Outlining and Not Outlining

Let’s unpack this morning’s drive by post a little bit, shall we? I’m also inspired to talk about outlining as Jim Hines talks about his writing and outlining process.

Outlining

In the beginning, I did not outline. I wrote, and figured muses would take me where I wanted to go. Well, I was 14 or something. For some projects this worked, and for others…I’m sure you can guess.

My current process is to sketch an outline, start writing, have things go astray, regroup and re-outline, and continue this process. In this fashion, I can write a book in give or take a year. What I often miss is the texture of a book that folks who explore more get, and I’m trying to find ways to work on that.

What really made me rethink the value of outlining was when I wrote Hulk Hercules. I had three months. Granted, it was a middle grade, but still that could be a challenge. However, I was required to structure the book around the 12 labors of Hercules, which made it a self-outlining book. The only thing I had to do was work the kids into that basic plot, and decorate with some wrestling on the edges. It was done, and it was not a bad book at all. I became convinced that outlining was a good thing.

Of course, I don’t usually get the luxury of having a classical mythological structure to glom onto. When I am a grown up writer, and I do my magical retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, again, provided structure will help yet again.

However, what I’m finding is that if I actually prepare a bit more, it takes less time to do the preparation while I’m writing. Does this mean more or less time overall? Well, that’s part of the experiment.

Let’s take my current project. I am writing a book about trolls and frost elves. I did all sorts of research about Norwegian folklore, got lots of ideas, wrote a sketchy structure, and wrote a first draft.

Because I had so many ideas, the book wandered, and much of it isn’t usable. The middle is dull and info-dumpy. There were too many characters, and the thing was hard to follow.

I took what I had, identified the three most interesting stories, and whacked out the characters that were superfluous to those stories. Then, I wrote the endings for each of the main plots and subplots, or used the pieces I had from the initial draft that were usable.

Next, I outlined what it would take to get me from the first part of the book to those endings. I diagrammed the outline on index cards, sorted the events into chapters, and plugged the events into Scrivener. Voila! Outline!

I started writing again. As I write the scenes and follow through the outline, sometimes I’ll hop around to a different scene. I can do this because I have an outline that keeps me on track.

You’ll notice I haven’t addressed the texture. I take some time to explore characters when I find their interactions becoming too pedestrian, because I want tension points. The main story, yes, I know the goals. I want the tension points in my subplot. Looking at subplots gives me a chance to play.

Make no mistake. I’m not advocating outlining as THE WAY or the only way to write a story. At this point in my career, I am trying to train myself to get ready to write a good book when I have a deadline. While wandering in the wilderness has some advantagesand delights, I think when I was doing that, it was mostly for me and my play, rather than for me and my career as an author.

Don’t get me wrong. Play is an important part of writing, and giving yourself permission to play and write crap is, of course, important. An outline doesn’t guarantee that everything will be well-thought through the first time.

That said, one of my writing concerns is always that I’ll spend time writing and it won’t necessarily go anywhere. If I’m contracted for a book, I don’t have that luxury.

The other part of it is this: in order to pitch a book, ultimately, I’ll need to train myself in this valuable skill to do book treatments. I’ll need summaries and outlines as I send more books around. Outlining is a skill writers have to pick up, whether we write that way or not, and the sooner I start practicing it, the better off I’ll be.

Happily, we’re not all wired the same, and the variety of types of composing is fascinating. I’d love to hear how you plan things out and how you get a book together.

Catherine