The Big O
By Keith Cronin | March 13, 2012 |
I’ll admit, between the title of this post and the accompanying image I’ve chosen, I may be guilty of making today’s post seem a bit more… titillating than it really is.
After all, most people won’t consider my topic even remotely sexy.
I mean, I guess it is something you could do in bed. But I usually do it on a desk.
I’m talking about Outlining.
Wait! Before you recoil in horror, and click away from this page in search of some more twitterific subject matter, let me clarify what I’m talking about, as well as what I’m not talking about. I’ll start by trying to address some potential objections you may have.
No Roman numerals required
First, let me assure you that I am NOT talking about those arduously complex multi-level lists that you were forced to learn in school, with all those Roman numerals and tricky formatting rules. No, I’m talking about an extremely simple tool you can put together in a matter of minutes.
And – this may surprise you – you don’t need to do it before you write. In fact, I find outlining much more useful during the writing process and afterward, when editing and revising.
Second, I am aware that many writers are “pantsers” (people who write by the seat of their pants), to whom the notion of plotting or outlining seems both unnatural and highly unpleasant – a sort of literary root canal that sucks any fun and creativity out of the writing process. But I’ve found a few ways that an outline can be extremely helpful even to pantsers, particularly when encountering the dreaded writer’s block.
Okay, let’s see this thing
So how does this Roman-numeral-eschewing device work? Simple. For each chapter of your book, just write down the chapter number, followed by one sentence or phrase describing what happens in that chapter. For example:
- Clive Cussler runs over a mime, gets a $5 ticket from the cop who witnesses it
- The mime’s angry mother beats up Clive, is awarded the key to the city
- Clive gets out of hospital, goes grocery shopping, meets Marsha in the produce section
- Clive and Marsha make out, then he finds out she is an adult literacy instructor
- The fight scene, Clive and Marsha break up
Note that these chapter descriptions don’t even have to be a complete sentence. A phrase will do, because the only person who needs to understand it is YOU. A simple entry like “the fight scene” or “the thing with Clive and the turkey baster” might be enough. That’s because this is not a document you’ll ever share with anybody. Unlike a synopsis, it’s not something you’ll need to submit to an agent or editor. This is just a personal, behind-the-scenes tool to help you write your book, just like a stack of 3×5 cards or a bulletin board covered in Post-its.
Many plotters build elaborate outlines before they write a single word of their manuscript. I don’t currently operate that way, so I won’t offer suggestions regarding this approach. Instead I want to focus on some other less obvious ways that outlining can be useful.
As a weapon against writer’s block
I’m sort of a hybrid between a plotter and a pantser. I usually start a book with a clear idea of my main characters and the climactic conflict they will ultimately face, but I don’t go so far as to figure out HOW they’re going to face that conflict. I figure that by the time I get there, I’ll know my characters well enough to know what they would do. Sounds great in theory, but I’ve found it has twice led me to the dreaded 30K Speedbump.
Maybe you’ve hit this bump as well. You’re about a third of the way into your first draft, and things have been going great, but suddenly you grind to a halt, at a loss as to what comes next. And you may not have a strong sense of how far along you are in your overall story arc. This is actually the stage where I usually build my chapter outline.
First, take stock of what you’ve got. Read each chapter that you’ve completed, and make sure each line in your chapter outline accurately reflects what is happening in those chapters. Then, make a list of any other scenes you have envisioned but haven’t written yet, using the same shorthand descriptions, like “the car chase,” or “Clive falls out of the helicopter into a pool of laser-enabled sharks.” Then look at that list and do two things:
- Put the scenes you’ve got into a logical order. If the order isn’t clear, just wing it, and maybe add notes to yourself like “may need to move this later.” Again, this is very similar to a notecard or bulletin board approach.
- Look for any gaps where you simply don’t know what’s going to happen next. This lets you know where the gaps are in your plot, and in your overall story arc. Some might find this disheartening, but I am actually comforted when I have a clearer understanding of the challenges that lie ahead of me.
And here’s where the chapter outline has been a lifesaver for me. When I hit that dreaded spot where I simply didn’t know what should happen next, I picked out some other unwritten scene from my list – a scene that I had a clear vision of in my mind – and I skipped ahead and wrote that scene. And in doing so, I regained my momentum (which for me is one of the biggest challenges when writing novel-length fiction).
