{"id":4961,"date":"2011-05-12T23:56:56","date_gmt":"2011-05-13T05:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=4961"},"modified":"2011-05-13T00:06:52","modified_gmt":"2011-05-13T06:06:52","slug":"thoughts-on-outlining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/thoughts-on-outlining\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on outlining"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I’m on track to finish my fifth novel in a couple days, and surprisingly, the writing has been going very smoothly.<\/p>\n

Usually by this point, my eyes are bleeding and I feel as if I have a hundred caltrops<\/a> in my pants.\u00a0 Finishing a rough draft is still the hardest part for me, since by the end everything seems to suck and I just want to trash the whole project.<\/p>\n

I still feel a little bit of that with Into the Nebulous Deep,<\/em> but not nearly as much as with my previous stuff.\u00a0 Part of that is probably because I feel confident that I can fix whatever I screw up, but the other part probably has to do with the way I’ve learned to outline.\u00a0 In one short sentence, here’s what I’ve learned:<\/p>\n

An outline is simply the story you tell yourself to help you tell the story.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don’t think there’s any mortal writer on this planet who can keep a whole novel in their head at one time.\u00a0 Scenes, yes; chapters, maybe; novels, absolutely not.<\/p>\n

However, since everyone’s creative mind works a little differently, everyone has to find the process that works for them.\u00a0 Brandon Sanderson, for example, writes story bibles that are almost 100k words long.\u00a0 If I were to try to do that, I’d get bored halfway through and spend the rest of the day dorking around on youtube.\u00a0 Other people prefer to fly by the seat of their pants, and while there’s something to say about trusting your subconscious, I need a little structure to keep from getting totally lost.<\/p>\n

It took me a while to figure out the process that best works for me, but based on how ITND has been going, I think I’ve hit my stride.\u00a0 Breaking it down into plot, setting, and character, here’s how I basically do it:<\/p>\n

Plot<\/strong><\/p>\n

For me, the basic plot of the story comes in a flash of creative insight once all the ideas in my head have reached a critical mass.\u00a0 It’s like watching a fissure shoot across a smashed window pane, or lightning arcing from the ground to the sky.<\/p>\n

If I don’t have time to start the project right away, I’ll let the plot mull around in my head for a couple days, then open up notepad and free write the basic structure of the story in an unedited stream of consciousness.\u00a0 When I do start the project, I’ll look back to the free write to refresh my memory, but otherwise work out of what’s in my head (which may have changed).<\/p>\n

While the project is ongoing, I’ll divide the whole novel into parts, chapters, and scenes.\u00a0 For the chapter I’m currently working on, I’ll have the various scenes listed in bold with their corresponding point of view character (eg: “1.1: James<\/strong>“), followed by a brief one or two line description of the action and plot significance.\u00a0 If I introduce a new character in that scene, I’ll write their name in ALL CAPS (I believe that’s a screenwriting convention I picked up from my old college roommate).<\/p>\n

For chapters I haven’t written yet, I just write a few lines of description for what I envision happening in them.\u00a0 When I first start out, I usually have a clear idea where I want the story to end, but I don’t bother outlining all the stuff in the middle since that usually changes based on stuff that comes before.\u00a0 I only keep my outline a few chapters ahead of where I currently am, and may change things completely if something new comes up.<\/p>\n

This process works very well for me.\u00a0 I use it for every draft, and refer to it often.<\/p>\n

Character<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve found that I need to do a lot more outlining to figure out my characters than I do with my plot.\u00a0 However, it’s like Tracy Hickman said with the marbles: don’t hold onto your outline too tight, or all the marbles will slip out between your fingers.<\/p>\n

The things I absolutely need to know about my characters are:<\/p>\n