there; it just occupies a different place in your timeline. Thriller author and Edgar nominee Raymond Benson explains, “I figure out all the hard plot details in the outline, so you might say I really write the book when I do the outline.”1

  In many ways, an extensive outline is a first draft. The only difference is the outliner’s process takes maybe a quarter of the time. The outline, like the first draft, is the “mistake” draft, the dry-erase board where we unveil our ideas and see how they line up on the page. Outliners and pantsers alike go through this process.

  Instead of stealing creative joy, the outline expands an author’s opportunities for exploring his story. He gets to experience the original act of creation in the outlining process, during which he comes up with the raw story idea, sorts out implausibilities, and fills in plot holes. In essence, he’s constructing the skeleton of his story. When he later begins the first draft, he isn’t retreading old ground. Instead, he’s digging deeper into his understanding of his story by fleshing out the skeleton: adding the new material that will become the inner organs, skin, hair, muscles, and cartilage. Using the outline to figure out the technicalities of your plot gives you the freedom to explore your characters, settings, and themes in intimate detail in your first draft. Prolific fantasy author Jeff VanderMeer explains:

  Yes, I knew what I was going to write about in a chapter ahead of time, so there was less process of discovery in terms of what was going to happen. However, I found I could give more thought to how and why things happened because I already had this outline in place—on some level, I focused more on each scene, and how the scenes fit together…. I find that there’s relief and a great calming effect in knowing that I can extrapolate ahead of time on the macro level, fill in a certain level of detail, and still find the writing and the actual scene-writing vibrant and exciting.2

  Studies have proven most people are noticeably stronger in one hemisphere of the brain or the other, mostly due to their tendency to exercise one side more often. The left brain is analytical and logical, allowing us to plot our stories in a linear timeline and make rational decisions about our characters and their motives. The right side of our brains is where all the juicy creativity and raw inspiration takes place. The left brain thinks in facts; the right brain thinks in images and feelings. Neither side of the brain is better than the other. But, as writers, we can’t discount the value of figuring out which side we live in most—and then stretching ourselves to explore the uncharted territories on the other side.

  Utilizing an outline allows us to take advantage of both sides of our brains by divvying up the necessary responsibilities of creating a story. When we outline, the creative process can be divided into four categories: conception, outlining, writing, revising.

  • Conception is a deeply right-brain activity. We can’t explain where the first spark of an idea comes from. It’s often nothing more than an image or a feeling welling up from our sub-conscious and demanding an explanation. My own period of conception can last several years. I allow the story to kick around in the back of my head, adding to it through subsequent flashes of inspiration, until I feel it’s grown into an idea large enough to explore with my left brain.

  • Outlining is where the left brain gets its first crack at the story. This is the phase in which I lay out all my touchy-feely ideas and analyze them with my left brain to make sure they all fit together. I identify the missing pieces and fill in the holes. Although outlines demand right-brain creativity as well, they are primarily a logical left-brain activity. I have to ask myself, Does this character’s motivation make sense? Does this event in the plot logically lead to this outcome? Does the story arc hold together? Getting the majority of the left-brain gruntwork out of the way in the outline allows me to once again turn my creativity loose in the writing stage.

  • Writing the story is an intensely right-brain experience. This goes against popular opinion, which believes the outline quashes any hope of creativity by imposing a predetermined plan onto the story. Just the opposite is true. Because I know where the story is going and because I’ve already put my left brain to work ensuring the story makes sense, I can surrender the discovery of the story details back into the capable care of my creative right brain.

  • Revising brings the process full circle by once again imposing left-brain rationality onto the creativity of the first draft. Where the right brain has charged ahead in all its sloppy, colorful wonder, the left brain now follows behind, mopping up the excess and straightening ideas so they achieve their maximum power through clarity and cause and effect.

  Misconception #4: Outlines Take Too Much Time

  One of Polly Pantser’s arguments against outlines is that they take “weeks, or even months” to w
rite—and that’s absolutely true. On average, each of my outlines takes me three months from start to finish. Three months is a long time—but not so long as you’ll spend on the heavy-duty rewrites required to turn a rambling first draft into a tight, cohesive, salable novel.

