Hi and sorry for the late arrival!

I never used to use an outline confident that my way was the best way for me because my finished pieces always got good marks. However, there was always much mental anquish involved in writing them. The disorganization and the accompanying angst when I lost my train of thought…the way too many revisions because I didn’t have good flow (which an outline definitely helps to facilitate), and the generally chaotic state of mind as an Outline Rebel led me to finally accept a new path.

One day I read a book by one of my professors that advised first spilling your thoughts out on paper in an endless stream of consciousness on the topic you wished to write about. No matter what the words were…spill ‘em and damn the punctuation. That’s step one. Step two involves rereading and discarding stuff that doesn’t fit your vision of the end result. Step three involves creating an outline from the writing brainstorm.

So…I’m not a ‘writer’ per se…just a creative individual who does tend to write on occasion and toys with the idea of one day writing a novel or memoirs or something to that effect. Maybe the brainstorming thing and subsequent whittling down to manageable outline is old-hat to you pros out there, but I think it’s great! I know the professor is on target as he has been published many times, including screen plays. Using his technique improved my writing greatly.

Having said that…while I have never attempted a novel, I’ve written several successful research and creative papers this way. I enjoy the process much more than my old method of pulling fleeting ideas out of the maelstrom of my mind sporadically as I progress with the writing. Which is not to say that capturing those ideas willy-nilly is a bad thing. What I’m trying to say is much as you’ve said in this blog, Alegra…that the outline creates the focus and the map for the work. Because the main ideas are there, you don’t have to try to pull them out of the air later and smack yourself in the forehead saying, “Why didn’t I write down that thought when I thought of it ’cause I can’t remember it now and it was so incredibly perfect at the time?” The outline gives the artist/writer the freedom to welcome new ideas and pull them in when they come along, not worrying about remembering the original ideas.

I also save my written streams of consciousness, which are often useful to go back to. I frequently find other threads to pick up for new writing ideas if I didn’t use them in the original project. I may write up to twenty pages of stream of consciousness only to whittle the idea down to a page or two of information for my outline.

It’s a great method for me!

Also, I recently picked up a few books on writing. Haven’t had much time to look under the hood, but plan on investigating further this summer. I’ll see if I can find your recommendations. I think I saw “Bird by Bird” during my bookstore excavation, er, shopping trip.

Here’s what I picked up:

Booth, Wayne C. et. al. “The Craft of Research” 2nd Ed.

Wiesner, Karen S. “First Draft in 30 Days”

Morrell, Jessica P. “Bullies, Bastards, and Bitches: How to Write the Bad Guys of Fiction”

Have you heard of them? Maybe I’ll pop them in my suitcase in August if you want to take a peek…

Love Ya! Keep up the good work!

You are a superb editor AND writer.

It doesn’t have to be that way. An outline can take on many forms and be as general as you like. It is just a set of guideposts to get you from point A to point B. They don’t have to be rigid and conform to high school style guides. No one is going to grade your outline.

I use a very loose outline at the start of a story, and then gen up more detailed outlines a few chapters ahead as I go. The detailed outlines follow the general flow of the loose outline, but capture those strokes of insight one gets while actually writing.
~jon

Great to read your comment this morning. In fact, you have inspired me to do some browsing through Edgerton’s book again in contemplating the editing on the first three chapters.

Your process sounds very similiar to mine. At this point I have pages of ‘test runs’ that equal character sketches in the making, possible scenes, possible trajectories of plot – I am finding that while there is a main thrust to all of it and certain milestones that remain almost the same, the novel continues to define itself every day. The details emerge as I do the writing and figure out what works and doesn’t work. For example, even last night I was watching a movie and understood that the central conflict was like a two legged stool – the movie gave me the possible third leg but I am still mulling it over, testing my ideas.

Best,
ALegra

I don’t write a synopsis or outline per se, but I do a lot of ‘pre-writing’ before plunging into a story: character sketches, thinking through obstacles and plotlines, a lot of writing through structure (POV, tense). I’m embarking on my second novel and I know my beginning and I know my ending, just not sure on the middle. This, for me, is the fun part of the ride.

I always enjoy your wisdom and generosity in sharing it… Peace, Linda