Outlines or By the Seat of Your Pants — Recommendations.

I wrote on NaNo by the seat of my pants. I knew a bit about the characters (including a sorceress, a one-handed mercenary, a crippled baby dragon), but I had little idea where the story would go. I had fun writing it, but now I don't know what to do with it. So, if you plan to write for the joy of writing without any worries about the future of this story, go ahead and have fun.

If you want this story to be readable, it's best to have an idea where the story is heading.

I outline. However, my outlines are very loose, and I do not have to stick to them. In fact, I make it a point not to follow the outline. Last year, I had an outline. But then I had room for growth and exploration. I had no idea Miranda would act so manipulative. Or how many words I could get out of a food fight -- though it was in my outline.

I outline by chapter. For example, this is a tentative outline for a possible story this year:
1. Julian and Ashur compete in a jousting tournament. Julian wins, but both become knights.
2. The king makes Julian Ashur's bodyguard as he goes on a diplomatic mission. However, enemies will go to any lengths to stop him.
3. Julian and Ashur come to an inn. An assassin attempts to kill Ashur.
4. Julian goes to a healer, Charity, for help.
5. All three continue on; they are ambushed on the road; the mysterious northern warrior, Keenan, helps them. Charity vanishes.
6. Ashur is accused of murdering Charity and faces trial by combat. Julian offers to fight in Ashur's place.
7. The trial by combat starts, but it's called off when Keenan shows up with Charity -- still very much alive.
8. Keenan explains what happened to him and who he is.
9. The foursome continue on to the capital city, with enemies on their heels.
10. They reach the city of Kingston. Ashur begins negotiations, but Julian is kidnapped and used as bait.
11. They rescue Julian.
12. Negotiations complete. Troublemakers removed from picture. Julian marries Charity. The end.

I also have more details concerning the major characters and setting in my notes so far. But the outline is very loose, a rough idea of where I want to go. And lots of room to expand or change. With outlines, I think that briefer is better. (No idea yet how Julian is rescued, for example, but I know I want that to happen.) I once wrote a story where I stuck to my detailed outline, and I wrote myself into a corner and just gave up on it.

"Be nice to the imaginary people. Don't kill too many." -- e-mail from my youngest sister, June 23, 2008

I'm a seat-of-my-pants girl all the way. I just can't outline novels, NaNo or otherwise. For NaNo this year, I know my characters pretty well, but there's still lots of room for development and discovering things about them when I'm 45K words in. I know the very basic plot of my story. I have no idea about any actual scenes that are going to happen, I have no idea what kind of conflict there's going to be, and I do not have a single hint of an idea about how the story is going to end. I like to think of it as an agreement between me and my characters. I'll write down their story, but they have to tell me what it is. I give them the situations, but it's entirely up to them how they want to deal with them. My MC could make a stupid choice and end up dead by the 3rd chapter, but whatever. That's her business. I'm just the writer.

NaNoWriMo 2008: The Fated Children
NaNoWriMo 2007: Karina — WINNER! (51K)
NaNoWriMo 2006: A Raven's Song — Miserable failure. We don't talk about it.

I am a character development and outline person this year. I want to be prepared as much as possible. I write my outline as follows. Chapter 1 - (The Goal of the Chapter), then I write in scene 1-13, what is going on in the chapter. For the scene I have worked up 1 maybe 2 sentences of where the chapter is going.
Example.

Chapter 1 The Opening
Scene 1 - The Dream
Scene 2 - Confirmation of the Entertainer

and so on...

It helps that I am also using software program to keep it all together. I have tried every year since 2005 to finish this challenges and I am hoping that being prepared like I am this time with get me through to the end. I can only see what happens.

Mostly, seat of my pants.

But i did decide it would be a collection of shorts and made a list of what (at least the first 8) stories would be based on. Some of them were just random words, some things. One of my stories will be about vampires, one about faeries, one a modern snow white, i think i might just decide on a really sweet Alice and wonderland spin, just because I LOVE me some Alice.

But other than knowing that, there's gonna be a whole in my pants.

seeker of truth

follow no path
all paths lead where

truth is here
-E. E. Cummings

Normally it's the seat of my pants but this year I'm trying to do a rough outline. We'll see how well it works.

Co-ML Pennsylvania: Harrisburg, Lancaster Area

http://dragcave.net/user/solimond

"Remember, English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them into dark alleys, knocks them down and then rummages through their pockets for loose grammar!"

I'm doing a lot of planning, research and outlining this year. Last year, I just had an idea and went with it, but I didn't make it to the end that way. So, this year, I'm doing it right. I think everyone needs some sort of planning/outlining, even if it's a minimal amount.

