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6SecretsofWritingaNovelWithoutanOutlineBy: Guest Column | October 15, 2013

I have a confession to make.

When I was in school and a teacher would assign us to writean outline for a story, Id finish the story first, then go backand write the outline so Id have something to turn in. Evenas a teenager I thought outlining was counterintuitive to thewriting process.

Steven James

But outlining is still taught as if its the right way to shape astory. I have a masters degree in storytelling and I cantthink of a single time Ive received instruction on writing astory without an outline. Youll hear the importance ofplotting out your story trumpeted at writing conferencesnationwide, and if you dont follow those formulas youll belabeled an SOPer (that is, a seat-of-the-pantser, orsometimes just a pantserand no, Im not making this up).

Over the last decade, as Ive taught writing seminars across North America Ive found that when Iadvise people to stop outlining and instead develop a more personalized, organic writing process,I get strange looks as if that goes against some sort of rule.

Well, if thats the case, I invite you to the rebellion. If youve ever wanted to throw away youroutline and uncover a story word by word, heres how to get started.

1.Reevaluatewhatyouveheardaboutstory.

Lots of outliners teach that a story should have three acts.

Thats simply not true.

Regardless of how many acts or scenes your story has, this is what it needs to have in order to beeffective and complete: an orientation to the world of the characters, an origination of conflict, anescalation of tension, rising stakes, a moment at which everything seems lost, a climacticencounter, a satisfying conclusion, and a transformation of a character or situation (usually both).

If you want to divide those into three acts, have at it.

Forget, too, what youve learned about stories building through rising action, as many popularplot graphs would have you believe. Stories build through escalating tension. Simply making more

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exciting things happen doesnt ensure that readers will remain interested as the story progresses.Tightening the tension does.

[Want to land an agent? Here are 4 things to consider when researching literary agents.]

That means its equally unhelpful to think of your story as character-driven or plot-driven.Describing a character or simply telling us whats happening will not drive your story forward.Tension comes from unmet desire. What readers need to know, then, is what your character wantsbut cannot get, and what he is doing to try to get it.

Popular outline and structure formulas are filled with misconceptions about what makes a storywork. Rather than straightjacketing your story by forcing it into three acts, or trying to map it outas character-driven or plot-driven, take the organic approach by first simply asking yourselfwhat is truly at the heart of your story.

Remember: What your story really needs is an orientation, a crisis or calling that disrupts normallife, relentless escalation of tension, and a satisfying climax. Along the way, youll need to makesure readers are compelled to empathize and CONNECT with the main character(s), feel enoughemotion to stay intrigued by the story, and gain enough insight to see the world with new eyeswhen theyre done.

Focus all of your attention at the heart of your story, keeping these essential elements and goalsin mind, and youll begin to intuitively understand what needs to happen to drive the storyforward.

When youre informed about what makes a story work, youre never writing from the seat of yourpants. By letting your story develop organically, youre delving deeper and deeper into the essenceof what storytelling is all about.

2.Letnarrativeforcesratherthanformulasdriveyourstoryforward.

Imagine a giant ball of clay being held by a group of people. As one person presses against theclay, the clays shape changes.

The clay is your story; the people surrounding it represent the narrative forces pressing in upon itto shape it. For example:

Escalation: The tension must continue to escalate scene by scene until it reaches a climax afterwhich nothing is ever the same again.

Believability: The characters in your story need to act in contextually believable ways. All the time.

Causality: Everything that happens must be caused by the thing that precedes it.

Scenes and setbacks: If nothing is altered you do not have a scene. If your characters solvesomething without a setback you do not have a story.

Inevitability and surprise: Each scene should end in a way thats unexpected and yet satisfying toreaders. The end of every scene must be not only logical but, in retrospect, the only possibleconclusion to that scene.

Continuity: Continuity develops through pace (the speed at which things are happening) andnarrative energy (the momentum carrying them along).

Genre conventions: Readers enter a story with expectations based on their understanding of itsgenre. You need to be familiar enough with genre conventions to meet or exceed thoseexpectations without resorting to cliches.

All of these elements, plus voice, setting, mood and more, press against the story in a continualgive-and-take relationship, affecting one another and forming the shape of the tale. As you write,constantly look at the pressure each of these concepts places on the story:

OK, I need to escalate this chase sceneI had a foot chase before, so I cant do that again. Maybea helicopter chase? But will that be believable? Well, Ill need to foreshadow that someone knowshow to fly the helicopter and make it inevitable that they end up at the helicopter landing pad atthis moment of the story. But does that fit in with the pace right here? Can I pull this off withoutrelying on narrative gimmicks or coincidences?

Listen to the story, using questions like those in the sidebar below. It will reveal itself to you asyou lean into it.

3.Followrabbittrails.

Forget all that rubbish youve heard about staying on track and not following rabbit trails. Ofcourse you should follow them. Its inherent to the creative process. Who knows? What you at firstthought was just a rabbit trail leading nowhere in particular might take you to a breathtakingoverlook that eclipses everything you previously had in mind.

