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Is it essential for a novel? For a short story? Or should the characters write the story by their personalities?
How in-depth are the outlines you all write? Any good resources (webpages or books) that discuss this topic?
After two years of writing, I realized I've never given outlining much thought. Sometimes I've done it, sometimes not. And sometimes my story jumped the track but still worked out well.
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Essential? Not inherently. Essential for some people, completely useless for others.
I've been outlining in great detail lately, even for very short fiction. I work out all the beats of the story and then when I'm writing I just have to come up with the words. The idea of doing all that for a novel is pretty daunting, though.
I've also worked at the other extreme, with no planning at all. I'm more comfortable with an outline.
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I outline in my head--that way when I make a change it goes so much more smoothly, and I feel less guilty than if I had to cross something out on paper... Posts: 73 | Registered: Jul 2005
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The majority of my outline is in my head, though I often write out dialogue I happen to think is interesting while it's still interesting. If I wait until I'm "working on my story" it comes out flat and dull.
I didn't use to outline, but I've been doing it more and more with my larger projects. I've noticed I usually spend less time rewriting if I outline. However, my outlines aren't very detailed: they only exist to take care of major plot holes and give me an overall view of the story.
When I start writing, I usually have a general idea of the main events of a story and a good idea of who its main actors are. But I don't think that's an outline by any stretch. I'm sure it helps, and I've certainly tried it, but it's just too constraining for me.
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All I need is a couple of good cahracters, a beginning, a general idea of a middle, and an ending. The fun is in finding out exactly what goes on in that 'general idea of a middle' part as I write.
One thing OSC said at Boot Camp is that outlines are good, but if you stick too closely to them you miss out on opportunities that arise as you write to develop interesting storylines and ideas. Outline all you want, but be flexible enough to accept the changes as they come.
For me, that's the whole adventure of writing anyway.
Whenever I get an idea for a scene, I go into the program and jot a quick one-line description, and I spend a fairish bit of time drawing lines between things and brainstorming.
When I'm closer to writing the story, I shift my one-liners into SuperNoteCard:
This lets me put the scenes in some sort of order. Usually there's quite a few holes; the program helps me spot where the holes are and fill them in with new scenes.
As I write stuff changes. I use the SuperNoteCard outline to track changes, jotting notes on already-written scenes that will have to be changed, adding new scenes, and so on.
*shrug* It works pretty good for me. I should add, though, that I'm talking novels here. I'm not I'd need such an elaborate system for shorts, though I use Inspiration for everything, so that step would probably stay.
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I've posted this link before, but the concept really helped me-- especially since I'm a beginning writer and feel I have an immense amount to learn.
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it's... an interesting idea... and i think i might just try it for my one story that had a failed start, see if it works...
Posts: 477 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Outlines are just a gentle guide to me. On the big story I wrote, I listed the main characters first (I have since changed a few of their names). Then, I listed the chapter names, and a line about each chapter, with no planned ending. I actually wrote the very end of the ending chapter after the first four chapters.
There have been a lot of changes, but it did help me keep a general idea of where I started, and where the story was supposed to end. I don't reccomend the old fashioned outlines; too much work, and not enough info on them to be useful. Just make what is useful for you. Mine is half a notes page more than anything else.
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I really appreciate that link, Lullaby Lady, not so much for the snowflake method (which is interesting) but for his breakdown of characters. I've been doing character sheets as I've seen them in some books and they only made my characters flat. The way he approaches characters really resonates with me.
I guess some authors feel motivations and goals are a given and shouldn't be included in a character's info. They already have it in their heads. It doesn't always work that way with me -- that's how I get passive characters that annoy my readers.
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Lullaby Lady, thank you for posting that link. The method looks like it might work for me. I'm one of those people who have to write to find out what the story is about. Outlining is too analytical, I can never get the creative parts of my brain involved. Mind-mapping is a bit better, but still not as useful as just starting to write. The snowflake method looks very organic. I'll definitely try it!
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I have to admit, I find it a little irritating that he calls it "the Snowflake". I mean, even though he's got ten steps, there are only three iterations at best. I suppose that the last iteration is your final draft or something, but that isn't an iteration as such, merely a refinement of the last iteration. I bet he could redesign it to have about three steps and four or five iterations, that would make it a much more proper fractal Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999
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