Wes Demott's Blog, page 3

outlining

Everyone hates to outline, so before I start this discussion let me say that by "outline" I don't mean what we learned in school. An outline, in writing, is simply a working, evolving document you use to plot out your story.

Honest Abe said that if he had two hours to chop down a tree, he'd use the first hour to sharpen the ax. That's what an outline does: sharpen your story so that you can cut fearlessly through the uncertainty of novel writing.

Have you ever written your way deep into the bowels of a novel and then wondered what to write next? "Muddled middles" (covered elsewhere) often happen exactly at that point as you struggle to find a path toward the story's end.

An outline streamlines the process and avoids problems by testing the story and revealing the weaknesses, losses of inertia, and gaps in story elements.

Here's how I suggest you do it:

1. You already have some scenes and ideas you know you'll want to write, so write them down in any order. Use one or two sentences for each idea and don't edit or restrain yourself. Don't number them but leave a line between each idea.

2. As you look at your sheet you'll thing of other things that need to happen to keep the story moving. The guy will need to meet his future wife or lose his job or get hit by a bicycle…whatever needs to happen to make it all work. Again, type those in anyplace without being concerned about the order.

3. Figure out how you want the story to END and write that down. Make sure you can see the ending and that it feels satisfying. If it doesn't satisfy you, it's not going to satisfy the reader either.

4. Decide what scenes you need in order to take the reader fairly to that ending. There are a couple of axioms in writing, such as "If someone gets shot in the third scene, show the shotgun over the mantle in the first," which basically means be fair with the reader. Even if it's a mystery, give plenty of clues. My second novel, " target="_blank">THE FUND, continues to thrill readers after all these years because I'm telling you right now that you won't guess who the bad guy is, even though you'll hit yourself in the head and say "I should have seen that coming" when it happens. I'm fair with my readers and they love it.

Another phrase is Deus ex machina, which is Latin for "God out of the machine." It refers back to when gods would appear on-stage and resolve all the conflicts and patch up the gaps in the story. NEVER DO THAT. Don't have a guy we've never seen show up in the last chapter and resolve things, or have your main character reveal that all through your story he's secretly been an expert in ancient Greek or genetic coding or multiple orgasms if it's that skill that resolves the story.

5. Carefully decide where the story BEGINS and write that down, paying attention to the idea that the story should open where the story starts. If your novel explores Van Gogh's life after he cut off his ear, you risk losing your audience if you show years of his struggles to become a great painter. Instead consider a "Van Gogh picked up the knife and admired its glistening edge before slashing it to his ear" kind of opening. That's a book I'm going to keep reading, as opposed to a "Van Gogh started painting when he was twelve and devoted…"

Sorry, I nodded off there for a second.

6. As you work with your outline you'll see how many supporting characters you'll need and what kind of protagonist, where their lives will first intersect and where you'll need back-story or flashbacks and interior monologue. You'll spot areas where your story drags and perhaps decide to break those bits up with scenes of action. Write all those things down too.

7. Now print that out and make a bunch of arrows to where those scenes go in order.

8. Make those changes, print it out again, and go to the beach or coffee shop or the arms of a half-naked woman (or man, I suppose) and think hard about what else could add real value to the story. This is the exciting part, because you basically have meat and potatoes and carrots in a broth and now get to add all the fun spices that make it an interesting, exciting meal. This is the best part for me, although it's very challenging.

9. Print all that out, move the scenes around with a pen, rearrange them on the screen and then, if you're happy, start expanding those sections from one or two sentences to half a page, filling in details, bits of dialogue, setting, cast, etc.

10. By now you'll have ten to twenty pages of an "outline." You see that it all works and is all in good order. The pacing is right, you've dodged the dreaded muddled middle, and you've conceived a satisfying ending as well as the process to take the story there. So sit down at your computer, look at #1 of your outline, and put those thoughts into a scene.

Personally I spend well over half of my time writing the outline. After that, writing the story is simply a matter of making those half-page paragraphs into scenes.

Getting started

I'm a big believer in writing a thorough outline before ever starting a book (and I give my reasons in that section). But sometimes I know the exact place or words that start my next novel and I'll write that before I do the outline.

It should go without saying that your opening should be great, but really think about that and be hypercritical. People very often send me a chunk of their book from some middle chapter because they believe, often correctly, that it's the best part of the book. And it often is great. So I challenge them to make the first paragraph just as great. Remember: agents, editors and readers often pick up a book and decide on that first page if they're going to continue.

The longer I write and the more I learn, the less run-up I do to a story, and in fact try to drop the reader into the middle of a great scene. If they have to play a little catch-up, I feel that's better than having them hang around waiting for the story to begin. Here's the first lines of my last novel. I don't hold it up as a perfect example by any means, but it definitely starts "in media res" as the old scribes advised.

FROM " target="_blank">TORTUGA GOLD

Taz Keaton, muscular, tanned, and shirtless, squeezed harder on the throttle and tried like hell to get a little more speed out of the outboard. But the forty-horse Yamaha was already wide open and screaming like James Brown as it blasted his tiny narrow boat up the Central American river. He squinted through the warm and windblown spray for any sign of the crashed chartered jet in the river or the thick jungle canopy of tropical trees and plants that loomed over it, but saw no clues as to where he would earn his three million dollars.

"Not looking good, Buddy," he yelled to his friend and partner who bounced along in the bow like a kid in the back of a pickup.

Gordon Windsor, his five-day stubble a dark contrast to Taz's strong, smooth face, turned and yelled back. "Yeah, but if you forget about that lucky break we had last year in Cambodia I think 'not looking good' is about as good as it ever looks."

"That's a point. Keep a close watch for survivors, too, maybe a pilot or crew member who's been busted up but is still alive."

"Will do. Not likely though."

Writing your novel

My goal is to to help you work your way through your first good novel. I'm writing fast to get a lot of information out there and I'm sure to leave out the exact thing you need to know, but that's the beauty of a blog. I check this blog almost every day, so ask away and I'll get back to you.

Now let's have some fun and get started on y0ur novel…Wes