This is a continuation of a post I wrote a couple weeks ago on how to use creative writing outlines. The series was inspired by a post I wrote back in 2016, but I have grown as a writer since then and wanted to expand on some of the ideas.

PRE-WRITING OUTLINE

So this is the outline you write before you jot down a single word of your rough draft. Very often when we write these, we picture ourselves sitting down on a bright Saturday morning with the intention of planning out our entire epic beginning, middle and end. (I know this because I’ve been there.)

Unfortunately, this seldom works out (at least for me). Even when I do manage to create a full story outline, it often feels contrived because I haven’t gotten to know my characters yet or figured out what the story is actually about.

Instead of trying to write a full outline what I’ve found works best is if I jot down everything I already know about the story without trying to figure out anything new. I don’t know about you, but when I’m brainstorming a story, the ideas come at me so fast I have to scribble them down before I lose them.

DRAMATIZATION OF THE INSIDE OF MY BRAIN:

Okay, there’s this fancy hotel where daydreams go to live when people give up on them.

And the main character is a human who runs the hotel.

No, it’s a seedy motel. And it’s in a bad part of town.  

And the motel is overcrowded because people keep giving up on their dreams.

No, the main character is one of the daydreams.

And one of the daydreams is murdered and they have to solve it.

No, the murder victim is a middle aged man who was trying to reunite with one of his dreams.*

So everything is coming at me and moving and changing so fast I have to write it all down before I lose it. And as I write, I exercise that part of my brain and more ideas come. Typically, this wouldn’t be considered an outline, just notes. But when the flow stops I try to organize those notes, put them in some kind of order, searching for a starting point. If some kind of vague beginning, middle and end comes into view that’s great but if not I don’t force it.

(In my previous blog I got into why we should only outline ideas that come naturally to us.)

Then, once I’ve collected / organized my initial thoughts I stop worrying about where the story is going and skip straight ahead to writing the beginning of the text. That way I’ll learn more about the characters and world and often expand on the outline as I go.

*Not really a story I’m writing, although now I kind of like the idea now.

5 MINUTE OUTLINES

At the end of the day people should use whatever techniques they need to create a full rough draft that they can then edit until they have a publishable “final” draft. If that means spending a month on your outline, so be it. But in many case, the outlining stage is often turned into a crutch (once again, I’ve been there). After several weeks the author might have a beautiful outline, but haven’t begun chapter one.  

One technique that is surprisingly helpful is to set a timer for 5 minutes. During that time I jot down as much as I can about the chapter/scene/section of the story I am currently working on. When the timer goes off, I finish up my thought and then use what I have to start writing.

I use those hastily jotted scribbles to reach my daily writing goal. When I reach that goal I set up a nice cliffhanger for my myself and the reader and then (this is key) I spend five minutes outlining what I’m going to work on the next day. That way when I sit down to write I don’t scratch my head about what’s going to happen. I have it all set out right there for me.

I leapfrog through the story by writing the manuscript until I reach my daily goal, then taking five minutes to outline tomorrow’s section and then the next day using that outline to write that next section. Very often I’ve found that only 50% (or sometimes 0%) of the ideas I have outlined the previous day are usable but the process gets my brain working and I come up with much more intriguing settings and plot developments.