So, you’ve taken the plunge. Gone all in. Joined the Dark Side (it’s okay, I hear they have cookies). What am I talking about? No, not joining the Justin Bieber fan club. I’m talking about outlining. If you’re tuning in for part two of my epic discussion on outlining, then maybe you’re considering it as a viable writing tool. If you just came for the cookies, I guess that’s okay.
As I said in the previous article, I’m a big proponent of outlining if it fits a writer’s needs. It certainly fits mine. So, if you’re curious about outlining, your first question for me is probably “How do you do it?” Actually, your first might be, “Why is that clown standing in the corner?” But I’m pretty sure your second question will be outline-related. Well, every outliner has their own system, so I’ll share mine with you. It’s continually evolving with each project, but this is how I’m doing it right now, and it’s working pretty well.
1) Step One: Brainstorm Once I have the core idea, I start writing completely free-form. I pull up a fresh page in the word processor and write down every story or character-related idea that pops into my head. Very little is discarded – if it seems like a cool idea, I write it down. These ideas are anything from character traits and background to the rules and environment of the world I’ll be creating. One of my best tools is the question “WHY?” In the future, I’ll write an entire post about the importance of “WHY?”, but for now I’ll just say that it fuels much of my creativity. Why are these events happening? Why does a character make a certain choice or have a certain quirky trait? After pages of this, I begin to get a feel for what I’ll be writing. I’m learning who the characters are as people, building their world around them, and just starting to understand what the tone needs to be. How long do I write this way? There are no rules. I do it until I feel like there’s enough to move on to the next step. I might also stop and have a snack. If you do that, I highly recommend leftover pizza.
2) Step Two: Slice and Dice By now, I know basically which direction I want to go in. The characters are starting to breathe, and the main plot has come together in my head. So now I’ll go back through all my brainstorming material and start the surgery. Some initial ideas no longer fit the story, so they’re gone. Some characters are unnecessary, so they’re gone. I’m also seeing gaps in my “WHY?”, so I’ll add in plot points that bridge gaps in the story, build on the existing characters and possibly add new ones. If your story requires a world with detailed and consistent rules, this can take quite a while. Do not, however, spend an exorbitant amount of time with this. Right now, it’s impossible to come up with every detail you’re going to need, so try not to get bogged down with making a thousand little decisions. As the writing process continues, plenty of them should come to you naturally, so relax and move on when you feel ready. At this point the work has been mostly setup, not really resembling an outline. All that, however, is about to change.
3) Step Three: Hit the Wall Now I know my basic plot and characters, so it’s time to bust out the heavy tools – namely my wall, a large pad of sticky notes, and a good pen. Why? Because this wall is about to become a living timeline. I start by writing down one major plot point on each note and sticking them to the wall in order, left to right. These plot points cover the big events from beginning to end, so they’re spaced out across the entire wall. This is my skeleton, my guiding line, my Prime Directive (yes, that was a Star Trek reference). My next step is to write smaller plot points and important milestones in my characters’ development, one per sticky, and assign them places in the wall. Their placement determines when they happen in the story, and in what context. Outlining this way helps me arrange plot points in a logical progression, identify areas of the story that need more development, and establish the growth that my characters will experience. It also makes it a breeze to rearrange scenes. If I realize that a scene is happening at the wrong time, I just pluck it from its place on the wall and post it where it belongs. It’s now that my story begins to feel real, and things pick up speed from here.
4) Step Four: The Final Frontier Although my story feels alive and the timeline covers a lot, there are still plenty of prose-y details that haven’t yet been decided. This is the last stage of my outlining process, and it’s actually a hybrid step – part outlining, part writing. Starting here, I take a piece of my timeline and type it out in the word processor. In between all those milestones, I write down the details and character interactions that connect everything together. Basically, everything that’s going to happen in this piece of the story gets decided here (I usually do this for between one and three chapters at a time). I may even include some scene dialogue if it’s flowing. The important thing is, by the end of this step I know exactly what’s going to happen, and oftentimes I know exactly what my characters will think, feel, and say about it.
5) Step Five: Just Write It Already! Now the real writing begins, and it all goes down on paper. Err, of the electronic variety, usually. It’s important to note that, just because I’ve outlined in great detail up to this point, doesn’t mean I’m rigidly attached to it. One of the great things about outlines is they leave room for flexibility and change. If inspiration strikes, I can go back to my outline for more surgery – changing any story element that I want. And because it’s all there in front of me, I can scan the wall and spot subsequent plot points that should be adjusted as a result of my new idea. This helps me preserve the continuity of the story.
As I write this out, I’m realizing that my method may seem overly-processed and clinical on the surface. You may be thinking that it’s too rigid and not creatively free enough. The reality, however, couldn’t be farther away from that. This is still a highly creative process, and it’s a ton of fun when done right. The outline is a tool, and a great one in my opinion, but that’s all it is. I have an extremely low tolerance for tedium, so you rest assured that I would’ve discarded this method long ago if I wasn’t having fun. An outline allows me to transfer my ideas to a visual medium, which leaves my brain free to imagine and daydream and “what if” without the burden of trying to remember every idea. So, rather than feeling shackled by the outline, I feel freed by it. If you give it a shot, maybe you’ll end up feeling the same way. Or maybe you’ll find something else that fits you perfectly.
The important thing is to stay passionate about your writing, and to keep growing no matter what. Okay, now we’re done, so do me a favor and envision that “The More You Know” shooting star on your screen….
Thanks! Have fun out there 🙂