  Consider again my experience with my fantasy Dreamlander. Before writing my outline, I spent eight months writing fifty pages. That page count totals out at just over six pages a month. That’s a page and a half a week and less than a third of a page a day.

  That’s pitiful.

  It was also torturous. And, if that weren’t bad enough, I eventually had to go back and spend an additional three months rewriting those fifty pages to bring them up to speed with the outline’s improved and streamlined version of the story. I ended up spending nearly a year on a process that would probably have required only a few months had I taken the time to outline in the beginning.

  Outlining requires an outlay of patience. We have to be willing to put off the actual writing in order to get our ducks in a row. But this preparation pays for itself in innumerable ways. A mountain climber would never consider tackling Mt. Everest without investing serious preparation time in planning his route, organizing his group, collecting and double-checking his gear, and training his body. Authors who dash off to write a 100,000-word novel are just as likely as hasty climbers to get themselves in trouble in the long run. Preparation takes time and effort, but it’s always worth it in the end.

  Benefits of Outlining

  So just what do you get when you decide to invest your time in outlining? To begin with, outlining offers all of the following benefits:

  Ensures Balance and Cohesion

  In an outline, you can see at a glance if the inciting event takes place too late in the story, if the middle sags, or if the climax doesn’t resonate. Instead of having to diagnose and remedy these problems after the first draft, you can fix problems in the outline in only a few keystrokes.

  Prevents Dead-End Ideas

  How many times have you started writing an exciting new plot twist, only to realize—5,000 words later—that it’s led you to a cul-de-sac? You either have to spend valuable time backtracking and trying to write your way around the roadblock—or you have to cut the subplot altogether and start afresh. Outlines allow you to follow plot twists and subplots to their logical end (or lack thereof) in much less time. You can identify the dead-end ideas and cull them before they become annoying and embarrassing plot holes.

  Provides Foreshadowing

  It’s nearly impossible for an author to foreshadow an event of which he has no idea. As a pantser, when a startling plot twist occurs late in the book, you’ll have to go back and sow your foreshadowing into earlier scenes. Not only is this extra work, it can often be difficult to make the new hints of what’s yet to come flow effortlessly with your already constructed scenes. Because an outline gives you inside knowledge about what’s going to happen in subsequent scenes, it provides you the opportunity to plant some organic foreshadowing.

  Smoothes Pacing

  Like foreshadowing, pacing often requires inside knowledge. If the author doesn’t know the protagonist is about to be shot in the back, he can hardly adjust the pacing to introduce this shocking new event in the right manner. An outline shows you the places where your story is running too fast and the places where it is lagging and sagging.

  Indicates Preferable POVs

  When working with multiple points of view, it can often be challenging to know which scene should be written from which POV. Too often, we write a scene from one character’s POV, only to realize a different character’s narrative perspective would probably have offered a better experience for the reader. As a result, we’re forced to go back and rewrite the entire scene. Outlines allow us to make educated decisions about POV, thanks to insights regarding plot and character. Just as importantly, outlines permit us to look at the balance of our POVs over the course of the entire novel, so we can ensure each character is getting an appropriate amount of time at the mic.

  Maintains Consistent Character Voice

  When writing without an outline, we’re often discovering the characters right along with the readers, and because our perception and understanding of our characters often evolve over the course of the story, the result can be an uneven presentation of the character’s voice. Outlining—particularly if your outlining process includes the character sketches described in Chapter Seven—will help you discover your character, and his voice, before you begin portraying him in your narrative.

  Offers Motivation and Assurance

  Writing a novel can be overwhelming. Typing thousands of words is an undertaking in itself—but when those words all have to hang together in a way that is sensible, entertaining, and resonant, that’s enough to make our knees start shaking beneath our desks. Outlines give us the assurance that we can craft a complete story, because, after all, there it is, right in front of us, on paper. We’ve already written the complete story; all we have to do now is fill in the blanks. And because those blanks are ones that fascinate us, outlines also motivate us to keep on writing through the tough spots, so we can get to the good stuff.

