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To outline or not to outline.
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I outline. I try to leave some wiggle-room in it to be spontaneous, so I don't become bored. But I like the feel of progress my work takes on when it's plotted out. I think that sense of urgency and progression gets passed along to the reader.
I tried outlining once, but the thing was almost as big as the manuscript! It sort of worked, but I felt it was also too rigid. Like Jenn above pointed out, you need wiggle-room. This is because a development in the story you hadn't foreseen may open up much more interesting avenues. You need to be able to take advantage of these when they happen.
Now I outline in my head only. I used to take ages doing this, running over storylines and events in my head before I even went near a PC or typewriter. That way by the time I started to write I had a basic idea of where the story started, where it was heading, the principle characters and where it would end. Of course that basic virtual outline, if written down, wouldn't have amounted to more than fifty pages on its own, so it's the ideas and new characters that crop up in the writing process that are necessary to get the story to flow that drives the final page count up to seven hundred and fifty.
Stories are like a journey. Maps and a GPS do help, but if you know where you are going you can get there quickly.
David
Now I outline in my head only. I used to take ages doing this, running over storylines and events in my head before I even went near a PC or typewriter. That way by the time I started to write I had a basic idea of where the story started, where it was heading, the principle characters and where it would end. Of course that basic virtual outline, if written down, wouldn't have amounted to more than fifty pages on its own, so it's the ideas and new characters that crop up in the writing process that are necessary to get the story to flow that drives the final page count up to seven hundred and fifty.
Stories are like a journey. Maps and a GPS do help, but if you know where you are going you can get there quickly.
David
I stopped outlining years ago, it was too constricting... I will usually jot down the basic idea for the next chapter ("Jim and Bob kill the midget", for instance) as I'm working the chapter before it... maybe do the next 2 or 3 chapters that way to keep ahead of the story, but even then I change it up as I go along... Armand
And Jim and Bob were actually killed by the midget, so all is well...
Lol @ Armand and the midget. I spit my coffee out. I've never used an outline. I don't know what I'm going to write or who the characters are. I open up a word document and type. The book evolves from that. I just kind of feel like I'm dictating for the characters. It's kind of funny in an odd sort of way. I don't title it until it hits me upside the head, some place in the middle (usually) of the book. I think I'd be a total failure if I tried to outline. I'd be like David and have the entire manuscript written.
I think a lot of the urgency of an outline depends on your genre and subject matter.I'm working on a Sci Fi Epic right now so I need to have a lot of stuff in my notes. I need to know what kind of "universe saving climax" all the action is building too. I need to have notes on all the ships, and I have to have some flow of action from one major event to the next so that it's not just a random collection of mission notes.
Or if you're writing a thriller you really need to know "whodunnit" so that you can sprinkle hints throughout the book and not have your readers get to the Reveal and go "WTF?"
Oh the other hand I've got some other irons in the fire and my plan for them is "here are 4 neat characters. Let's see what they do." Of course the danger ~there~ is that you right 40,000 words and then realize that you've just ~FINALLY~ gotten to the beginning of the book.
>.<
I always outline but I do it very dynamically. I found a great free piece of software called yWriter.It is a word processor that manages your entire book into chapter and scenes with auto backups (lifesaver when Windows decides to update).
Before I start writing, I create a bunch of chapters and scenes and then write one line into each one to say what happens.
Then, you can drag and drop and rearrange your scenes and add/delete more scenes as you go. Very cool stuff.
As I sit to write, I am only editing a single scene file and when I have new ideas, I am not limited in any way. It speeds up writing massively and enables the creative process to flow too. I love it.
I have used yWriter and it looks like a great piece of software, but alas it's buggy on my system. I use Storybook, which allows me to lay out my novels scene by scene and chapter by chapter. I never got into outlining before I had this program, but now I can't imagine writing any other way. Once I have the book laid out I can write so much faster, the result requires a lot less editing and I never struggle with what comes next. I write a scene, glance at storybook and dive into the next seen. I love it.
