I wanted to share what I consider very useful and helpful information I received from Shawn C. Speakman when I made a comment on his blog; regarding outlines.
Shawn,
Question about your outlining.
How much outlining do you do before you actually start writing? Do you only outline one chapter at a time? Or do you outline your entire story?
I've been working on my out line for some time now.
I started by laying down the foundations oh what the story was about, what the main goal is and how I want it to end.
Then I started working on characters / races, plots and specific events and the order that they occur.
Now I am working on a chapter by chapter outline of events, character interactions and specific information I want to reveal at that time.
Am I going to far?
I am afraid that I may miss some important detail or weave a weak story line if I do not lay it all out for myself as there are a few complicated sub-plots behind the main story that I think make the tale that more interesting.
Shawn C. Speakman's Response:
J. David: A lot of questions there, but I'll do my best. Just remember what works for me might not work for you; there are as many ways to get to the end of writing a book as there are words in that book.
For the three books I've outlined, all of them began the same way: I had a very distinct understanding of the literary aspect of what I wanted to achieve by each of their ends. Not just a climax but the meaning behind the climax. That's just what interests me as a writer.
Character for me drives story. If a reader can relate to character motivations, then they will believe the story.
Once I know my characters, and quite intimately, I might add, I outline the entire story. I have my beginning, I already have my end, and I let the characters and events I want to explore guide me.
An early outline looks splotchy, with holes everywhere between important events and scenes. But they slowly fill in as I think my way through the story and how the characters change, and I then have an entire outline finished.
That outline is not static. It can evolve quite easily.
After I've done enough research on certain aspects of the book and I feel like I have a solid outline, I begin writing -- almost.
I take the few sentences I've brought together in my outline, paste it into a new file .doc, and start outlining the individual chapter. I'm of the belief that each chapter should rise and fall like the story does, and I like to think my way through the chapter even before I start writing it.
But what's been interesting and different on this book has been how I outline individual chapters before I write them. Now I incorporate a lot of dialogue, the dialogue that will give the reader information and still drive the story forward. For me, dialogue is the hardest thing to write, so I try to spend a little extra time with the dialogue before I begin writing the chapter.
After I finish writing the chapter, I outline the next chapter, using the summary aspects from the story outline.
So we are pretty close in how we approach all of this, David. Until we get to individual chapters. Here is where you should take your table salt out and take what I say as opinion and only opinion.
I think if you were to outline all of your chapters, you'd be wasting your time, more than likely. The reason is because when you get into writing the book, developments may happen that alter your overall book in small ways -- or big ways sometimes. If you wait to outline your chapters until after your previous one is done, you'll have a better handle on your story at all times. You won't be trying to jam a round peg into a square hole; and you probably won't have writers block at all.
Your fears are well founded. No one likes to have a plot line that goes nowhere or is very weak. But if you keep outlining, you won't start your book. And writing your book is still the most important thing.
I hope to hear how it goes! Keep me posted!
