Outlining

[ttvttp]

What is your preferred outlining method or do you prefer pantsing a story? Is there some specific way you outline your work that gets the best results for you?

 

[Hypoxia]

I don't outline. I may list a few plot points, or have an overall idea of the story arc, but otherwise it's free-flowing.

 

[NotWise]

What is your preferred outlining method or do you prefer pantsing a story? Is there some specific way you outline your work that gets the best results for you?

Normally I have a good idea of the plot and the characters and let the characters tell the story. The characters are fairly dynamic, so that's hard to outline.

If a scene or set of scenes represents a complex confluence of elements that are hard to organize in my head (usually late in a story), then I'll list out what has to happen, and in what order. When I look back on those scenes I often find that the list was too constraining. Given time, I rewrite it to make it flow better.

Otherwise, if I find myself outlining things, then it means that I'm in trouble.

 

[KeithD]

No outlining here on any of the erotic yet. I've outlined all nonfiction books written to the mainstream and some of the fiction--but only the longer novels.

 

[SamScribble]

I outline non-fiction - books and long-read mag pieces. With fiction, I just begin at the beginning and keep on going until I get to the end.

 

[SimonDoom]

I usually outline the entire story before I start writing, although sometimes I will write the beginning of the story first. I look to work out the plot in my head before I start writing, because I want everything I write to serve the main points of the story, and I want to know where the story is going.

I write in Word, so I just use the outline feature with numbered lines. Hit return and it takes me to the next number and line. My outlines are fairly detailed. A short story of a few Lit pages might have an outline of 50 to 90 points.

Even though I outline I almost always begin to deviate from the outline during the writing. Then sometimes I go back and adjust the outline before I start writing. I see the outline as a tool for keeping me on course but I usually deviate from the course and then just set a new one.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I just begin at the beginning and keep on going until I get to the end.

Yes, me too. Start, then stop.

 

[KeithD]

I just tonight finished the draft of a GM work on espionage in WW2 London during the blitz. I started off with an idea for a maybe 4,000-word story, one point to make, and a small cast of characters. But by NOT pinning possibilities down with anything as rigid and assumptive as an outline, I just finished a 20,000-word multidimensional novella with an added character (plus a few others) and a key scene that shoved home an essential theme and made all the difference in the impact and mood of the story.

For me, at least, burdening short fiction with an outline would take away 85 percent of the joy of writing it at all.

 

[redzinger]

I've only one outlined a whole book, and that book remains unwritten, for now.

Most of the time I'm a pantser. I only have a general idea of where the story will go. Plot twists and scenes will occur to me as I go along. If something sticks, I'll just insert ### and go back to it later.

 

[oggbashan]

My story outline is usually in my head, in considerable detail. Having established the set-up, the ending is the next thing.

But my characters might decide to go their own way.

 

[Bramblethorn]

When I outline, I put more emphasis on outlining the emotional arcs of a story than specific events. For instance, if I know that the story I'm writing is "Simon and Kelly move from rivals to allies, while Ashley fucks with people's heads", it's generally not too hard to keep the events in line with that plot. On the other hand, if I focus too much on outlining by events, it's harder to keep the emotions feeling natural, and the story ends up feeling unconvincing.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I don't outline, but I do jot down a lot of notes. I generally know how each piece begins and ends before I start, any important plot points that are necessary to get from start to finish, and perhaps a few details of bits of dialogue I want to include, then I just take the journey by the route that opens before me.

 

[Polyacrylate]

If I'm writing something that is more than basic communication, fiction or nonfiction, I ONLY write by outlining. I like to see my points in clear detail. If I try to write something of any substance without a guide of some sort, outline or something else, I get overwhelmed, lost, or stuck.

For fiction, my outline will contain plot points, scene and character details, symbolism notes, theme details, and other information as applicable. The outline then becomes the final piece - once the outline is good enough, I write by filling in the details around the points.

I also don't fill in the outline from beginning to end. I always start in the middle, and jump backwards and forwards. This lets me keep tone, dialogue, and character behavior more consistent (if I want to), and simplifies foreshadowing or leaving the reader a trail of bread crumbs. I try to edit as I go.

