A Quick Tip for Outliners

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I've mentioned before (in 2019) that it's very helpful for outliners to hold onto their outlines instead of trashing them. I find them very helpful cheat-sheets when I'm about to discuss a book with a book club or at a library.

But I've recently found another great use for my outlines for those of you who use them. I almost always write short, no matter what project I'm working on. I like to bump up my word count, but not at the expense of my story. In other words, I don't want to just add a bit of fluff to the book.

What I've been doing lately is to use my outlines to find areas of my story to revisit. For my last book, I realized from re-reading my outline that I'd introduced a small thread about one of the supporting characters and then never followed up on it. It wasn't necessarily something that had to be followed up on (it wasn't a loose thread, in other words), but I think when I revisited the subplot later in the story, it probably gave readers more of a feeling that everything was getting wrapped up.

Before, I'd been brainstorming completely new subplots and character development bits to fill in the plot. I found, after re-reading my outline, that just wasn't necessary. And it was a lot more relevant than coming up with something new for my readers to follow.

Another benefit: sometimes it's easier to catch minor inconsistencies and small plot holes in the outline than it is in a 200 page draft.

I feel I do need to make a proviso here. My outlines are long. . . they average 35 pages and take about a week for me to write. But I think the same benefits could be had with a shorter document, as long as you outline subplots as well as the main plot.

That's my tip for today, but I'm interested in hearing from you. Have you come across any writing-related tips lately that work for you?

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