“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”
Joan Didion, writer, journalist
Have you ever been in the middle of one writing project, and then another idea pops into your head? It is as if you can’t finish your current project fast enough to get to the next big idea.
It happens to me a lot. My brain works faster than my pen or fingers on the keyboard. Suddenly I’m spitting out ideas and trying to catch them as if they were fireflies.
That is why I love outlines. When an idea appears out of nowhere, either for an article, book, or short story, I can begin crafting an outline. For example, if an article idea surfaces, I’ll simply open my template and give it a working header, a theme, type the opening or whatever it was that appeared in my head, and write in sub headers that function as an outline. When I’m ready to draft the article, I have everything laid out in front of me to get started.
We hear these terms often as writers: Are you a pantser? Or an outliner?
That depends on how you like to work. There is no right or wrong answer. And in my case, frankly, it hinges on what I write.
A pantser is someone who writes by the seat of her pants. There is no outline, just a few ideas in her head, and she sits down and starts typing/writing before she loses those ideas, crafting an entire manuscript.
An outliner is more organized, more strategic. The outline could contain character names, personality traits, descriptions, and how they connect in the story. The outline could also be a chapter-by-chapter format with a description for each.
An outline is certainly useful in a novel which is typically 50,000 to 100,000 words (or more) and is most helpful to keep track of the characters, your theme, and where you are trying to end up. It prevents you from getting confused because even if you wrote a draft of your novel in a matter of weeks, you forget a lot.
The point of an outline is to (1) help you keep your thoughts together, (2) to know where you are going and where you’d like to end up, and (3) to help you write and edit faster.
What are some focus areas for your outline?
The point of an outline is to (1) help you keep your thoughts together, (2) to know where you are going and where you’d like to end up, and (3) to help you write and edit faster.
Overall outline
You should create your overall outline before you begin writing your draft. Design it however it will work for you, but I’ve included a basic outline to get you started.
Let’s first talk about what an overall outline is and what you can put into it.
Your overall outline could list each chapter theme, the events taking place, the characters involved, the challenges they confront, and the chapter cliff hanger. You can make it as simple or as detailed as it will help you and how you prefer to work.
Some use their first or rough draft as an outline (pantser), which is also an option. But if you’re like me and you’d prefer to have your ideas and thoughts laid out from the start, it is better to construct the outline.
Here’s an example:
WORKING BOOK TITLE
Basic book description: What I plan to have my book about.
- CHAPTER TITLE OR THEME
- Brief description
- Characters involved
- Main events
- Cliffhanger or chapter ending
The reason I said earlier that you should write your outline before you write your draft is because even with good outline intentions, sometimes things change. As you construct your outline you may find those alterations happening in the outline process. Fix the outline, and this will help you create a smoother rough draft.
I also find it easier to move and change ideas around in an outline rather than a novel with 30 chapters already drafted.
The outline is often the preference in nonfiction for this very reason. The editor/publisher would prefer knowing the author’s intention before he/she proceeds with writing the book. As a fiction author, your objective is the same: to know your intentions.
Character descriptions and profiles
Character descriptions have been immensely helpful to me in my writing process. Here is where you can outline each character, including his/her physical descriptions: age, hair and eye colors, height, choices of dress; mannerisms: bites her nails when she’s nervous, plays with her hair when she’s flirting; tone of voice; unique characteristics; personality flaws and endearments, etc.
You might also include date and place of birth, upbringing, job resume, hobbies, and really anything that builds upon your character’s background and makes him/her real to you.
Even minor details add to your character’s personality: what makes him angry, what causes him to laugh, why he reacts the way he does to certain events. Do your characters have families? Living? Dead?
You will not be adding all these details into your story. But it is important for you to know your own character and keep her eye color straight.
While you might keep a separate file for your character profiles, you could add some of these important descriptions into your outline:
WORKING BOOK TITLE
Basic book description: What I plan to have my book about.
- CHAPTER TITLE OR THEME
- Brief description
- Characters involved
- Important background information and descriptions
- Main events
- Cliffhanger or chapter ending
Chapter descriptions
I once heard an author on a podcast describe his outline process. He said his chapter descriptions take several weeks to write and are many pages long. It works for him. And cuts his edit rounds to about three.
It doesn’t mean it will work for you. Your chapter descriptions can be as detailed or as simple as you need them. The descriptions can be bulleted sentences, or complete moment-by-moment scenes. Your aim is to get your thoughts and ideas in order so you know where you need to be and where you are going.
As you draft your descriptions, you might have further ideas you’d like to add in that chapter. You may even start composing artful sentences you’d like in the chapter. Go ahead and write them down. The descriptions help us to release and strengthen our creative juices, so take advantage of it. Then all you need to do is copy and paste when you draft your book!
Theme, climax, challenges
Your theme and overall arc is important to know not only where you are going, but how you will get there. Make sure your theme shows up in all your chapter descriptions. If it doesn’t, or your chapter looks more like a filler, rework that chapter or eliminate it altogether. This saves time overall.
What is your theme building toward? What is the climax? Or multiple climaxes you imagine for your story? Your outline will help you sort them out in a cohesive flow.
As you work through your theme and toward your climax, your characters will encounter challenges. What are they? Review your chapter descriptions and see where those challenges will work and how they fit into the overall theme.
Now your outline might look more like this:
WORKING BOOK TITLE
Basic book description: What I plan to have my book about.
Theme/overall arc: What is my book’s theme?
- CHAPTER TITLE
- Challenges encountered, how are they faced and/or solved
- Brief chapter description
- Characters involved
- Important background information and descriptions
- Main events
- Cliffhanger or chapter ending
- Climax (if any)
- How this chapter relates to my theme
- What my story/characters still need to solve
How your outline helps your writing and editing process
Your outline will help you fill in the blanks you have in your head. Coming up with our idea is the “eureka!” moment, but fleshing out the idea takes work. The outline will help your writing and editing process so your idea comes to fruition.
The more you have in your outline, the smoother your writing will be when you finally sit down to pen your draft. Having the ideas in writing, in front of you, acts like a map to give you direction. You know your destination and now you are clear on the roads you need to take to get there. You’re aware of the detours and how to navigate them. And you understand your passengers and all their quirks and endearing (or annoying) habits. In fact—you know their secrets!
Your outline will also be helpful to you when you’re ready to write your synopsis, your query letters, and your book jacket descriptions. Because you’ve been putting a lot of effort into your outline, and using it as your guide, it will help you focus on the concise phrases and descriptions you’ll need for these pieces.
Not only that, you can begin drafting your story outline any time, even if you are not in a position to write the story. You might be writing on deadline for something else; perhaps you are in the middle of another manuscript or short story; or your workload won’t lift for another month. The outline will at least get you started. Focus on that and when you are ready to begin your next project, you have all the labor done, and your writing will be smoother.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio for Pexels
Follow Emma Kathryn Harris on Facebook and Instagram.
