StoryCraft Novel Challenge Day 27: Why should you try a full outline before you start drafting?
For some reason, the idea of outlining has become a bit controversial in novel writing circles. The truth of the matter is that writing a novel is a huge task, and not everyone can magically sit down and write a dynamic story without segmenting the work into more manageable chunks.
We like to think of an outline as a strategic plan for your novel. It’s not going to be perfect, but it will give you a basic blueprint for your story so you can focus on the words inside. Instead of rewriting an entire draft when you decide to make a major story change, all you have to adjust is the outline.
When you get to the professional stage of your writing, outlining becomes so much more important. If you sell a book on proposal and have a set amount of time to write it, you won’t be able to hammer out multiple drafts to get it right. Having a plan will save you time and make the process so much more enjoyable.
It is not more artistic to write without a plan. If you can sit down without doing any work ahead of time and forge a strong, tight draft, then that’s fantastic, but the reality is that most people can’t do that, or they can do it once or twice, and then get stuck and think the problem is their brain instead of their process.
We know this from experience. Sometimes, the first book or two come easily (maybe when you were younger with less daily responsibilities). But then life gets in the way or we’re juggling too many things at once. When balancing writing with working one (or more) jobs and families or other personal priorities and obligations, having a plan helps. We’ve found it makes the entire process less stressful and more fun, and also makes the actual drafting process feel more organic.
When you get to focus only on writing the best scene as opposed to also navigating where you’re going, the act of drafting can be so much less stressful, because writing should be fun and enjoyable. If you’re sitting down every time and dreading putting words on the page, something is wrong with your process. But there’s not something wrong with you.
For this book, your outline will mark out every chapter you have planned as well as what needs to happen in the chapter physically and the narrative purpose. It can be as simple or as detailed as you like.
In the StoryCraft Workbook, we have a dedicated exercise for your outline which gives you all the fields you need to fill in.
Spend as much time as you need getting your outline right, because it’s so much easier to change an outline than it is to change an entire draft.
Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the biggest obstacle every writer faces: Writer’s Block.
Don’t forget to use hashtag #StoryCraftNovelChallenge to share your progress and connect with other writers!
Happy Writing,
Jess and Theo