Outlining for Pantsers
By Tracy Hahn-Burkett | August 29, 2017 |
That title doesn’t appear to make much sense, does it? You might be thinking, do you even know what those words mean? One is either a plotter or a pantser. If you’re a plotter, you outline. You like to know where you’re going before you set out on your novel’s journey. You may choose to turn right where your outline indicates you will turn left, but that will be a conscious diversion. Order. You must have order.
Pantsers, on the other hand, thrive on spontaneity and the unknown. If you’re a pantser, you just get in the car and drive. You introduce yourself to your characters and let them navigate; you allow yourself to become their instrument. Outlines are like nasal-voiced GPS programs constantly chirping reprimands at you each time you deviate from the pre-approved route. SHUT UP, they make you want to shout. Don’t bother me with directions. I will feel where I want to go.
Me? I’m a pantser. When I write, I always hope to find myself in The Zone, that place composed of buzz and bliss where I forget I’m typing and the words surprise me as they appear on the page, outcome unknown. What do you mean it’s 5:00? Wasn’t it just lunchtime? Whoa, did Sage just drop the key to the whole story in her admonishment to her sister? I didn’t know she was going to do that. Did Michael just die in that accident? Where did that come from? That’s not where I thought this was going, but it’s great. I’m going to follow this trail and see where it takes me.
I may sketch out a few guideposts in advance, maybe identify some oncoming trouble points, but overall, this is how I draft new material. When I complete a draft, I follow the advice of wise author and teacher Jenna Blum: I write a chapter-and-scene outline of the completed manuscript.
“But why outline when you’ve already written the book?” This is a valid question. Here’s why I do it:
- Reduction. I’ve just written roughly a hundred thousand words. That’s a lot of little puzzle pieces. I need to step back and see how that puzzle looks when all the pieces are put together, and a scene-by-scene outline lets me do that. I assign one bullet point per scene, and then I can see the whole puzzle in a few pages.
- Structure. See Reduction above. What does the book look like? Where are the rises and falls, where is the climax, where is the inciting incident or incidents, where is the resolution? Is there a ton of backstory, delivered too early? Is there not enough conflict? Use your outline to draw a physical picture of your structure. What do you see? A “W” or a jagged incline with a steep but short drop on the far side? (If it’s a flat line, you need to rework it.)
- Whoops, what happened there? When you’re looking at your book from a macro perspective, you can see big-picture flaws like abandoned plot threads, unnecessary scenes or minor characters, missing or unbalanced elements, the place a faulty ending really began to go wrong, etc. I use a different color pen to note these types of problems on my outline so I fix them early on. (See next bullet point.)
- Enforced big-picture revision. You see the big picture; now fix it. I know I’m not the only one out here who can’t resist fixing wording, grammar, punctuation and countless other details as I read. It’s so annoying to find those errors and so easy to fix those manageable problems. But what’s the point in doing all that work if later you end up cutting the whole chapter? Evaluating your manuscript via a scene-by-scene outline helps cut out some of that superfluous editing of words you’re going to throw out anyway. (But most of us have a little of the grammar-freak compulsion within us, so don’t feel bad if you still do a little of this editing as you read your manuscript.)
- Make adjustments. Get some scissors. Print out an extra copy of your outline. Cut the outline up scene by scene, then pin it to a big corkboard. (Or you can do this on Scrivener.) Ready, set, play. What if you moved the gas station scene to the next chapter? What if the father’s backstory went after the funeral instead of before? What if you cut chapter twelve, except for the fight? Get messy, then clean it up. What does the big picture of your book look like now? Once you see an outline you like, then you can revise your manuscript without feeling like you’ve been dropped into a swirling story vortex.
- Pace. Where are you heavy, long, light, short? Is your book dark except for a couple of humorous scenes? Okay, but did you realize all those scenes were within a few chapters of each other? Is your book almost all loud moments? Is it too quiet throughout? A big-picture view is invaluable in making these determinations.
By outlining after writing, we pantsers can draft in the manner we work best but still make use of the organizational benefits of outlines. You can do this after every major revision; revise your outline, too, and take a step back to see how things look through a wide-angle lens. Your characters will thank you for the freedom you’ve given them, and your readers will be grateful for the extra steps you took to ensure your story works on every level, big and small.