Shannon

~Shannon Chenoweth
My writing blog

Outlining like the dickens for me. It usually takes one of two forms:

1. Basic event outline
- Event One Happens
- Event Two Happens
- MC Goes to the store
- Event Three Happens

2. Incredibly Detailed Outline (Usually done in yWriter)
- Chapter
-- Scene
--- Event
----Reactions to event, internal and external
-----How event 1 leads to event 2
---Event 2
----Reactions to event, internal and external
-----How event 2 leads to event 3

Etc. The latter takes a long time, but it takes the guesswork out and wiggle room can be left (sometimes in the form of entire chapters) for dares and experimentation.

Nov 2003 - Jaybird - 50,012
Nov 2004 - Alexander - 15,000
Nov 2007 - Faith Of The Fallen - 50,201
Nov 2008 - Broken Strategies - 58,000
Nov 2008 - Untitled - ?

Must admit I'm an outliner! I find it much easier to write when I have an idea of what I'm writing. My outlines usually follow a format like this:

[Appx predicted word count] Ch. #: Events, how it is started, POV...basically a summary of what happens in this ch.

And so on until I'm finished. Rather simple, but it helps me get a sense of where I'm going.

Last year I had absolutly no idea what I was going to do. I just wrote a first sentance and then a second and then a third . . . you get it. This year I have a rough idea of what's going to happen. I have a basic outline of chapter names, which should help me keep ideas together. I'm getting more and more structured though. I already know exactly what I'm doing next year and there's very little wiggle room. Anyway, in my opinion, any sort of planning (or lack thereof) works fine.

I'm a seat-of-the-pants type. I've tried doing outlines, but if I know what's going to happen I tend to lose interest.

I usually have a second document open which is full of each day's 'argh! What's going on? What's going to happen next?' internal dialogue. This is where I have a lot of bullet points exploring my viewpoint characters' options at any point where I need to take a step back and think about the plot; it's also full of crazed 'ahaha! That will tie in with abandoned plot point X from Chapter 3!' type stuff. Reading back previous second documents are always hilarious.

Anyway, it all usually ties together somehow in the end.

...............................

Oh no, it's the Ninky Nonk!

When I do outlines, I usually lay them out like an HTML document, with headers and subheaders and such. Odd, but it works for me.

I've also dabbled in drawing the HTML-outlines out (digitally, so I can increase canvas size) as a series of lines and bubbles, a bit like a mindmap. There's proper software for that, but something about the physical act of scribbling with tablet-pen and virtual "paper" helps me find holes and overcrowded places better.

I am a sig, and I now have actual info in me :D.
Site - LJ - Flickr

I outline. Without an idea of where the story is going I lose interest, or stall for a few days. When participating in NaNo stopping for a break really isn't a good idea, so I make sure to have [at least a brief] idea of where I'm going with it. Sometimes I just write a few sentences to keep me on track, and other times I use Zette's Phase Outline. For 2007's NaNo I used a mix of both. The beginning was planned in major detail, then after that I had the freedom to do what I wanted with just a general idea of where I was going.

---

- Formerly Lakitu. • My writing Live Journal.

---

- Formerly Lakitu. • My writing Live Journal.

Last year I didn't have any plan or outline, but I knew the characters and I thought I knew the story. I was wrong, but I had a lot of fun, and the act of writing taught me a whole lot more about the characters and plot. It wasn't finished, and still isn't.

This year I have more of a grip on the story, I think, but much less grip on the characters, and I'm going to spend October outlining and snowflaking. I hope that that will lead me to finish November with a completeish draft, or with a clear map for the bits that aren't finished.

I like detailed outlines. Really, really detailed outlines. But I outline as I go along. I have a loose outline for the entire book, and then once I begin writing I outline the next few scenes in detail as I go along.

I tried pantsing it in 2006 and reached 50k with a nearly unreadable barrel of words; last year I had more than 30 pages of outline and almost reached 100k. I was very proud of myself. :]

I've tried both methods & they have seemed to work for me.

If I fly by the seat of my pants, I usually have at least one character mapped out and then on 11/1, I just throw him/her into the worst situation I can think of and let the ball roll from there. I just add water & let the story breed on it's own. :)

If I outline, I go overboard. I create plot points, character interviews, maps, pictures of my characters & settings, a WIP cover to make me feel more official and anything else I can think of.

I feel more in "control" if I map things out first. Being a "panster" has it's place in time to push that extra creativity too though. It's a hard choice. I like them both. :)

Last year I did it on the seat of the pants method. Started with an idea and did fine for about three days. Then the question was, what comes next? The clock kept ticking. Days passed. While I was trying for an answer to that "what's next" question, all I could think of was that I was another 1,600 plus words in the hole. I can say to you with confidence, that approach doesn't work.

This year, I intend to do at least a main points outline. If I think of a different track along the way, fine--at least I'll be along the way.

Last year I outlined fully, until the idea ran out at 31k. Then I just pantsed it, and the latter half was much better than the first.
So I quite like writing pants, just this year I had this AWESOME idea around February that it'd be a crime not to write.

