Faithful Outline or Not?
Oh this is one of my favourite topics, and yes it's part of the business of being an author, as in order to be an author you need something to publish, and in order to have something to publish, you need to have written something, and in order to write something, you need...an OUTLINE...
I love me a great outline...mine are, as previously stated, bullet pointed under the name of the chapter or the number of the chapter (usually number to begin with, name comes later as I like to be able to move them around, and you wouldn't believe the hassle I had in my first novel with just numbers and a missing chapter...)
I don't believe that the outline is written in stone, I believe they are a guiding tool, to help you go off piste, and then circle back to what you need it to be. They are not meant to be written in stone, they are adaptable, and changeable.
When you flesh out the outline, you see where you can add more chapters, or remove what's not working, which in it's self means that it's changeable.
my outlines would go something like...
Chapter One (Ellie)
- Ellie wakes up with a massive headache, and wobbly vision
- She checks a bag and jacket for ID
- The light hurts her eyes
- She tries to leave the room, but the light is too strong
- A man enters the room
- He seems to know her, even though she doesn't know herself
- He says that she needs to stay in the shade, that she's been ill and is light sensitive now.
- He says that he has to go out again and get medicine for her, then makes her promise to stay
- She doesn't trust him, her stomach is rumbling
- He leaves
- She decides to have a shower
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Great post and sources for further information. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI'm a semi-pantser. i write a rough outline for the story with what character developments i hope to achieve and what the plot points are, but chapter by chapter i'm winging it. Idea-ist@GetLostInLit
ReplyDeleteWow. That's what I do in a nutshell. :-)
DeleteOutlines can be important to both fiction and non-fiction authors (I'm in non-fiction), depending on one's personality and style of working. I once read an opinion piece, so long ago I've lost the source. The author's contention was that outlines are baloney and actually inimical to the writing process. My opinion is that the article was baloney because the author of it was prescribing to everybody, ignoring the fact that we are all different, and that some people can write without an outline, but others need the guidance an outline gives. And it is just guidance, for indeed you are correct in that they can and should be flexible and adaptable. At a writer's conference here in northeast Florida, technothriller author David Poyer, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, showed his outline process, which is complex indeed. Mine is simpler, but it works for me. And that's the bottom line: we do whatever works for us.
ReplyDeleteMy outlines are even looser than yours but I agree with them not being set in stone. Having some sort of guide to your characters and to the plot definitely beats just winging it, in my book anyway. In my book? Get it?
ReplyDeletehttps://dacairns.com.au/blog/f/a-to-z-blogging-challenge-g