[coffee]
Tracy Hahn-Burkett is a writer and public policy advocate who has written everything from speeches for a U.S. senator to texts seeking proof-of-life from her kids in college. She’s published dozens of essays, columns, articles, reviews and a story, and teaches writing for advocacy. She currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with her husband, cat, and dog, and she is revising her first novel. Her website is TracyHahnBurkett.com. You can find her on Threads as @tracyhahnburkett.
This is where the genius of Scrivener comes into play. As a pantser, I can write as a series of scenes and then when I am finished I can go back and do the things Tracy suggests using the various tools Scrivener offers, labels, folders and the like.
David, I’ve never used Scrivener, but I’ve heard enough to be intrigued. I may give it a try with the next manuscript.
Wonderful, yes, I agree reviewing in outline form after the book is fully written out is my method as well. It helps a lot with pace, and to clarify and target. And rearrange when needed. I don’t use any software like Scrivener. I print out the whole novel and spread it out each chapter on the floor (a storyboard of sorts), reading through, making organized notes, listing action, order of scenes, etc. I actually walk within the novel from page 1 to the end. There’s something about seeing the story like a map that works for me.
“Your characters will thank you for the freedom you’ve given them …” Love this idea, Tracy. Thanks for a great post today.
Thank you, Paula. I love the picture of you walking “within the novel”–a literal version of the journey we want our readers to take.
Tracy– As a pantser, I want to thank you for talking about outlining/revision in plain-spoken terms. Puzzle pieces, structure in terms of a W or a jagged line, scissors and corkboard–it may be generational, but such an approach to method works far better for me than do the more complex schema and glossary of terms applied by most of those who discuss these issues.
Thanks again.
There are so many approaches to structure, Barry. There’s something that will work for everyone. I’m glad this is helpful for you.
Love this. I live this!
:)
I do what might be a “precursor” of an outline as I pants my novel. That is, I create a chart of each chapter as it’s finished, built of brief summaries of what happens, which characters appear in the chapter, and who the POV character(s) are. Much like your post outline, this helps me keep track of who/what/when/where, and sometimes I’ll see that it’s been too long since a certain character took part in the story, or that a story element has been neglected, and I can see what the tension/story question elements in each chapter are, etc.
I call the chart “events,” and it could serve as the bones of a scene-by-scene outline as well. Thanks for your tips, I may try the expanded outline with this WIP when it’s done.
Ray, that sounds like a great hybrid system. Working this way must allow you to end a draft with that whole puzzle already in place. Thanks for leaving this comment; others might find your system useful.
Hey Tracy – I’ve not only outlined finished (and pantsed) drafts before, but have also applied three-act story structure to them, as well. It always amazes me how closely our intuition steers us to a traditional story. Not that there hasn’t been tons of work to do each time, but still it can still be exciting to see the bones of what we’ve formed appear and strengthen. Thanks for the post-pantsing tips!
Vaughn, agreed. It’s great to see the structure that’s you’ve intuitively built into your story. That’s when you know that obsessive reading habit you’ve had all your life has really paid off!
Nice piece, Tracy! I wonder if any writer is 100 percent pantser
or plotter. Seems to me that both sides are needed to make story. This piece gives my pantser side mapping so I don’t drive the car off the cliff.
Well done,
Rose Kent
Rose, you make a good point. You can’t write without some planning somewhere along the line. You also inarguably need creativity and imagination, and I don’t know how you do that without at least a little spontaneity. As for proportions of each–that’s where we all differ, and there’s no right or wrong equation.
As a pantser, I was afraid to read this article at first, worried that someone was going to tell me I had to outline first. LOL What you suggest, Tracy, is not much different from something I already do. I keep a running outline going as I write, noting what happens in each chapter in a notebook I keep by my computer. It has been a great resource for me in making sure I am keeping to the main thread of a story, giving my two female detectives enough face-time, and keeping the timeline correct.
This makes more sense to me than anything I’ve seen. I recently read a book on writing that tried yet again to “reform” my pantser ways. The argument against pantsing didn’t take revisions into account. I, too, use outlining AFTER the first draft. It allows me the joy of play and surprise, but the outlining is helping me reduce the total number of drafts needed to finish a book.