In the past I've gone in with a fairly complete understanding of the big picture, but with no idea how to get from point A to B. I tend to like that method because I know where stuff's going so I don't get too frustrated, but there's enough that I don't know that I can stay interested the whole way through.

One year, though, I completely pantsed a plot. I had really well developed characters from a story I'd written before and I wanted to write a sequel, but had no idea what it would be. So I just threw stuff them all together on day 1 and waited to see what would happen. That was perhaps the most fun nano I've done, and I was actually somewhat successful, but I couldn't have pantsed the plot if I hadn't already had such detailed characters.

I've been trying out detailed outlines recently, and in non-nano it's been working fabulously. I don't have time to do a full outline for nano, but I use Scrivener for most of my writing and they have a fabulous outliner widget. I can't shout the praises of that program enough.

This is the first time I'm outlining because I know the characters so well having already used some of them for a different project a few years ago and now getting back to them. I know more or less what's going to happen and I have a notebook for ideas, research, ... so that I can do something before November because if I don't do this, I'm risking actually staring to write.

2006 - Whodunnit?! -- won!
2007 - Ich sehe -- won!
2008 - Letting Go

I like to outline my characters - who they are, how they act, why they act, and how they interact with each other, that sort of thing. But plot wise, I just have a synopsis, and maybe some vague plot twists. My synopsis is: A Tiawanese chef teams up with a newt in a fez to save his large-bosomed girlfriend from zombies, which are keeping the aforementioned girlfriend in a dam on the Columbia River. However, unbeknownst to everyone involved, a rogue cryptogeologist, a Native American, and Joe Camel are hitching a plot to destroy each and every dam on the Columbia. Also, there's a cowboy with 3 knees riding around on a praying mantis whilst wielding a gun that shoots velociraptors. As in, shoots them out.

So, really, I think I'll have enough to get me going far enough until I can tell where's it's going. Besides, first I need to get the girlfriend kidnapped, as well as have the cryptogeologist, Native American, and Joe Camel team up, so a good amount of time will be spent just getting to the plot synopsis.

So I guess that's what I do - I choose a plot synopsis that is somewhere in the middle of events, so when I start, I know where I need to be eventually, and once I'm there, I hopefully have enough covered to shed light on what to do next.

I wrote by the seat of my pants for the first three years, and never won. So this year, I'm trying to plan a little beforehand.

My outline is like 18 pages already. Each chapter has its own section, and in that chapter I list the setting, characters (and descriptions of those characters if this is their first appearance), major plot points, any background information that might be necessary, implications for future chapters, research notes, questions that I need to answer at some point, and a description of any literary devices I'll be using and why.

2005-2007: If at first you don't succeed . . .
2008: Winter White Lights

http://www.sufferinstudios.com/nano/Lushguinsig.jpg

This year, since I'm trying something a bit more ambitious than usual, I'm attempting to get something resembling an outline done. At the very least, at the moment, I have a firm idea on "The Beginning" taking the characters up to "The Middle", some ideas on what might happen during "The Middle", and a vague idea what may or may not happen in "The End". But I've rarely managed to do any outlines at all, and when I did, I never managed to actually write the story itself. (Then again, it wasn't during nano, and I've failed at writing much of anything outside nano for years now.) But I'd be really nervous trying to write 250k without any idea of where the story is going. Argh. My solution has been to write down a list of plot bunnies that could be stuck anywhere in The Middle and promote plot development, and gratuitous use of tvtropes.org :P

Title: Breaking Light
Goal: Finishing this novel. (Probably be 100k-120k at this rate.)
Sanity level: Do you even need to ask?

Have you read the free ebook Zette wrote for Nano? Last year, which was my first Nano, it really helped me. She gives several kinds of planning and outlining options that you can work to your taste (some like detailed, some like main points only).

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3001470

Personally, I'm a planner, for a variety of reasons (including health). If I don't know where it's going, I can guarantee that it will not be finished, and I don't want that kind of stress and headache during Nano. My outlines vary between detailed and loose. It all depends on the story. But so long as it *IS* planned, it's 98% sure to be finished, which is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. :)

***
Julieann Dreamer
Creator/Writer/Artist of free webcomic "Dreamers Cove" - http://dreamerscovestudio.com/comic

Nano 2008: The Phoenix Eggs
Nano 2007 : The String Weavers: WON!

I'm glad to see people in the same boat as me — I was a panster for years and years, but I've discovered that while I can meet my goal of finishing novels, the novels were almost impossible to rewrite into second drafts. I've been reading a lot of different sources and the recommendations I have been getting are write some kind of outline, even if it's bare bones.

This year I am going to try outlining, my first major attempt at outlining a book before writing it. I've started outlining before and always lost the taste for the book, so I don't think I'll be writing thirty page outlines, but hopefully enough to guide me through the book and work out some of the flaws and kinks before getting words on the page.

