When an Outline Isn't an Outline: Plotting From the Seat of Your Pants

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Long-time readers of this blog will recall that while I now use an outline for my long-form fiction, I used to rebel against the very notion of outlining.  When I was a teenager, especially, I preferred to think of the author's role as something like an archaeologist excavating the blank page to reveal the story.  Sure, I'm in charge of the process, but that doesn't mean I know what's going to happen.

Over time, though, I realized that I needed an outline.  Why?  Essentially because as a working adult it helps me not forget what the heck I'm doing when I'm kept away from my writing for days or weeks at a time.

But I don't really outline in a traditional sense.  To do so feels very forced and  drums the creativity out of my process.  Plus, for me there's no escaping it: as I flesh out details, I do change my mind about what's going to happen.  A proper outline isn't very forgiving of that.

Puffin
photo by Hanno

So instead I do what I call a chapter run outline.  Because this has been so helpful to me, let me walk you through the chapter run outline of a hypothetical novel, Puffin Magnus.

Because of the way I write, I know how it's going to end, or at least, how I think I'm going to end it.  Because I know that's not the case for many other writers, I'll assume I don't actually know this time.

The process always begins by identifying a starting and an ending point:

Start: Dr. Cavern builds a fish oil-powered time machine
End: Details uncertain, but there is a Roman Cult of the Puffin and the world has changed from that which we know.

Then I'll flesh it out into general chaptery bits, using completely arbitrary numbers:

1) Dr. Cavern builds a fish oil-powered time machine
2) Dr. Cavern travels back to the time of the Roman Republic -- brings along accidental puffin -- confused puffin flies into someone, interrupting an assassination
20) Details uncertain, but there is a Roman Cult of the Puffin and the world has changed from that which we know.

Then I figure out any major plot points and insert them, again with arbitrary numbers, based on roughly whereabouts in the story line I want them to happen.  So, for instance, if I want this to happen around the middle, I will call it chapter ten:

10) The romans realize it was the puffin who stopped the assassination, not Dr. Cavern.

At that point it's a matter of running through connect-the-dots iterations, inserting the plot points that seem necessary to get from one point to another:

2) Dr. Cavern travels back to the time of the Roman Republic -- brings along accidental puffin -- confused puffin flies into someone, interrupting an assassination
3) The Romans assume it was Dr. Cavern who stopped the assassination.
6) Confused and on-the-run, Dr. Cavern seeks shelter near cliffs haunted by a single puffin.
10) The romans realize it was the puffin who stopped the assassination, not Dr. Cavern.
15) All the Romans unite against Dr. Cavern.
20) Details uncertain, but there is a Roman Cult of the Puffin and the world has changed from that which we know.

Rinse.  Repeat.

6) Confused and on-the-run, Dr. Cavern seeks shelter near cliffs haunted by a single puffin.

8) Dr. Cavern bonds spiritually with the puffin

10) The romans realize it was the puffin who stopped the assassination, not Dr. Cavern.

13) Romans begin resented Dr. Cavern's special relationship with the puffin.

15) All the Romans unite against Dr. Cavern.
16) Dr. Cavern appeals to the puffin for mercy.

And so so on, until I have what feels roughly like a plot.

1) Dr. Cavern builds a fish oil-powered time machine

2) Dr. Cavern travels back to the time of the Roman Republic -- brings along accidental puffin -- confused puffin flies into someone, interrupting an assassination

3) The Romans assume it was Dr. Cavern who stopped the assassination.

4) Factions develop, one idolizing Dr. Cavern and the other resenting her.

5) While being honored by one faction, Dr. Cavern's life is threatened by the other.

6) Confused and on-the-run, Dr. Cavern seeks shelter near cliffs haunted by a single puffin.

7) Dr. Cavern tries to secure fish oil for a return time travel trip, but fails.

8) Dr. Cavern bonds spiritually with the puffin

9) Dr. Cavern takes to walking with and dwelling beside the puffin.

10) The romans realize it was the puffin who stopped the assassination, not Dr. Cavern.

11) The cult of the puffin begins to develop.

12) Dr. Cavern becomes inconsequential to both factions.

13) Romans begin resented Dr. Cavern's special relationship with the puffin.

14) Dr. Cavern tries to take advantage of the puffin's persuasive aura to secure her own safety and prestige.

15) All the Romans unite against Dr. Cavern.

16) Dr. Cavern appeals to the puffin for mercy.

17) Two groups of Romans encircle Dr. Cavern to kill her, but the puffin tried to intervene

18) Details uncertain, but there is a Roman Cult of the Puffin and the world has changed from that which we know

You'll notice that I'm not concerned about details of action, character, setting, or historical research.  I'm just laying out the foundation for my story so that I have a coherent vision -- a foundation from which to attack those details, and a guideline to which I can appeal when I get lost or confused.

.Nevets.

Soundtrack for writing the post provided by Metallica, Fleetwood Mac, Yngwie Malmsteen, TV on the Radio.

Deborah Swift: A Hard Time Creating Believable Characters

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Writers face all sorts of rejection and criticism.  Some of it is helpful.  Some of it arbitrary.  Some it is just plain contradictory.  Historical fiction novelist Deborah Swift knows how hard hard this, especially the more vulnerable and honest your writing is.  She faced scathing rejections on the path to publishing her first novel, The Lady's Slipper, and then scathing criticism after.  But criticism doesn't mean a book is a failure.

And she's going to give away a wonderful reminder of that to someone, too!

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A writer has to have a thick skin, which is a big ask precisely because we spend so much time battling to expose our sensitivities in our work.