I use a very rough outline for the whole novel which is only about a page long. Then I outline as I go along, scene by scene. These are very breif but it allows me to think about what goes in each scene and helps avoid the dreaded writers block.@ greg - thanks for the tip. I'm off to check out yWriter now!
yWriter sounds great but I'm stuck as a GoogleDoc's guy so I can keep all my various access points current. I wrote one novel's draft on a thumb drive and it "worked" but I lived on constant fear of losing it.What I need is a web app that links into GoogleDocs and has the same functionality.
Or I'll just stick with my spreadsheets....
An outline is never my first step but I can‘t imagine completing a novel without one. I don’t write linearly. Whatever scene has me worked up to the bursting point gets pecked out on the keyboard, including the end. Those scenes result after months of thinking about the story arc. After enough scenes are written, I do an outline, fit the completed scenes into it and work on what’s left. The outline reveals plot inconsistencies, missed opportunities to build tension and characters to delete or combine. Most important, an outline maps pacing and shows where to add, cut or rearrange.
I had a general outline of my novel on paper before writng my novel. It was helpfu in the beginning but had to be drastically changed as the writing progressed and the novel took on a life of its own.I feel you need an outline to get this process started.
Rachel wrote: "I have used yWriter and it looks like a great piece of software, but alas it's buggy on my system. I use Storybook, which allows me to lay out my novels scene by scene and chapter by chapter. I ne..."
I use Storybook too, for my first organisation efforts. It was written by a Swiss programmer and since I live in Switzerland, I am biased to liking it.
I am sure that the guy who made yWriter would be happy to help you get it working on your system. He has been very easy to deal with.
Rob wrote: "yWriter sounds great but I'm stuck as a GoogleDoc's guy so I can keep all my various access points current. I wrote one novel's draft on a thumb drive and it "worked" but I lived on constant fear ..."Rob, another tip then.
I use a free web service called Sycnplicity. It is free for two computers and 2gb (unless you refer friends and earn 5gb).
It is similar to Dropbox but MUCH better. A little program sits in your task bar and every time you save a file that is in a watched folder, it is uploaded to your space online, versioned 15 times, and downloaded to your other machine.
You can set up any folders you like to be watched and to sync.
The versioning means, if you mess up, you can go back through your previous 15 saves and get back what you want.
The power of this combined with yWriter is like an armoury.
Syncplicity is so good that I just started paying a monthly fee to jump up to 50gb and 5 computers.
I used to be a panster but now I'm an outliner. Converted, finally, after fourteen years!I use Scrivener for all my outlining, I love the document, notes, and corkboard workspace.
I'm a hybrid on this question. I need a general idea of where I'm going, but once I have that I prefer to take care of the details on the fly. Even if this means deviating from the original outline and having to re-imagine where it's going.
Edwin wrote: "I'm a hybrid on this question. I need a general idea of where I'm going, but once I have that I prefer to take care of the details on the fly. Even if this means deviating from the original outline..."That's my approach as well, Ed.
Remember to keep it loose folks. Most software tools for anything are based on a generic methodology. They often utilise basic building blocks. Great for producing generic work and style. I am sure they are all very good and useful, and if using them works for you, fine. But don't let them influence the way you write and how you write. If computers could write books we would already be buying them.
David, I never use software tools for an outline. Creative ideas prompt my outline --- such as it is --- and software tools can never provide these!
I just wrote up basic major plot points in a word doc - all the warm fuzzies and in between bits will just flow out of my consciousness while writing... We'll see if this helps :D
For short stories, I usually don't bother with an outline. Definitely for novels--there is no way I could keep track of various plot threads or structure the narrative arc without some kind of outline. That being said, I'm using the term "outline" loosely; anyone else would just see a jumble of notes, circled words, arrows, and numbers out of order. Nothing more than a rough map in a notebook to keep me oriented.
sometimes i do a little outline but most of the time, the idea just clearly possess me and it becomes more and more developed as i write it, even becoming better than what i have originally intended it to be.
