WRITING RUMINATIONS: OUTLINING
I hate outlining.
When I was in high school, we had to write several research papers. Our teachers all followed the same formula to try and help us break this process up into nice, easy, bite-sized pieces. You know the drill:
1. Come up with a topic
2. A week later: Write a thesis statement
3. 1-3 weeks later: Do some research and fill up 100 notecards with ideas, quotes, paraphrases, etc
4. A few days later: Write an outline
5. 1 week later: Write the introduction to your paper (first few paragraphs)
6. 1-2 weeks later: Write paper
Confession time... I was that student. Yep, I would do steps 1-3 in order, but then I would spend those "outlining" days writing the entire paper. Once the paper was finished, I would create an outline to hand in. I would then make any suggested changes to the paper and outline simultaneously. (I apologize to any former teachers who may be reading this...) I managed to get A's... which did nothing to discourage me from this practice!
I never quite got the point of outlines. The idea of writing an outline first was almost abhorrent to me. Where was the fun in knowing where the paper was going?
When I set out on the quest that was to eventually become The Minstrel's Song I approached writing a novel the same way. I did no outlining. I had no idea how the story was going to end, or even what was going to be in the next 10 pages. What fun would that be? I didn't want to know where the story was going, because I wanted the excitement of discovery when I got to the end. That is why I can say that Brant was never supposed to make it past chapter 1. That is why my original "plan," such as it was, meant for the story to be far more centered around Kamarie, Oraeyn, and Yole... and yet the story ended up being all about Brant, instead.
Writing King's Warrior was possibly the most fun I have ever had. Not just the writing process, but having my dad read the current ten pages to my family each night, getting instant feedback from my target audience, whiling away the hours each day writing in every available minute... ah, to have that much free time once more!
However, as the first book morphed into a prequel, and then a sequel, and then another sequel... I began to realize the importance of outlining. The major 2-year re-write and edit of King's Warrior was necessary in order to 1) make sure that the four books were consistent (which they more or less were, but as I did not know where I was going with the first book, and had a much better idea of where each of the subsequent books was going, it was needful to go back and edit KW in order to make it fit) and 2) to bring the writing style and story-telling ability up to par with the following three books. Let's face it: I wrote the original "The Dragon's Eye" when I was 19: I was a freshman in college, working at the pool, living at home. I finished "The Minstrel" (book 4) when I was 25: I was graduated from college, married, had worked full time as a teacher for 2 years, and moved across the country. I was a different person. A more mature (slightly) person. My writing had matured and my "voice" had awoken in a way it had not during that first novel.
Nowadays, I plan out my novels more seriously before I ever begin writing them. It's not my favorite part of writing (though it can be a lot of fun!) but I see it as a very necessary part of writing. Thankfully, I am married to a wonderful man who loves helping with this part of the process. He's got a very detail-oriented and technical mind, and is great at creating worlds, drawing maps, and helping me brainstorm through plot ideas.
Despite having embraced outlines, I still try to let them be flexible things. I plan things out, write them down, change them, write down new ideas. I have learned that an outline is not the pair of manacles I once considered them to be. Having an outline doesn't mean the story or characters cannot still surprise me from time to time (which, to be honest, is my favorite part of the writing process, and the main reason I always resisted the idea of an outline). The outline is more a "guideline" than an actual "rule." But it is a good guideline to have.