True, by skipping ahead, you do create the potential for some continuity lapses. But that’s something you can fix when editing. The bottom line is that by putting my chapter outline – gaps and all – down on paper, I was able to truly see the shape of my book, and I found that enormously helpful.
As an editing tool
Here are some examples of how those simple one-line phrases can offer you a surprisingly powerful analytical device to fine-tune your manuscript:
Pacing
A basic technique to keep a sense of accelerating pace in your story is to make sure you keep increasing the conflict. A chapter outline can really keep you honest in that respect. If you’re getting close to the end, and you notice a few of your scenes or chapters are more about backstory or reflective moments, you may want to do some shuffling of the order of your scenes, to ensure your story is arcing upwards to its climax.
One thing I add to the end of each line in my chapter outline is the word count for each chapter, so some typical entries might be:
- Clive is attacked by rabid lemurs, and a piano falls on his Porsche (2,317)
- Clive’s personal assistant informs him that no, a thesaurus is not a type of dinosaur (1,846)
Chapter length can impact your pacing, and scanning your outline may reveal some chapters are conspicuously longer or shorter than most. This is not necessarily a trouble sign, but it’s worth taking a second look at those chapters to ensure that you’ve made your chapter breaks in the most effective places.
Subplots and character development
In my chapter outlines, I find it useful to list the main characters who appear in each chapter. This helps me track how my various characters’ paths are intertwined, and how evenly my subplots are weaving together.
I’ve had beta readers, agents and editors comment on a manuscript, saying that they wished a certain character or plot element was used more often or explored more deeply. Using the chapter outline, you can highlight every chapter where that character or element occurs, see where the longest gaps are between those occurrences, and look for opportunities to insert more.
I recommend using different colors of highlighting for each character or plot element. All this may seem a bit OCD, but I’ve found all those different colors of highlighting can really turn my outline into a powerful – and convincing – visual tool. Suppose I’ve highlighted a certain character in blue. If when scanning my outline for blue highlighting, I realize that I’ve got an important character who hasn’t shown up for half a dozen chapters, it forces me to either justify what I’ve written, or go back and fix it.
An easy-to-assemble tool with many long-term applications
Well, I hope you’ve found this persuasive. Again, there’s really not much work involved in creating a chapter outline, particularly if you’ve already got a draft of your manuscript completed. It should only take a few minutes for you to sum up each chapter, and you can use whatever shorthand makes sense to you.
But that quickly assembled tool can turn into an extremely valuable resource that can help you repeatedly throughout the process of writing and editing your novel.
And all without a single Roman numeral!
Image licensed from iStockphoto.com.
Author of the novels Me Again (originally published by Five Star/Gale), and Tony Partly Cloudy (published under his pen name Nick Rollins), Keith Cronin (he/him) is a corporate speechwriter and professional rock drummer who has performed and recorded with artists including Bruce Springsteen, Clarence Clemons, and Pat Travers. Keith’s fiction has appeared in Carve Magazine, Amarillo Bay, The Scruffy Dog Review, Zinos, and a University of Phoenix management course. A native of South Florida, Keith spends his free time serenading local ducks and alligators with his ukulele.
What if our chapter numbers are in Roman Numerals, huh?? Did you think of THAT?!
Anyway, I really like this idea. I’ve tried something similar, but… more detailed than a one-liner in shorthand. I think I titled the document ‘Chapter Planner’ and it was a really good way for me to create a story with a better degree of consistency than if I’d just dived into a first draft. A normal first draft would have been fine, but I was short on time and figured I could use it as a sort of shortcut and guide. It worked for me :)
Thank you for sharing this with us.
Dang, I didn’t see the Roman-numeraled chapters coming. You got me! :)
Your more detailed outline makes a lot of sense, and I think many plotters use a similar approach. I’ve dabbled with it, too, but always end up overthinking if I fill out too many details before writing.
But I do create a big “brainstorm” document when I’m first approaching a project, where I’ll spew any and all ideas that occur to me during that delicious “what if?” stage of a new novel project.
Thanks for reading!
Forget the outline. I want the full Clive story. Why and how did the piano fall on his Porsche?
