To Outline or Not to Outline?
Virtual Office Hours #11
Note: This is one of a series of “ask me anything” posts I did for a group of writers I worked with in fall 2024.
Q: I’ve always been a pantser. I get a story idea, and then I write it, start to finish. Once I’m done, I go back and make revisions. But I never outline—not before I write and certainly not after I write—what’s the point? You’re recommending we do both, but I think that restricts my creativity. I don’t want to be confined to an outline, and part of the joy of writing for me is discovering the story as I write. Do I really need an outline?
A: The short answer is, yes. But when to outline and what to outline can be a little subjective. I used to suggest an outline before beginning to write—it’s like a roadmap to get you from Point A (the story’s beginning) to Point B (the story’s ending). My opinions about outlining pre-writing have changed over the years, so I’ll share those with you. But my feeling about outlining post-first-draft are solid. This is where an outline will be the most helpful. It will save you time, money, and frustration. Let me tell you why.
First, outlining pre-writing.
I still think it can be helpful, but I’ve come to believe a story summary, scene cards, and perhaps a very loose outline are more helpful in the early stages of writing. This allows for the creativity you are talking about, but it also helps you build structure right from the outset.
I can’t take credit for this—one of my writing mentors, Mary Yukari Waters, told our class this one day, in so many words: If you write without an outline, you’re asking for trouble. I can’t remember her exact words, but the basic idea was that, if you’re writing a 300-page novel, you need to know how many pages to devote to various events in the book. For example, if you know such-and-such has to happen 50 pages before the ending of the novel, then you have 250 pages to get there. And those 250 pages will be apportioned between other things that have to happen in a novel. I see the results of a failure to plan this out often, in 450- to 500-page novels that waste chapters upon chapters waxing poetic about the protagonist’s feelings about this or that, with little to no action, boring the reader to tears before they ever get to the inciting incident, let alone the climax. I see it in novels that are barely over 100 pages, too—short chapters with action after action but zero character development or interiority.
But it’s hard to outline a novel when you only have an idea for a story. You may know how it’s going to begin (the protagonist is miserable) and how it’s going to end (the protagonist is happy), but the middle is an unknown—how will the protagonist go from being miserable to being happy?
My suggestion if you haven’t written your manuscript yet is to write your opening paragraph, write your closing paragraph, then dive into that middle one baby step at a time.
Use Pixar’s Rule No. 4 to start. Fill out the formula.
Then, turn it into a story summary. Like book jacket copy, but this summary won’t hide any spoilers—it’s for your eyes only, although you may turn it into a query letter and/or synopsis one day.
Next, get a bunch of index cards, set a timer for 30 minutes or so, and brainstorm scenes—what kinds of things could happen that would carry your protagonist from the opening chapter to the ending chapter? Take a break and repeat as many times as necessary.
Choose the best scenes and put them together in a loose outline.
Write your book—don’t be afraid to stray from the outline, but keep updating the outline so it matches your work in progress.
Although I don’t think a detailed outline is necessary or as helpful at this stage, do keep your character’s internal and external wants in mind in each scene, as well as the forces of opposition (what’s standing in their way), the stakes, and your character’s agency.
Next, outlining post-draft.
My book coaching certification program, Author Accelerator, is big on outlines—an Inside Outline for fiction, an Impact Outline for memoir, and an Outcome Outline for non-fiction. I’ve come to believe these detailed outlines may not be as helpful pre-first-draft, depending on the writer. They can be—I use them for my own writing. But they are absolutely crucial once you have a completed first draft of your manuscript.
Why? Preparing an “As-Is” outline of your completed manuscript, either as an Inside Outline, Impact Outline, or Outcome Outline, is like giving yourself a free developmental edit before you start your first round of revision. Note: Detailed instructions for preparing each type of outline are included in Lesson 12 of our current 12-week program.
Once you have your finished outline, it will be easy to spot the problems in your manuscript. Is your protagonist exercising agency at each step of the way? Is there a cause-and-effect trajectory present from each chapter to the next? Does each chapter have meaning and significance? Does each scene have a reason for being included?
Without an outline, your revision process will be slow, unwieldy, and in my experience, overwhelming. You’ll bake more errors into the manuscript, and you’ll likely lose track of how the revisions you’ve made affect the continuity of your book in terms of the consistency of characters and plot.
Once you’ve finished your As-Is Outline, add a note to each scene indicating your ideas for how you are going to fix the problems in that scene. Also note whether the “fix” is going to create problems in other scenes that you will also have to fix. Now, start revising—you have a complete instruction manual for exactly how to do so. And again, update your outline as you revise—it should be a living document that evolves as your manuscript does.