Without serendipitous discoveries, your story runs the risk of feeling artificial and prepackaged.



Give yourself the freedom to explore the terrain of your story. Wander daily through your ideafield and unreservedly embrace the adventure.

[Did you know there are 7 reasons writing a novel makes you a badass? Read about them here.]

4.Writefromthecenteroftheparadox.

Think of your story as a contract with your readers, an agreement that you will entertain, surpriseand satisfy them. Every choice that your characters make has an implication; every promise youmake needs to be fulfilled. The more promises you break, the less readers will trust you. Andoften, when readers put a book down, thats exactly whytheyve stopped trusting that youregoing to fulfill the promises youve made.

Here are some common ways that outliners may break their contracts with readers:

Foreshadow something and fail to make it significant.

Introduce a character, make readers care about her, and then drop her from the story.

Develop conflict and then fail to resolve it in a satisfactory way.

Have characters act in unbelievable ways.

Organic writers are well-equipped to make big promises and then keep them. Were neverdirectionless, because we can always work on scenes that fulfill promises weve made earlier, orgo back and foreshadow the fulfillment of promises we think of as the story takes shape.

In storytelling, what will happen informs what is happening, and what is happening informs whatdid. You cannot know where a story needs to go until you know where its been, but you cannotknow where it needs to have been until you know where its going.

Its a paradox.

And thats part of the fun.

I find it helpful to discard the idea of a first draft and think of writing the entire story as anintegrated whole. As you PAY attention to the choices your characters make and let theimplications of their choices play out on the page, youll find yourself writing your story forwardand backward at the same time, weaving in narrative elements to create your work intuitivelyrather than mechanically.

5.Trustthefluidityoftheprocess.

I love Stephen Kings analogy in his book On Writing comparing stories to fossils that we, thestorytellers, are uncovering. To plot out a story is to decide beforehand what kind of dinosaur itis. King writes, Plot is, I think, the good writers last resort, and the dullards first choice.

His analogy helps me to stop thinking of a story as something I create as much as it is something Iuncover by asking the right questions.

When people outline, theyll inevitably come up with ideas for scenes that seem important to theplot, but in the resulting manuscript, the transitions between these scenes (in terms of thecharacters motivation to move to another place or take a specific action) are often weak. You canusually tell that an author outlined her story when you find yourself thinking, But why wouldnt thecharacter just ?

As you learn to feel out the story by constantly exploring what would naturally happen next, youllfind your characters acting in more believable and honest ways.

Heres the biggest problem with writing an outline: Youll be tempted to use it. Youll get to acertain place and stop digging, even though there might be a lot more of that dinosaur left touncover.

6.Reevaluatecontinuously.

So, in practice, how does this work? When you sit down at the keyboard each day, what do you doif you dont have an outline to work from?

Reorient yourself to the context. Print out the previous 50 or 100 pages (once a week I find ithelpful to do the whole novel) and read it through the eyes of a reader, not an editor. Remember,readers arent looking for whats wrong with the story; theyre looking for whats right with it.Continually ask yourself, What are readers wondering about, hoping for and expecting at thismoment in the story? Then give it to them.

Draft the scene that would naturally come next. The length and breadth of the scene needs to beshaped by the narrative forces I mentioned earlier.

Go back and rework earlier scenes as needed. What you write organically will often have



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implications on the story youve already written.

Keep track of unanswered questions and unresolved problems. Review them before each read-through of your manuscript.

Come up with a system to organize your ideas as they develop. In addition to files of characterdescriptions, phrases, clues and so on, I have four word processing files I use to organize mythoughts: 1) Plot Questions, 2) Reminders, 3) Discarded Ideas and 4) Notes.

If you find yourself at a loss for what to write next, come up with a way to make things worse, letthe characters respond naturally to whats happening, write a scene that fulfills a promise youmade earlier in the book, or work on a scene you know readers will expect based on your genreand the story youve told so far. When you understand the principles of good storytelling, youalways have a place to start.

Move into and out of the story, big picture, small picture, focusing one day on the forest and thenext day on the trees. Follow these ideas, and stories will unfold before you.

Leave outlining to English teachers. Let the rebellion begin.

*********************************************************************************************************************************Follow me on Twitter: @BrianKlemsCheck out my humor book, Oh Boy, Youre Having a Girl.Sign up for my free weekly eNewsletter: WD Newsletter

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34thoughtson6SecretsofWritingaNovelWithoutanOutline



Yay. I make basic outlines so I dont forget names and basic thoughts. I am glad outlines arentso nessacary for a story. Obviously for play or movie you do need to write it out bit more andout line it etc and write out a script.

MajormanafemaleMarch 30, 2015 at 1:31 pm

I loved this article. It was what I needed to hear. Sad, but I hadnt even considered that therewas such a thing at outline-less writing. Ive never gotten too far into the planning andstructure stage and typically end up with lots of piles of not much. I tend to get bogged downin details. Everything from drawing maps to details about character clothing. I recently beganwriting during my lunch hour and am just posting whatever I do in that time. Not worryingabout dialogue or punctuation beyond what comes quickly to me just following the thread ofmy thought. I realized Id have to do some rewriting on the weekends but think it could workfor me. It became obvious that I need some sort of guiding principles though and my searchingturned up this article.