Hiding out from the murderous characters of my abandoned NaNo. Shush!

I did it by the seat of my pants last year. Three times.

I restarted around the 3rd or the 4th, then abandoned the second attempt around the 10th. On the 21st, with nine days left, I went into it again - and this time, I didn't even have an idea. The result? A piece of fiction so epically terrible that I still have not reread it since I closed the document on November 30th last year.

This year I'm outlining. I'm using a form loosely based on the Snowflake Method, adapting it to work for me. So I started out with the basic idea, and I'm fleshing out the ideas by expanding and stretching until I've got as much as I can worked out without taking all of the fun and creativity out of the actual writing.

Outlining is a completely new experience for me - I've never in my life outlined a piece of writing further than something like, 'Character A kills Character B, but it all turns out okay because something else happens'...and then I start writing.

I did it by the seat of my pants last time. I had a few paragraphs outlining the general idea of the story and a little about the main character and then just took off from there. I didn't make it though because of two factors, 1) ran out of story (or was starting to so I mentally slowed myself down) and 2) it was fantasy. This year I've got the idea in my head (haven't written it down) and I'm just going to go with the flow. I think it will go better because it's sci-fi and I've been rehearsing this story in my head (daydreams) for a looong time. Actually, the idea I'm going to use actually has a MC that is not the MC I now how because I took the idea and am reusing it for a different series/MC. So the interesting part will be to work my new MC in there and keep her as the MC while keeping the original MC doing what she's supposed to (because my new MC can't take over for her). We'll see how that develops.

~Anna

http://annamittower.blogspot.com

I used to go seat-of-the-pants. And even when I had plans, they were never thought-out and written down. In a novel I wrote in middle school this proved much of a problem (as well as the fact that I was 13...) and I've started outlining for the rewrite, and it's actually a ton of fun.

So I'm holding off until October officially starts to start madly outlining my NaNovel. Which is getting more and more difficult because these scenes keep bouncing around my head and I can't-- get-- them-- out-- and-- write-- them-- down.

Screnzy 2007: What She Did (14,000 words-- no go)
NaNo 2007: To Love and To Loathe (too few words to even bother)
Screnzy 2008: Totally doesn't count...
NaNo 2008: Candlefire

This isn't going to end well, is it? *sighs* I thought not.

I'm another seat-of-my-pants writer. I have a vague idea of what's going on before the first (this year, if I stick with it, is "traveling notebook", for example). Then a character pops up and does stuff, and anything I think of gets scribbled down before November. While I'm writing, if anything comes up for future chapters, I write it down wherever I can--if I'm actually writing the novel, it goes in the textpad section of RoughDraft. And if I get stuck? Plot ninjas all the way.

---
Witty signature feature broken. Please try again later.
Have you donated?

Seat of my pants, at the beginning. As I get going, though, I start to outline as I go, deciding what I want to have going on the next few upcoming chapters. Kind of like driving somewhere at night with the headlights on; you know where you're going (or so you hope) but all you see is what's ahead of you and down the road a bit.

And, of course, sometimes you end up someplace you didn't intend to go, and wind up asking the stranger at the front door, "Wait, don't I live here?", and then ducking as they hurl rocks at you. Not that I speak from experience, of course.

--
I made a website! http://www.mossroot.com
I published a webzine: http://www.daikaijuzine.com
I did other cool stuff too.

I outline diligently. The method I use resembles the phase outline, except that I go by scenes rather than shorter-chunks-of-scenes. On the other hand, I often write a 200-word description of what happens in a scene, so I guess it balances out.

I need my outlines to write. I've tried seat-of-the-pants writing before, when I did NaNoWriMo for the first time in 2005. I won, but my production was so bad that... well, that I refer to it as a "production" rather than a "story". In 2006 I outlined diligently, but suspected (from the length of the outline) that my plot was going to fall short of the 50,000 words I needed. Lo and behold, it did. Even though I lost NaNoWriMo that year, I'm happier with what I produced (though I think it still needs a rewrite). In 2007, I outlined diligently again - but even more diligently than the year before. From that outline, it looked like by 50,000 words I'd barely have scraped the surface of my story. Lo and behold, that was correct also. The writing I produced that year was much better than in either of the years before, though for a variety of other, non-writing-quality-related reasons, it still needed a rewrite. Which is what I'm doing this year.

When I've written outside of NaNoWriMo, I've tended not to put as much work into my outlines - and have also tended to fail. I'll write and write, and even though things seem to be progressing nicely, I'll abruptly hit a brick wall in my plot. Faced with deleting 10,000 words or just giving up, I usually just give up. If I can't think of a way out, I'll give up. That's why I desperately need my outlines!

Watch this signature gain some marginally more useful content come November!