A forum contributor asks: Do you outline before writing, write intuitively without an outline (including from dreams, etc.), or some hybrid of both?

PART TWO OF FOUR


Paula Chase, author of So Not The Drama (Kensignton/Dafina, March 07) writes:
No, I don't outline first. I'm very much a pantster and while I have moments of great panic when a vision of what I'd like to happen doesn't come to me fast enough, it seems to work best for me.

I've attempted outlines. I've found they help jog my thoughts. But ultimately, I find it too much paper to keep nearby as I'm writing. I end up either not looking at the outline or veering away from some of the points I thought I wanted to cover.

www.paulachasehyman.com


Greg R. Fishbone, author of The Penguins of Doom (Blooming Tree Press, 07/07/07) and Class President writes:

I like to start with a book opening, a few key scenes, and an intended ending. The challenge is to get from the Point A that came to me in a dream to the Point B in my head and from there to a Point C that wraps things up. If I end up at Point Z instead, I just fake like that's what I meant to do all along.

But I do recognize that some books absolutely can not be written without an outline because they have plots like a puzzlebox: HOLES by Louis Sachar, THE WESTING GAME by Ellen Raskin, THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE by Audrey Niffenegger, the collected works of Agatha Christie, and many others. I don't know for sure whether these authors used outlines but I have my suspicions.

I needed an outline for THE PENGUINS OF DOOM because it wasn't written chronologically. So I will use an outline if I have to but I try not to have to.

Carrie Jones, author of Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend (Flux, July 07) and Class Secretary writes:

I never start with an outline, but I do things in the first draft when I'm really cruising and I don't want to break up the flow, but I've thought of something important.

I make notes like: MUST MAKE MIMI AND BELLE TALK ABOUT DYLAN
And... GO BACK AND MAKE SURE THE INCITING INCIDENT IS IN THE FIRST 20 PAGES.
Or... ADD SCENE ABOUT THE DIFFICULTIES OF PERCEPTION VS. REALITY WHEN IT COMES TO UNDERSTANDING LOVED ONES. PERHAPS AT THE DMV.

That way I don't forget the little sparks of where I'm going.

That said, I'm revising two fantasy novels (middle grade) that are flawed. I've decided this, the whole flawed thing, although I'm positive if other people saw them right now, they'd agree.

So, I'm going back, outlining the story arc and making character sheets, which is a new process for me. That way when I revise them again, I'll feel like I have a plan. Plus, it almost feels like a mini-vacation from writing, because it's so different from my usual process.

Still, I never could have written the first drafts if I had outlined them. My favorite part of writing is the discovery process. I love discovering the story in the first draft, just like I love discovering character depths, connections, themes and layers in the revisioning process. I am greedy, and I don't want to give any of that discovery up, and I think I would if I outlined before the first draft.

www.carriejonesbooks.com


Ruth McNally Barshaw, author of Ellie McDoodle (Bloomsbury, May 07) writes:

I figure out the plot points in a sort of modified outline on index cards, then write and draw (at the same time) to fit the road map.
Sometimes I get to a point where I had been sure the story would go in a certain direction next, but find that it's better for the story to go in a different direction instead, because of how the character is speaking to me.

For this first book I only had half of the book figured out when I started writing. I just trusted the ideas would come at the right time, and they did.

http://ruthexpress.com


Ann Dee Ellis, author of This is What I Did (Little, Brown Summer 2007) writes:

Sometimes I wish I outlined but no, I don't. This has gotten me in trouble on numerous occasions. I was lucky with This Is What I Did: because I basically sat down and wrote the first page. When I reread it, I realized I had a sort of plot all set up with just the few sentences I had written. Of course this changed and changed and changed but at least I had some direction.

My second book has not been so lucky but I like seeing where the character takes me. The problem is when she takes me the wrong way and it's hard to delete, retrace, start over.

Sigh.