You are here#11: Plot: Outline or Not

#11: Plot: Outline or Not

By KLCtheBookWorm - Posted on 02 May 2010

This is going to sound completely against everything I have told you previously in these tutorials: the story does not have to have a written outline.

"But you said write everything down!"

And I still maintain that. Write down the information on your characters, the inspirations for scenes, the roadmap for the story. But detailing the story scene by scene is not a technique for every writer.

First, I suppose we should go over the technique. Basically, the process of building scenes and conflicts (discussed in Writing Tutorial #9) is written out from the beginning of the story to the end before writing a single word of the narrative.

For example, this is how the outline looks for Chapter 15 of my crossover novel.

Chapter Fifteen: The Trap is Sprung
1. Boys in route
  1. Mike explains Allie
  2. Mike's POV
2. Donnie in the lab
  1. Show Donnie being examined by Val Tech
  2. Di tries to escape and it's thwarted
  3. Donnie's POV
3. Limburger and Allie's meeting
  1. Allie declines his offer
  2. Limburger's POV
4. Allie meets Karbunkle
  1. She escapes into his lab
  2. Minor scuffle and she gets the disk with Tower plans
  3. Allie's POV
5. Allie's escape from Tower
  1. Meets with Mike, Vinnie, and Ryan
  2. They retreat to Tala's
  3. POV?

Outlines can be a lot more detailed. I use them when working on multiple projects (which seems to be constantly) to keep me from forgetting a scene that I want or what is the next dramatic turn that needs setting up. I write down enough so I don't forget.

Outlines can be very useful for the easily confused (like me). They can also be a hindrance for some writers. Tony Hillerman is an author who writes without outlines. In his article, "Building Without Blueprints", he describes how he discovered outlining wasn't for his writing. "I have gradually learned that this sort of creative thinking happens for me only when I am at very close quarters with what I am writing--only when I am in the scene, in the mind of the viewpoint character, experiencing the chapter and sharing the thinking of the people in it. From the abstract distance of an outline, with the characters no more than names, nothing seems real to me. At this distance, the details that make a plot come to life always elude me." (Writing Mysteries 80) Jump in and start writing, basically, and it will all work out in the end. Because your brain is constantly jumping ahead to make the story better.

In order to follow this method, you must understand the basic plotting techniques. You have to know how to set a scene, build tension, and intensify the complications. Hillerman recommends the following ingredients to help his imagination: "A setting with which I am intimately familiar. A general idea of the nature of the mystery that needs to be solved and a good idea of the motive for the crime, or crimes. A theme. One or two important characters in addition to the protagonist." (Writing Mysteries 81-82)

Setting, okay you don't have enough money to fly to Chicago--not to mention Mars. Re-watch the episodes, find travel guides, search the Internet, ask questions. You have a benefit of being part of a fan subculture. Other fans may have been to Chicago. Now for the general idea bit, that is your road map. Theme is the same as the premise. And why if you have only one character, things will probably get really boring quickly.

If you are a writer that always stops before you get started or find that your work diverges drastically at some point from the plans, you could be a candidate for writing without an outline. Just post your roadmap directly in front of you (taping it to the monitor usually works) and start writing. See you again when the first draft is finished.

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