When I first wrote my historical novel, The Lady’s Slipper I wrote it for enjoyment. Some friends read it, liked it a lot, said it was really gripping and encouraged me to send it to an agent. I chose from the Writer’s Yearbook an agency who represented authors I enjoy reading. The agent took me on. I was completely bowled over by her response, as it is one thing friends liking it, and quite another (so I thought) to convince a professional. My agent said she would start sending it out to publishers straight away, and they’d love it. I naively thought that everything would be plain sailing from then on.

Rejection after rejection poured in. The novel was “overwhelmed with period detail,” the novel was “thin on period detail”. The main character was “unlikeable”, the main character was “sympathetic” but the plot needed work. The plot was “engaging, but it wasn’t for us.” In other words twelve differing opinions, but all were clear on one thing – they weren’t going to publish. The agent was fantastically supportive, but suggested that as she’d run out of publishers I should shelve it and start a second. I wondered what the point would be if nobody was going to read them.  But I was hooked on writing, so I did begin another novel, and began to regain my love of the process of storytelling.

At the same time I went back and edited The Lady’s Slipper again, scrutinising it and trying to bear in mind all the radically different opinions, but more to the point paying attention to my own inner compass.
A few months later I sent it to a mainstream publisher that takes unsolicited submissions. To my delight they decided to publish. The publishing house was one that had already rejected the manuscript when it landed on a different editor’s desk.

This is when I first began to realise that even within the publishing world, readers are readers and all have very different tastes, and that includes editors. An editor is going to spend hours and hours poring over your book, fighting for the right cover, wrangling with you over edits, talking to the marketing department. Who can blame them if they say they have to completely love a book before they will take it on.

Since the The Lady’s Slipper has been published, the discrepancy in readers’ opinions, particularly “professional” reviewers has been astonishing. Imagine my horror at this; “Swift has a hard time creating believable characters” a review which is now plastered all over Amazon. Even though there are several underneath it saying such things as “Her characters are so real that they linger in the mind long after the book is back on the shelf” - to a writer the bad reviews hurt. Even if it is only one reviewer in the whole world that feels that way, the review is out there putting people off before readers even give the book a chance. You need to have a thick skin to take this sort of criticism and not hang up your pen. You can read the full dire review here.

So my message to writers is this – there is probably at least one reader out there who will enjoy your book, so be as authentic about your own story as you can. (I rejected the advice from one publisher that The Lady’s Slipper would stand more of a chance if I re-wrote it as, god forbid, a Regency novel) If you are lucky, that one enthusiastic reader will also be an editor, a publisher or a professional reviewer.

And develop that thick skin.

I have an autographed copy of The Lady’s Slipper to give away to a writer whose novel or story has been rejected, to remind them that the end might only be the beginning and to keep writing.(open worldwide) Reply to this post to be entered in the draw.

Deborah Swift

Deborah Swift writes character-rich historical fiction with a touch of intrigue.  Her first novel, The Lady's Slipper, is available in both the UK and the US.  Her second novel, The Gilded Lily will be available from Pan Macmillan and St. Martin's press.

.Nevets.

History by Immersion, Mystery through Craftsmanship

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Historical fiction often feels like a guided a tour of another world, with the author serving a friendly and well-informed guide who points (sometimes clumsily and sometimes deftly) toward the things that are interesting about this other place and time.  Traditional mysteries, in which the reader pieces together clues together with a professional investigator so that the story is about the case itself rather than the detective's personality or methods (apart from the detective's brilliant logic) have given way to procedurals, forensic procedurals, cosies, and thrillers.  A Razor Wrapped in Silk  by R. N. Morris transcends these trends.  It is a traditional mystery, told with literary craftsmanship, fully immersed in 19th century Russia.

The third in a series of books that began with A Gentle Axe and continued with A Vengeful Longing, Morris' A Razor Wrapped in Silk takes place in Czarist St. Petersburg and features Porfiry Petrovich, the investigating magistrate created by Dostoevsky for Crime and Punishment.  Lest you think this abusive or derivative, rest assured that Morris handles both  Petrovich and Dostoevsky's Russia with great respect.  If anything, this book stands as a great tribute to an intriguing character and an author whose ideas have influenced a great deal of literature.

The story itself weaves together two mysteries: one, the brutal slaying of a much-loved woman; the other, the disappearance of a young boy who worked in a factory and was attending an experimental new school.  With a similar feel to Conan Doyle's Holmes when international affairs got involved, and with a touch of Dostoevsky himself, the stories unfold at three levels: the intriguing work of discovering and interpreting clues; the emotional drama of those caught up in the crimes; all with an eye to the politics and ideological clash in the world around them.  Petrovich, as a detective, is a man of striking intellect and entertaining personality, but as much as he is the center-piece of the story, his character never overwhelms the rest of the narrative.

From the outset, the thing that is most impressive about A Razor Wrapped in Silk isn't the mystery (which is well-crafted), isn't the detective (of whom I can't wait to read more in the earlier books), isn't the prose (which is sharp and bleakly vivid), and isn't even the political intrigue (engagingly related but with a fair hand).  What is most impressive is the way that the story is told.  The reader is immediately immersed into the world, and the story reads as if 19th Century Russia is the most natural place for a book to place.  There is no sense of marvel or wonder.  There is no subtle suggestion that the reader should be entertained by the differences between the world of the book and the world in which they live.  There is no implication that the real point of the book is to show off Dostoevsky's St. Petersburg to readers.

Instead, A Razor Wrapped in Silk is drenched in authenticity.

It is difficult to completely scrub time and place from the English language, but apart from a few very brief moments in which a character's speech strikes an American "ear" as rather British, and a climactic sequence that feels a bit more modern, Morris has put together a book that feels very much as if it were simply published out-of-time.

A Razor Wrapped in Silk is available in UK paperback and also on Kindle in the US and internationally, as well as through various after-market resellers.

.Nevets.