Outlines: Yay or nay?

[Bex]

A lot of writers swear by their outlines and won't write anything without a concrete one in place, while others don't give it much thought and just write by the seat of their pants. Where do you fall into this? How much do you outline (detailed or loose), and if you do not outline, why not?

[cajeck]

For a long time, I wrote only fanfiction. I know people wince when that word is said, but it served as my stomping ground for many years, and it's where I got my style worked out. However, because I was doing fan works on things I really enjoyed, there wasn't much need for me to outline or do notes. Much of what I needed could be found from the original source, and it relieved that stress of world-building and plot direction. I was given a set of characters already pre-equipped with their own pasts, their own personalities, their own worlds. All I had to do was manipulate things as I wished.

Then I became serious about doing my own work. At first, I did my writing in much the same way. No notes, no outline, just whatever came to me. But then I found my plot becoming too unwieldy, my characters at times contrived and other times too confusing, the setting shaky and indefinite. I struggled with this a lot.

One day I decided I needed a stronger foundation. I started Eikasia, my ongoing serial novel, and it was with a combination of extensive character notes, a list of plot points and pivots, and an outline detailing each chapter, that I finally got my work off the ground. Nowadays I find I need less notes because I've already internalized my characters and setting, much like I did for my fanfictions. Still, every now and again, when my plot gets a bit crazy, I sit down and sort out my thoughts enough to keep from getting off track. I usually do something at the start of a new story arc, too. When I do a new outline, I keep it simple. I have a tendency to deviate as new ideas strike me, so I don't bother trying to put everything down at once. Creativity takes time.

All that said, I find just doing extensive character work best. I do the usual. Y’know, character sheets detailing likes, dislikes, age, gender, sexual preference, personal history, etc....But then I get into the nitty gritty. I do webs and charts detailing the characters modes of reasoning, and in what order they would resort to these when trying to understand their world (morality, logic, physical sense). Then I branch off those, detailing what that means for the plot and the achievement of their goals. I pick out their major conflicts and then brainstorm on how it shapes who they are (for example, Elmiryn, one of my main characters, has a curse which I wrote to cause her: a lack of visual prejudice, an affected sense of apathy and/or alienation, and an idea of the world that at times feels too overwhelming.)

When I get in deep like that, it gives me a solid understanding of my cast. My stories are all character driven, and there’s a lot of personal struggles that my characters must overcome to achieve their goals. By internalizing my characters, I understand what my plot is. It’s a lot of work, but I find it’s more than worth it. I don’t need to do notes and outlines all the time, and sometimes it even feels like the story writes itself.

That's my experience!

[kellyzollo]

Back in the day when I wrote fan fiction I didn't really use outlines that much, I wrote what I thought should happen. Now that my craft has changed I am a big fan of outlines in any shape or form.

When I began writing Dangerous Tides over 10 years ago it was a bit different to, as I was working with 2 other people and we had ideas and a rough idea of what episode and season was supposed to happen.

When i began writing West Lake I went in with a firm plan and a firm outline for each episode. I plan out each scene in each episode and I plan the whole season at a time. I wanted to make sure my story flowed well and wasn't full of loop holes like Dangerous Tides was back in the day when I published it online. I wanted to avoid those same mistakes. When the show relaunches, there are a few touch ups to old episodes and new episodes take place after a time jump in the series with a better more set outline of events and episodes.

I also find that having a plan keeps me focused, when I know what is going to happen or going on I can put it to words better. I know where the series starts, I know when I have reached the middle and I know how it ends, which is useful to me as a writer.

My novel is a bit different as I haven't spent a lot of time on it due to last year being a bit hectic for me. I have about 50 pages written and my plans keep changing for it left and right. So I know I need to get refocused back on it later in the next few months. In order to buckle down and get it done.

Kelly

[Bex]

Your experiences are much similar to mine, except I didn't start on fan fic. When I wrote Behind Closed Doors (my first webserial), I wasn't much for plotting or outlines. I just wrote what came to me, and hoped for the best. It worked for a while...at least, I thought it did, but when it came time for my current project, I knew that I couldn't just write by the seat of my pants anymore.

I am writing a mystery and if every single step isn't carefully plotted, it will come across as very shoddy and thrown together - not the impression I want to give at all! So now, I am very meticulous about my outlining. I have a very loose outline in my head of the way the entire story is supposed to go and from there, I tend to outline the chapters three at a time. These outlines are also very loose. I follow this format:

Characters to Use

Scene One: One to two sentence description.

Scene Two, three, etc.

I try not to confine myself in the outlines, because sometimes the characters take over and take it somewhere I was not expecting. I've often said that I think my characters are smarter than I am sometimes, and they know what they want. So I guess, to sum it up, I have found a bit of a compromise between not outlining at all and sticking to a word-for-word outline.

[scath]

I think fan fiction is a wonderful way to practice writing. When I started writing again in 2007, it was Xmen fan fics I started out with.

Outlines are a love/hate thing. I write them, the story changes. I don't write them, I catch myself having to take notes to make certain loose ends are tied up.

So I write them for series, and not so much for one shot stories. And stay flexible.

[samantha]

I am in the middle zone i guess.. i sometimes use outlines to see where i am going to go with the story, but then when i write it i change the whole thing then the outline i worked on for hours goes down the drain... i to write fanfics and love it because you know your characters and know how to use them... what i want to know is while writing fanfics, should you use outlines? or synopsis? and should they be in book form?