Driving with a map: the joy of outlining

Yesterday I finished a manuscript (Book 2 of my Maggie Almond series). It took me 3 months and 7 days to write 95,000 words. It’s just a first draft. The manuscript is rough, but all the words are on the page and in a structure that makes sense. This time span is a record for me. In the past, it has taken me 12 months to complete a book of this size. So what’s changed?

I’ve begun outlining

Previously, I’ve been what’s known in the industry as a ‘discovery writer’. You may have heard the expression ‘pantser’. Discovery writers and pantsers are the same. ‘Pantser’ comes from the expression ‘to fly by the seat of one’s pants’. But, to me, the term sounds mildly vulgar, so I preferred to be known by the more intrepid title. The opposite of a pantser is a plotter - a writer who plots. Plotters or outliners lie on a spectrum from incredibly rigid to loosey-goosey. I sit pretty close to the latter. There are a tonne of different plotting strategies you can use.

As you probably guessed, being a discovery writer means that, in the past, I found my way through the plot of a story to the end of the novel with little guidance. While I mapped the first few chapters out in my mind, after that, I was flying by the seat of my pants, which is never a sound strategy. I’ve written six books in this way. Each book has taken me 12 months (approximately) to complete the first draft.

So why the change?

I wanted to write faster. There is nothing wrong with being a discovery writer, but I found it extremely slow. I’d begin with a great burst of creative energy and have the first third of the novel completed at lightning speed. Then, typically, I’d get stuck. Completing the first draft has always been the most difficult and frustrating part of the entire writing process for me. Often the pieces wouldn’t fall into place and I’d get totally lost. Often the plot became too complex and the writing process became a gruelling task of trying to find my way out of the labyrinth. It could take weeks of writing and rewriting until I found my way through.

Also, the editing process took a considerable amount of time. Because I hadn’t considered the structure of the story before I began writing, the structural/developmental edits in my novels were always vast. This meant there was a great deal of time spent rewriting which slowed down the process further.

I realised if I wanted to write faster, I’d have to write smarter. I’d never drive to an unknown destination without a map. Why did I think I could write a novel without one?

A road map

Once I developed the premise for Book 2, I began on my outline. This meant that I not only outlined the plot, I also carried out any research that was needed (this was relatively minimal as it’s the second book in a series). The outline took me three weeks to complete. It is 6500 words long. The easiest layout for me was a simple, two-column table. In the summary column, as well as plot points, I included research, links to images or articles, and small sections of dialogue.

This is what my outline looks like

Okay, perhaps the three weeks and 6500 words spent on developing the outline might have been put to better use writing the manuscript itself. But with the entire story outlined and research completed, there were no stops along the way. The frustratingly halting experience of being a discovery writer had completely transformed. Each day when I sat down to write, I felt energised and productive because there was a certainty about where I was heading.

Is there room for discovery in outlining?

Other authors plot in a far more exacting manner than I. My outlining method offers plenty of opportunities for detours and exploration. And I did detour, especially in the final third of the manuscript. However, at no time did I veer too far off track as to become bogged in the muddiness of my storylines.

Am I a plotting convert?

I am! Writing in this style means I might complete two and a half books every year (I’m factoring in time for redrafting and editing). This is more than double my old output. What’s more, none of the delight of exploration was removed from the process as I gave myself permission to explore and discover during the outlining stage. If anything, I found the entire writing process even more delightful!

Final thoughts

Outlining, even in the very vague way I do it, is not for everyone. It certainly wasn’t for me when I began writing fiction in 2013. Perhaps I needed that discovery period at the beginning of my writing career in order to find my style and voice as an author. Now I have, I am content to follow the path.