David wrote: "Remember to keep it loose folks. Most software tools for anything are based on a generic methodology. They often utilise basic building blocks. Great for producing generic work and style. I am sure..."I totally agree, David.
I always start off with an outline, even a very rough one. I plan out what is going to happen, when information is going to be introduced, etc. I do this mainly so that I don't get confused and spend my time reading back to see if I wrote something already or not. Most of the time I end up deviating from the outline, but it is just an outline. I like to think of it as a map. I know where I'm at and where I need to go. If I take a detour here or there, that's okay.
I love this outliner-pantser discussion every time one comes up. Have the good fortune to spend lots of time with really, really good writers over the past several years the most key thing I've learned about this issue is that there is absolutely no RIGHT way to do it. A mega-best-selling writer friend outlines in detail for eight months then writes the manuscript in two from his outline. It's worked very well for him for a number of years. Others can't wait go get going with minimal scraps of ideas.
My process is to start with a first paragraph that I've fallen in love with and a general idea of theme and a couple of possible endings.
Know all my main characters before I even start, as if they are real people sitting in the room with me, watching my fingers on the keyboard. I experience the first draft (usually 6-8 weeks) at the same time they do...
Then the work begins...
I personally don't outline. I start with a general concept of the idea of the novel, and go from there, letting the characters take me. For instance, the concept for my first novel, The Crimson League, http://crimsonleague.wordpress.com/ was that of a sorcerer who slays the royal family and a resistance movement that rises up to fight him.The fun thing about the approach I happen to use is that I'm basically the novel's first reader. I don't really know where things are going to go and what twists and turns are in store. Sometimes I have an idea of how things will go, sometimes less of one, but there's never any guarantee until you get there. I agree with Ron, though, that everyone has his or her own style.
@Victoria - when I don't get to "The End" it's usually because I knew too much about the story going in and lost interest. Fortunately, I can use most of it someplace else.
@Ron: that's lucky! yeah, I kind of like not having an idea where things are going. Even better is when I think I do and the characters take me completely by surprise and something unexpected (and better!) ends up happening. That was the case with my first novel in a number of scenes.
One easy way to either outline or revise spontaneous work is to answer three questions about each scene: What is the scenario/premise? (Just a brief summary of what happens in the scene.) What is the conflict or development? (Do the events cause tension or take the narrative in a new direction?) What is the resolution or outcome? (Does the scene resolve a previously existing question/tension or lead to a new one?) When you know the answers to these questions, you can write the scene more clearly--and if there are no strong answers, the scene is probably unnecessary and should be be cut.
I like to outline my work... to an extent. Spontaneity is something that I think really adds a lot of character to a story and is very much needed.
Greg wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I have used yWriter and it looks like a great piece of software, but alas it's buggy on my system. I use Storybook, which allows me to lay out my novels scene by scene and chapter by..."I use Ubuntu and I love it. yWriter runs on Emacs instead of running as a native application in Linux. It's a cumbersome process. I am probably exaggerating about how buggy it is. Ubuntu in general runs almost flawlessly, as does storybook. Since I can't recall having a single system crash while writing since switching to Ubuntu, one or two with yWriter is too many for me. ;)
Syncplicity sounds interesting. I've been using Ubuntu One cloud service and it's always served me well, but you can't back up enough.
Rachel
I've never been one for outlining. I figure if I can surprise myself then hopefully the reader will be surprised as well.
I have a family and a job. Writing time for me is a precious commodity. As a result, I outline. I can't afford to spend six months on a promising idea that doesn't ultimately go anywhere. I don't write anything I can't outline to a logical and satisfying conclusion.But as many here have stated, I keep the outline loose and don't let it close me off to great ideas that present themselves along the way. There are still plenty of surprises.
At the end, if you hold onto that outline, it makes a good framework for a synopsis (more saved time).
I agree about writing time being too precious to waste. I know a lot of writers think an outline takes away the freedom and flow, but for me I spend almost as much time on the outline as I do the rough draft. That is the stage where I can explore every aspect and angle of the story, and let the characters find and do the unexpected. I don't really write until I know everyone in the story and what they are doing. Then I find I can write very quickly and with no writer's block or stops of any kind.
