brynwrites:

I am a True Believer in outlining before you write.
(At least, so long as an outline doesn’t debilitate your writing.)

But I think some people don’t understand what that means to me. 

To me, an outline means that I know: 

• Where the story is going. 
• What beats it’ll take getting there. 
• The major content I know I want to write.
• How that content can be reasonably connected.
• Where character development decisions should take place.
• What the climax will entail.
• What choices the characters will be forced to make during the climax to fulfill or deny their developmental arc.

It also means that along the way I might…

• Randomly move multiple scenes to a completely new settings.
• Rearrange scenes to make for better pacing.
• Throw in conversations I never imagined the characters would have.
• Completely change one of my main character’s voices in the third chapter.
• Have a random side character mysteriously foreshadow grudges certain characters are holding.
• Realize certain characters have legitimately been holding said grudges.
• Add in new character arcs for said characters to get them to work through their grudges.
• Watch as the main ship progresses way faster than intended.
• (Cry over the main ship.)
• Let the protagonist chose to go by an alias because he’s more insecure than I thought.
• Watch as his brother ruins his alias attempts four chapters later.
• Create an entire new arc that revolves primarily around the protagonist wanting to sleep in a proper bed after camping for three weeks. (And do a lot of last minute plot adjusting to make the pacing still work for this bed-related arc.)
• Forget one of my main characters exists for five chapters.
• Suddenly add her into an arc she wasn’t supposed to be in, to make up for it.
• Be bamboozled as the love interest refuses to sit still long enough to let their leg heal and ends up with a permanent injury. 
• Flat out re-outline entire chapters because the new idea worked better with the character development or pacing.
• Realize that the symbolism I had for a certain thing has actually meant something different all along.
• Add in a motto I didn’t realize was a huge part of two of the main character’s lives in the previous book.
• Take about ten thousand notes on what needs to be adjusted in the next draft.
• Cry because I think the novel will be too long.
• Cry because I think the novel will be too short.
• Cry because I love it too much.
• Cry because it’s definitely the worst thing ever written.

So, when I say I’m a True Believer in outlining, I don’t mean that I’m a believer in never letting your story’s surprise you, or never making last minutes adjustments, or never throwing out huge parts of your outline for something better.

I mean that I’m a true believer in letting your story have a foundation before you write it, because any large or complex story built on a weak foundation, like a castle built in the sand, will need to be re-built later.

But the stronger a foundation you build for it, the easier it is to make changes without your entire structure falling apart.

#This is not saying that some writers don’t do better just rebuilding the castle later or that all stories are complex enough to warrant outlines. #Please do not take my post about what outlining means to me and attempt to writer’splain to me how some writers can’t use outlines. #I literally put that disclaimer right below the title. #Read and think before you reply.