Outlining the Body

Writers are often divided into two groups—plotters and pantsers. In other words, those who plot their stories and those who fly by the seat of their pants and do not outline their work (in particular the body, or grave details, of their stories). Most writers like myself fall somewhere in between; I outline my novels but only marginally. I figure out details on the fly in real time.

Pantsers often claim that outlining ruins the spontaneity of the writing process. However, I have two responses to this:

1) Not outlining ends up taking more time to publish in the long run after going back to identify plot holes and inconsistencies, and

2) Plotters still find joy in the writing process by surprising themselves through developing the details (i.e., character tendencies, red herrings, etc.).

My outlines consist of about 1-5 sentences per chapter. Since most of my work contains around 100 short chapters of 1-6 pages each, my outlines are several thousand words. This allows me to write more quickly, publish faster, and end up with a relatively polished first draft that needs little editing. At least, few developmental edits.

Some authors like James Patterson know the ending of their book before they start writing, although it often changes. Others like Stephen King have no clue where their story will lead them, much less how it will end.

Me? I know the ending, the very last scene and often the last line, before I write the first word. The fun is in finding new and unique ways to make the reader feel something along the way (yes, even anger and unease), as well as discovering who my characters really are. But … to each their own. I find that outlining to some extent is important in mystery writing, where stories are often layered with complex plots and numerous clues and red herrings.

I start the outline for subsequent books while proofreading my prior work before it’s published. In all, a complete outline takes me anywhere from one to three months.

Regardless of whether you're a plotter, a pantser, something in between, or you simply don't care, Rick Rubin has an important point: “All that matters is that you are making something you love, to the best of your ability, here and now.”

Fisher