  Chapter One Checklist

  Reject any misconceptions about outlining.

  Embrace the benefits of outlining.

  Open your mind to refining your writing process.

  Have fun!

  Asking the Authors: Becky Levine

  Bio: The author of The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide (Writer’s Digest), Becky Levine provides critique services to other writers. Visit her at http://www.beckylevine.com.

  Can you describe your outlining process?

  In the software program Scrivener, I create a text file/note card for each scene in the story. For every scene, I try to figure out the following: My main character’s goal, the obstacles in her way (and whom they come from), what she does to battle the obstacles, if she wins or loses (usually loses), and what’s at stake/what happens if (when) she loses. I’ll also throw in notes about where the scene takes place, who’s in it, what their goals and obstacles are (although I don’t usually detail those as strongly), and anything else that pops into my head as I plot. I try not to start a draft until I’ve gone through every scene.

  What is the greatest benefit of outlining?

  Knowing where I’m going and knowing what matters to my main character. I have tried writing without plotting ahead; I’ve even tried writing scenes out of order. I flail around, and I watch my characters drift from location to location and chat about nothing. When I plot, I start to see the connections between the scenes. If I know what “should” happen next, I can make my main character actively work to get there, or—sometimes—actively work to sabotage herself. I can bring other characters into conflict with her, and I can (and this is always fun) write a great cliffhanger at the end of a chapter. Plotting ahead lets me know the bones of the story so, as I write, I can start weaving in the extra layers that make things interesting.

  What is the biggest pitfall of outlining?

  The biggest pitfall would be holding too tightly to the plot as a security blanket. At some point, you have to let go and write. And you have to recognize and accept you are going to come to a place where your outline doesn’t tell you enough—the story you’ve written will have detoured or morphed, and what you thought was going to happen... isn’t. You can stop for a bit and do some more plotting, but you may be facing a scene you can’t understand fully until you’ve written past it, even to the end of that draft.

  Do you ever recommend “pantsing”?

  The first book I worked on, I “pantsed.” I never finished that book. With the work-in-progress I’m writing now, I ended up doing some pantsing toward the end of the first draft. I didn’t enjoy it, and I was cranky the whole time, but it paid off. I had to push through to the end to see things clearly, and I wasn’t going to be able to plot the connections, since they just weren’t there. For me, I guess pantsing is
a last resort. The kind of free and loose writing I hear other authors saying they love is a real struggle for me, but if you’re trying to plot and just can’t, go ahead and write and see what comes. It’s better than sitting there day after day, staring at an empty file on your monitor and getting nowhere.

  What’s the most important contributing factor to a successful outlining experience?

  Pushing yourself to stay the course. I like plotting, and it feels necessary as part of my writing process, but it’s not easy. There are many days when I stare at my note card for a particular scene and no ideas come. My fingers are on the keyboard, but I don’t have any material for them to type. This happens a lot when I get into the middle of the storyline. It’s really, really tempting to skip that scene and move on to plot something farther down the line, or even just open up another file and start writing. In my experience, though, that’s when the flailing starts, and I get frustrated and angry and write really awful stuff. So I grab a notebook and start doodling, or move away from my computer to stare out a window and think, or clean the house (the seriously last resort). I come back to the note card once I have at least a tiny sand grain of an idea. And then I keep plotting.

  Chapter Two

  Before You Begin Your Outline

  “Outlines help us not only to generate stories,

  but to organize them….”

  —Sarah Domet3

  Before we start constructing your actual outline, let’s take a quick look at some important foundational elements. The outlining method described in the following chapters is the in-depth method I use in creating my own novels. You may decide to follow this method step by step, and, indeed, I encourage you to do so. I’ve used this method to outline five novels, and I’ve experienced great success with it. However, you shouldn’t feel as if you have to follow it to the letter. If any particular part of the process doesn’t feel right for you, don’t hesitate to skip it or change it. After reading the rest of the book, you may decide your ideal process only requires half the steps—or you may add some new steps of your own.