We <3 Outlines!

Kent made an interesting observation the other day. He speculated that when authors say they don’t like the outlining process, what they’re really saying is that they don’t like to be reminded of how much work is ahead of them. Novel writing is a lot of work, there’s no getting around it. But to us it makes all the sense in the world to start with a thorough outline. It may seem like an extra step, but it will save you a ton of time in the long run.

As we mentioned last time, we created a multicolored visual representation of our new plot and spent a few hours studying it. Then we went back to brainstorming and long conversations, and we discovered a new wrinkle for one of our characters, a wrinkle that we wanted to incorporate from the very beginning of the story. If we had simply plunged in and written the first draft, when we discovered that this guy needed a little something extra we would have needed to go back and rewrite all of his scenes. Since we’re taking the time to outline, all we had to do was replace a few of our dark green paper squares, and shuffle a few of the others around. Other characters got notes added to their squares where they intersected with Dark Green, et voila! — heartache, recriminations, and carpal tunnel syndrome averted. Go team!

Alas, the ending is still proving elusive. We have something sketched in that feels right, most of the time. Other times it feels too simple. This has led to an entire week of throwing possible endings back and forth at each other. Most are utter crap, but the ones that pass the first nose-wrinkle test get a full discussion. This entails referring to the plot rainbow so often that we’ve just left it out on the floor all week. We’ll need to pick it up before the Pulitzer Committee comes over for tea.