TECH: Outlining Your Novel (Part 2)

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Original Posting June 27, 2016

Continuing along with my reading of Outlining Your Novel by K. M. Weiland...

Okay! So, assuming you think you might want to give outlining a shot, Chapter two is Before you begin the outline. That's right, think before you outline! And here K recommends looking at various methods of outlining, and picking the one that works for you and your situation. Just for example, she suggests four different approaches:

1. Abbreviated. A quickie, especially if you are tight on time and need to crank out those words in a hurry.
2. Scene idea list. Instead of digging into everything, at least lay out the scene ideas.
3. Visual! Sure, some people prefer visual thinking, and either by clipping pictures from magazines and other sources (or maybe doing the modern day equivalent, grabbing Google images and other digital visions?) you can get a visual outline ready to write.
4. Blowout! Walk through all the steps and do a full outline, with all the trimmings.

K also points out that some people prefer mind map, pictures, maps, or dream review approaches.

So, what's a mind map? Basically, take a blank sheet of paper, and in the middle, write the key concept/idea. Put a bubble around that. Then around the sheet, sprinkle ideas that you come up with, and put bubbles around those. Add lines to connect things. Add more notes as you think of them. That's my basic approach. Some people use shapes, even pictures, and there is software available to do them online, if you prefer. However, I find a sheet of paper and a pencil works fine for me. The nice thing here is that it works as a personal brainstorming method, and doesn't enforce structure. You add that after you get enough pieces down on the sheet to start seeing how they fit together.

Pictures? That's the visual thing again. You might prefer doodles or something?

Maps. Quite a few fantasy writers seem to find maps, often made to suit, are a useful method of organizing their journeys.

Dream review? Well, suppose someone is writing the perfect review of your book, the one that you are going to write. What would they say? Who is the main character, and what do they think are the best points of your book. And now that you've written the review, guess what? You get to write the book that leads to that review.

K also raises the question of how you want to do things. Some people (I'm one of them) still prefer to start with pen and paper (actually, I prefer pencil and paper!). However, other people find a text editor or some other app to be good. K points out that yWriter, a freely available piece of software, was developed for writers, and some people prefer it.

Last part of chapter 2. K mentions that quite a few writers, especially those with sprawling epics, find a calendar or timeline to be necessary. Here again, you can go from the simple monthly calendar through timelines in Excel or even specialized apps for timelines. Do what works for you! But don't be surprised to find that keeping track of when things happen can help. After all, you're doing reveals, action in scenes, and all that fun timing to help the reader feel the rollercoaster thrill and tension of your story.

Okay? So the point of this chapter is to suggest some of the various styles of outlining, and get you to think about what suits your personal working style, and the story you are doing. Whether it's a quick list of the scenes, a set of pictures to help you see what's happening, or a more extensive set of notes, you can pick what works for you!

Hum... One thing I didn't see listed is the beat sheets that some folks recommend. Certain well-known points in a plot, whether it's just seven steps, however many there are in the hero's journey, or some other set of steps, these are something you can use to frame a plot outline. Maybe that's coming later?

Okay! So we've looked at why outline, thought about various styles of outline, and next, in chapter 3, we're going to craft our premise!

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