Sorry, but after the thing with the turkey baster, I’m just not comfortable discussing it.
Keith,
Thanks. I’m showing my age here but when I see the Big O I think of basketball legend Oscar Robertson. As an unabashed pantser who preaches about the virtues of outlining for other people I really like the methods you have described. My outlines consist of about a dozen milestone events in the story, I do a lot of pre writing in my head before I sit down to write. Thanks for sharing these tips on an important part of the process.
I was using a fairly similar approach, but I found that when I went ahead and committed those ideas or milestones to specific chapters, I really started to see the *shape* of my book (along with the holes in that shape).
For me, writing a novel is a major piece of project management, and I find it really hard to keep an entire book in my head. So having a one-page cheat sheet has been invaluable to me.
Welp, I adore this. I am one of those “pantsters” – – though I’ve realized recently that I do a sort of “outline” thingee sorta kinda thingamajig in my head – but how you describe this is the first time I’ve read something on outlining that would make sense to my chaotic pea-headed black-holed brain! Yay!
If I do nothing else here, the thing about putting chapter word counts at the end of the chapter is a “duh, kat!” moment for me – for I will do a word count of chapters during my rewrites, but not note them, then have to do it again if I do extensive rewrites on chapters – PITA!
T’anky t’anky.
I love, love, LOVE this idea! This is a great system for keeping track of what I’ve written and for what needs to happen. Ooh, the gears are turning in my head…thank you!
I’m definitely a pantser, and I tend to keep two handwritten timelines next to my desk–one for backstory dates that may or may not pop up in my current WIP, and one for events that have to happen…though those are ordered, they’re somewhat vague. Your ideas make so much sense, and I’m so excited to give them a go!
You know, I think this may be helpful in getting through some of the current structural difficulties I’m dealing with in my edit-from-hell.
Thanks!
Good ideas. Closely resembles the approach taken by many editors I know, and that I should probably adopt.
I tend to like flow charts and family trees scrawled on my legal pad. This might be better. Much like buying files for my tax paperwork might be better than my current shoe box paper repository system.
I’m glad some of you are finding this idea useful!
I find that even most pantsers keep some sort of mental “file cabinet” of various ideas they think might fit into their story; this outline process just attempts to put those ideas into some semblance of order.
Hope it helps!
Great post, Keith. I outline several times during my process as well. I especially appreciated your comments about getting stuck, getting clear with some very simple tools and leaping ahead to write a scene that excites you.
Hey, Keith. Nice job. I’m a pantser, too, though I also do sort of a “post outline” to keep track of where I’ve been. I’ve got a book proposal out to a number of publishers on the subject of writing as a pantser, and your post would make a great addition (and expanded, if possible) if it goes. I’ll be sending you an email to ask about this, but wanted to send you a round of applause. Thanks.
Thanks, Ray. One added benefit I’ve found from making this high-level outline is that it’s easy to flesh it out into something more detailed if necessary.
For example, I referred to my chapter outline when working on my synopsis – by having a skeletal framework to start with, the task became far less daunting.
I employed some of these methods when writing my manuscript. In particular, I frequently wrote scenes out of sequence. Knowing where I had to get to helped me work out the plot and the content of individual scenes along the way.
I used the document structure function in Word to do my outline. I have read a lot about Scrivener, which seems to provide sophisticated tools for your process.
Steve
I can’t imagine starting off without some kind of outline. To me, the most natural method is to do a simple outline on the computer and then type my dialogs or scenes or chapters right into the outline. Once I feel that “chunk” is finished, I can delete the original notes. Also, if I get stuck on a certain part, I can move on to another that inspires me at that moment.
Good idea–I do something similar. Book-length projects get outlines very much as you describe, usually after I’ve done a lot of initial daydreaming (sort of like a first draft, except I don’t need to write it down). The book project I’ve actually come closest to completing also got a scene outline–within each chapter, I listed each scene, including all the detailed information I’d need to keep track of for consistency. Then I could shorten, lengthen, add, remove, and remove chapters as needed without getting lost.
I also used several different databases to keep track of the backstory. I found keeping detailed records of all world-building and character-building word reduced my urge to simply information-dump. I didn’t have to tell the reader about everything, because I wasn’t in danger of losing it.