And you should be wondering, "Did poly make an outline for this post?" The answer is absolutely not. But I assure you, I considered doing it on principle.

 

[Jada59]

I don't outline.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Outlines... I don't need no stinking... well I have used some once in a while, but the story and characters soon fixed me of that notion as they pulled the story arc way out of line with the outline.

Mostly I see the story in my head before I even start. I see the entire thing in my head as a movie before I even start writing. I may have a little blurb about what I see/imagine at the beginning of the story so I the characters don't go all wonky sometime before the end.

 

[Voboy]

I don't outline. I may list a few plot points, or have an overall idea of the story arc, but otherwise it's free-flowing.

This.

It’s erotica. Even at its most complex, it’s never Tolstoy.

 

[JanusGoneAwry]

I'll bang the I don't outline drum as well. My experience is that writing is a lot like dreaming while outlining is fucking work. I do outline nonfiction pieces like white papers and articles though.

 

[vanmyers86]

I have found that writing down an outline or treatment dries me up. Character notes are fine - gotta keep track of everyone's details, especially in a longer piece - but something about outlining kills it for me.

My high school English teachers would be appalled!

 

[Areala-chan]

I don't outline. It used to drive me up the wall in school when teachers would force everyone to outline a paper, then turn that outline in with the final draft, so I'd usually do everything backwards (finish the paper, then make an outline based off what I had just written).

For most works of short fiction, an outline makes no sense. If you don't already have a reasonably good idea of the hook, the characters, and the ending before you start writing, then why are you writing in the first place?

Even with longer works, I find an outline ties me down. I start getting obsessed with hitting milestones or checking boxes instead of letting the story grow and develop organically. When you absolutely need to stay on target and within a specific page/word count, an outline will help you do that. When you're working creatively, the outline is an authorial straight-jacket making sure I can't go cause more mischief for my protagonists. That's no fun.

 

[gunhilltrain]

This.

It’s erotica. Even at its most complex, it’s never Tolstoy.

True, but one should aim high perhaps. Maybe you can't get to Tolstoy's level, but say Madame Bovary - that could be defined as an erotic novel for its time in that in explores sexuality. There's a scene where Emma and her younger lover hire a carriage/taxi and ride around Rouen fucking in the back. Had it been published a hundred years later perhaps it would have gone to full NC-17 levels.

Lolita was published about ninety-eight years later and Nabokov did not stray beyond a sort of R-rated level. But it's a very high level of writing (as well as being a great read). It's erotic not in the "fun" sense but it absolutely explores sexual issues in great detail.

And it couldn't be published on this site.

 

[gordo12]

I guess pantsing! I start with a couple of names and something that is going to happen and from there...? I have no idea where it's going.

Even when I have ideas about where I want to take it, they often fall by the way.

 

[KeithD]

I'll have to say that I don't aim any lower for erotica than I do for mainstream writing.

I'm with the notes crowd. My notes usually are of character names and the bits of facts--place names, dates, events data, logistics info on locales, etc.--that I'm going to hang the story on. I don't note down story arcs or emotions I want to depict. My brain has those in hand before it tells me to start writing. I also don't do character studies--if I did I'd try to depict all of those traits and many of them don't contribute to the story so need not be included, and detailing your characters too closely will endanger throwing the reader out of the story, either because they can't identify with a character or don't want to identify with someone they know too well and don't want to live with in a story.

 

[Jessicathe69]

Just yesterday I started a story that had recently developed in my head (out of necessity for another story line I've had in my head for a while). I started with a few simple outline points and when I got to what I really felt compelled to write about, I sunk my teeth into that as it's the base of the story and multiple volumes to come.

I also take notes, so I guess it's still a "pants" thing with me, too. Long-story-short, write what you feel how you feel.

 

[Hypoxia]

As I said, a few plot points and maybe a sense of an arc. I might know the end and write to attain it. I might work from a journal or account and flesh-out the story's structure -- but no outline. I might keep basic notes on players in longer pieces if I need consistency in ages, appearances, relationships, and vehicles.

But outlining? No, more like building mental maps, sketching-out the plot points, who does what where when and why, then letting the players make paths. I'll know that X goes from Y to Z but much can happen before, after, and between.