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

All---

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.

One Point for Outlining

All---

I don't want to drag up the whole, unfortunate debate about outlining, but I did want to specifically mention one of the reasons I do it.  (I don't do a proper outline, just a chapter run.)  When I have these periods where my momentum has slowed for one reason or another, having the outline there gives me something I can hold onto and pull myself through for a little while until I get my sea legs back under me.

There's no true, mid-project writer's block when you have some kind of sketch of what's coming ahead.  Your writing may be less fun when you are just pushing through.  Your writing may not be quite as sharp.  But you're still making progress, and you can make up for it in revisions.

Something for you to think about at least, I hope!

.Nevets.

Writer, not Observer

All---

I'm not really an outliner. I will confess it here and now. I will also confess that there have been some times that I have really regretted it. And I will further confess that I think the reason two novels have stagnated in-process for me is that I had an open and a close, and lost my way in between. An outline would have helped prevent that.

I'm also a bit of an explorer. I've been an archaeologist. I've been a forensics tech. I've been a historical researcher. I know the thrill of uncovering things, and have been intoxicated by it. When I'm writing, I'm also exploring. I love seeing the story unfold as I write it the same as if I were reading it or watching a movie of it.

But I am writing it.

And that's where I get really confused by other writers sometimes. I do know what it's like to be surprised by things as I write. I do know what it's like to get angry with and even yell at a character. And I do know what it's like to reach a point where I realize that what I was intending will not actually be possible.

What I don't get, however, is when writers find themselves stumped. I'm not criticizing them. I'm not complaining. But I literally cannot conceive of it. Here are some examples of what I'm talking about:

"I don't know if I should have my character do this."

"I don't know where to go from here."

"I had planned for that character to be a villain, but they went and did something heroic, so now I don't know who my bad guy is."

I hit stumbling blocks in the middle of the road. I get that. I can understand how you sit at point A and look to point D but aren't sure how to go from A to D.

But I don't see how you can get to point C and not know where you're heading.

Partly, it just has to do with the way I think. I'm not much of a step-by-step kind of guy. I conceive the overall big picture, and then have to go back and fill out the details. So when I start writing, I know how it starts and I know how it ends, and I have a sense of the voyage between, even if I don't quite have all the details picked out yet.

To me that also seems like basic story-telling, though. If you don't know where you're heading, I'm not sure what it is you're doing when you sit down to write. Again, I don't mean any offense whatsoever. Just journaling about my own confusion. To me, if I go to write a story, if I don't know where it's going, I'm not writing a story. I quite literally don't understand what's in your mind when you write a story that is only a beginning.

Of course, I remember reading a forward by A. C. Crispin in one of her Star Trek novels (blush). It was a great story, and very creative, like most of her stuff that I've read. And one of the things she said was that a lot of her stories just start with her asking a, "What if..." question. "What if Spock and Bones sat down to play a game of chess?" Hmm.

Too, I love writing for prompts. (Check out Flashy Fiction!) But when I write for prompts, I think for a little while, and start writing once the big picture comes to me. I don't start before I know where it's going.

If any writers who work free-form from a beginning want to chime in and clue me in, I'd love to learn. I'm a curious fella by nature, and if I can understand rather than be confused, I prefer it!

.Nevets.