That sounds a bit like what I did – I created biographies of the more important characters. Virtually nothing of that material wound up in the story, but the exercise helped me get to know the characters, making it easy for me to imagine how they would behave in the situations that arise.
This is great! I’m about ready to start outlining the next novel, so this is perfect timing.
Sarah Allen
(my creative writing blog)
Keith, Keith, Keith…that title and photo…I’m disappointed, dude. Except of course that your way of incorporating outlining into your process is terrific. Goes to show that there’s no one right way, just one’s own way.
“And – this may surprise you – you don’t need to do it before you write. In fact, I find outlining much more useful during the writing process and afterward, when editing and revising.”
This is awesome! Finally someone who is more like my frankenhybrid of plotter and pantser.
I love to do outlines, only I do them after the fact. Which is what I used to do back in highschool. I would write the paper first, then create the outline and the index cards. Hand them in in reverse order, and voila, done. :)
Keith, I’ve never had another writer give a breakdown of my own writing process as clearly as you just did. You aren’t one of those boys in my basement are you? Are you?
Momentum IS key. Being able to jump ahead to another scene to “dig where the ground is soft”* is one of the most helpful things I know to do when arrived at a sticking point.
Lori
*How Diana Gabaldon puts it
This is all very well and good, very useful ideas, etc. But I want the Clive novel. The whole hilarious story.
This post delivered the belly-laughs of Jon Stewart, but I didn’t have to stay up until 11pm.
Many, many thanks.
Anne
I’m a more extensive outliner than most, but I start with many of these strategies and will testify to their usefulness! And even if you do outline before you write, I find having some sort of outline is good for allowing me to see what adjustments need to be made as changes come up (and they will), so that the whole thing feels more consistent at the end and I don’t just have dropped subplots everywhere.
I like this strategy a lot, Keith. I did something similar for many years before moving to a more comprehensive outlining method (as in actual plotting instead of just winging it), and it really does help keep me on track. Instead of staring at the dreaded blank screen wondering what’s next, the mini outline comes to the rescue!
Thanks! I’m a first-time novelist and really have not developed much of a plan other than “write, write, write,” which is what my writing mentors tell me. This will help me to organize a little better, because I am almost to the Speedbump of Doom. I’m starting to feel a little like my words are multiplying out of control, and it’s time to start caging them in. Glad I read this today.
Keith, I’m a pantser, but I followed your recommendation about Friday Night Lights and became totally hooked, so I may have to give this outlining thing a try too…
Thanks! I actually LIKE this outling idea. Lemme tell you, I am an extreme pantser- hardcore. But aside from a few intial twinges when you said “OUTLINE”, I really enjoyed this.
Even better, I think I could do it- and survive! Mayhaps even imrpove my writing (and avoid some of the dead-ends my current writing style tricks me into ;)).
Thanks for a really great post.
Oh, the roman numerals! Lol! I don’t miss those days at all.
As a matter of fact, this is exactly how I use outlines too. I find outlining everything in the beginning doesn’t work for me because I just don’t know the characters yet. But once I’ve hit 30k, I feel more comfortable taking a look at the overall story and knowing I can now make educated choices about where to take the story.
Great post, Keith. I never wrote a synopsis or an outline until I wanted to write my fourth novel. I found it helped me immensely and my chapter outlines were just as you described – one-liners that gave me a subtle guideline, guiding me forward until the end.
Thank you.
Patti
Hey – this sounds like it might work for me! Thank you! My pantser approach always leads me to confusion and chaos – but I simply cannot work from an outline.
Now let’s see..which one of my unfinished epics should I tery this method on first?
Someone mentioned Scrivener, and I just wanted to say that I use this software, and one of the selling points was the ability to be able to lay out a book chapter-by-chapter and to look at the outline easily.
The title and image pulled me in, naturally, but you had me at “literacy instructor.” What conflict! What pizzazz!
I write very much like this–do what I know, then fill in the mosaic pieces that are missing. Scrivener provides the ability to add colors and symbols to notecards, which is helpful if you’re visual.
I do this too-start outlining after I hit about 100 pages and get stuck. I thought it was just one more bass-ackwards Gemini thing, but no! Now I know other writers write this way too. Unless…are you a Gemini?