I absolutely do outline. In fact, I'm about 35,000 words into my current project and I realized the story would work quite a bit better if I just changed this one thing. So, I went straight to the outline and made those changes and now have that as a guide moving forward. Outlining is how I keep everything straight and make sure the story "works" before I ever write anything. Of course, nothing is ever set in stone, as my opening example illustrates. I look at the outline as something that should help, not hinder.
Not only do I outline, but I keep the outline as rigid as possible, for as long as possible. I do this, knowing it can't hold forever. Keeping it rigid is a lost cause. But the longer I keep the outline rigid, the clearer the instructions I can pick from its rubble.
Outline is one of the best things an author can do for their story. Its helps me keep things straight as well, but what's great is how confident it makes me feel in my story as I'm writing. Confident enough to make organic changes in the plot or dialogue as I'm writing that just feel more beneficial to the story.So, in short, I'm all for outlining.
I'm a hybrid, dyed-in-the-wool pantser, who finally understands the importance of a map to lead me where I'm going.Trouble is, if I outline too strenuously, I lose interest in the story.
The double-edged sword is, if I don't know where I'm going I find myself cutting 15,000 words if I paint my characters into a corner.
Hybrid.
Works for me.
Paula
Paula wrote: "I'm a hybrid, dyed-in-the-wool pantser, who finally understands the importance of a map to lead me where I'm going.Trouble is, if I outline too strenuously, I lose interest in the story.
The dou..."
Some corners are better than others! :) Some masterpieces have been turned out by great painting!
When I first started writing using an outline didn't work for me. I spent a few years writing without one and was much more creative this way. However, I found while it was easier to get started without an outline I would hit road blocks later on and not know where to take the story next. I started a lot of books but finished few.Now I research and take notes for a long time before starting a book. I'll write up little bio's for my characters and jot down things they might say. Then, I just let them sit in a word doc and add things as they come to me, then I do a really rough outline and add to it as I go.
I do sort of a story board. Mapping may be a closer description After I am done I end up with something that looks like the board for Uncle Wiggly
I did a storyboard for my first novel and hated it. But now I do basically the same thing on the computer and I love it. I guess what I didn't like was carrying around a ton of index cards with a bunch of stuff on them. It was hard for me to work with. I agree mapping is a closer description then outlining.
what about the brainstorming you did in school?
I recall reading a novel some years ago by a fairly famous and successful author. It rambled. It left many loose ends. There was much in it that neither developed the plot nor the characters. I assume this (at best) two-star novel was written without an outline.I am not so clever that I can write a tightly knit story of novel length without mapping it in some way. Personally, I write a rough synopsis first, and then an outline and a timeline. Much of this is essentially brainstorming on paper. When I think I have the makings of a great story, I create character sheets for the major characters. After this, I refine the outline and add details for at least the first six or so chapters. Only then do I feel I'm ready to draft chapter one.
This is the method that works for me, but writing technique is highly personal.
Paula wrote: "I'm a hybrid, dyed-in-the-wool ...Trouble is, if I outline too strenuously, I lose interest in the story.
Think I've gone the same way as Paula. My first novel was written organically. It was interesting process for me, but it was an awful book! I can't start without an outline now, but again if I take it too far it feels like I've told the story but without having written it out properly.
I hate formal outlines. I find I work better if I just have a few sentences and/or ideas about what I want to happen or what I want to include in each chapter. From there, I just flesh out the details.
I started with a basic outline - really just an initial list of all the ideas I had for chapters. Then in the revision process I put each chapter / section on post-it notes to see how they should fit together tonally, thematically, etc.
So far i always outline. Though not in a concrete sense, just enough to let me know the skeleton of the story will be. I look at it more like markers to keep me focused, while I'm writing on the long highway road that is the story. I know that sounded awfully metaphoric, but thats the way I look at things. Cause I'm weird like that.
http://ellelapraim.com/writing_outline/