It’s mid-October, and you know what that means…
Whether or not you’re participating in National Novel Writing Month (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo), now is a great time to talk about the bane of approximately 50% of writers: the dreaded outline.
Self-proclaimed “pantsers” tend to eschew outlining, saying it drains the creativity of their process or it’s simply too much work. But hark, gentle readers, and listen to my tale of pantsing woes.
In 2015, I pantsed a middle grade novel. The first draft was 50,000 words and took nine months to write; revisions took another 24 months. That’s almost three years spent on a relatively short novel—which is fine, but obviously not the most efficient process.
Earlier this year, I got an idea for a YA novel—an idea so idea-rific, I couldn’t wait to start writing. The problem was, my wedding was four months away and I was neck-deep in dress alterations, seating arrangements, and DIY centerpieces. I didn’t have the time or energy to start a new project yet. So I forced myself to not. write. anything. It was terrible, because the idea for this story was just itching to get out of my head.
But this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because instead of starting the first draft, I spent the months before my wedding outlining. Much of this happened in my head at first. Then, when the plot started coming together, I jotted it down in bits and pieces. By the time I got married, I had a dense few pages of plot—a roadmap for my novel, from beginning to end.
When I finally started writing the book, the first draft was 100,000 words (twice as long as the previous book) and took only three months (a third of the time). That’s the power of outlining.
Of course, like so many things, outlining is on a spectrum. You don’t need a detailed scene-by-scene summary to reap the benefits of outlining. I found that, for me, this simply isn’t practical. I need a loose outline, hitting the key plot points and character developments, with plenty of flexibility as I embark on the first draft. You may find you need a more or less thorough outline than I do. Try it out to determine what works for you. Most likely you’ll find that some amount of outlining makes your process more efficient, and the exercise of outlining will teach you important lessons on story structure, plot, and character arc.
Ready to take off those pants but not sure how to go about it? Spend some time studying basic plot structures. Read craft books—I recommend Blueprint Your Bestseller by Stuart Horwitz, Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell, and Writing Deep Scenes by Martha Alderson and Jordan Rosenfeld. Study the plots of books you read until you have a solid grasp of what works and what doesn’t. Once you understand the basic skeleton of story, outlining will be much easier and more helpful.
Next week, in part 2, I’ll cover my favorite plot structure and how you can use it to outline your novel.