BurtJune 4, 2014 at 10:02 am

I just ran across this article. I feel like we need a live debate between you and K.M. Weiland(look her up if you dont know who she is) regarding outlining. Shes as much for it as you areagainst itshe has a whole book on it. LOL

I have mixed feelings about outlining, but despite a bachelors degree in creative writing(summa cum laude) and a successful non-fiction writing career, was never one for the sort ofoutlining typically recommended. I dont feel like I write entirely by the seat of my pants either.

Full disclosure: I am a fan of John Truby, author of The Anatomy of Story , and his 22 steps. Sowhat I do is work through most of the exercises in his book, working out the premise,character details, desires, conflict, story world, etc. Then I jot down ideas for scenes and try tocover each of his 22 steps. This process inevitably takes on the form of an outline. Doing thishelps me figure out if my story idea has any legs.

Then I set it aside and just write. I really dont look at any of the prep work again until I finishthe first draftunless I think of something for the story world or characters that I didnt capturethere. I do that just to have a continuity reference.

For me, its not totally about whether I remembered the exact scenes I thought of or everydetail of the outline I created. Just doing that prep work organizes my creative process whilestill allowing me to create the actual story organically.

So my point is, in order to be successful, each writer has to do what works for him or her. Ofcourse, if you are not getting anywhere with whatever you are doing (outlining or not, or somehybrid), a writer should also be willing to consider a different approach.

DiogeneiaFebruary 16, 2014 at 6:30 pm

Although there have been many comments about HOW the information was given, I feel thatthe techniques offered will help greatly in my writings. The only question I have is Where arethe questions like those in the sidebar below?? Has anyone else found the sidebar??

It needed to be in the outline.

WesTJanuary 1, 2014 at 4:40 pm

Brian Scott PrestonApril 29, 2014 at 1:53 am

I have been reading your posts for quite a while now and I keep them in a file for when I canget the time to read. So, sorry its taken so long to get to this one! WHICH IS EXCELLENTBEYOND WORDS!!!I love everything you write and youre totally my favorite WD writer.Can I just tell you, this article has validated EVERYTHING I have believed about writing, whichIve always been told is the wrong way to do things! I LOVE THIS ARTICLE! Of course, despite all

BlamiresDecember 11, 2013 at 1:55 am



the naysayers, I have always written using my own free-style method, with no restrictions onmy imagination and no fences around my words to prevent me from exploring every avenue,with the ability to have my stories and characters ACTUALLY take on lives of their own that tellme where the story should go.THANKS!Keep up the GREAT work. It is truly appreciated!Blessings!

I feel like you are coming out strong against perhaps some equally too strong proscriptiveinstruction on how to write, but few of your critiques really speak to me as critiques of thewriting process. They are all examples of poor writing but that poor writing can be a result ofoutlining or pantsing. (In the NaNoWriMo world, pantsing is more normal than outlining, andthe term is worn as a badge of honor).

I think the real issue is that writing contains multiple processes that use different parts of yourbrain. Putting together a good plot, handling foreshadowing, layering in themes, making surehistorical facts are accurate or fantastical laws are consistent these are very different tasksthan following a character (who doesnt know what will happen next) through their processesof discovery, their failures and triumphs, their joys and their sorrows.

I think some people prefer to have some structure to work in first, so that they know where theboundaries are. It helps them be more free within those lines. Others want to roam arounduntil the bump into the edge, and go, aha! Theres my story. But the end result if the writingis good will usually satisfy both needs: Having a good story structure that feels organic.

The process described here, one of roaming about and then continually evaluating and refiningwhat you have done, is not that different from the process outliners use. Outliners maybe dosome more of that logical structure-oriented work before they start writing, and have lesscleanup to do after; but they also have to take a bit more time before they start. Discoverywriters are going to do more of that work on the backend.

There are positives and negatives to both approach, and either can be used as a crutch if youarent careful. And dont forget people like me, who do a bunch of brainstorming before handand write many possible outlines, before throwing everything away to jump into a randomcharacter and stumble around in the dark. But that process beforehand is important toimmerse me in my world and allow me the tools to actually be able to shoot from the hip in anatural way.

Thanks for the article! Even though it came off as a little overly rebellious, theres a lot of goodreminders. I think it can help discovery writers remember things to look out for and keep trackof. And for outliners, remembering to aim for fluidity, and embrace the paradoxes is reallygood to hear!

salukOctober 28, 2013 at 4:51 pm

Thank you so much for this article. I tend to be an outliner, but I dont stick to my outlinesrigidly. My characters seem to enjoy blowing them to bits, so they are really more of aguideline (as Captain Barbosa reminds us.) You dont know how much it means to read notevery follows the three-act structure. I have always felt like I was doing something wrongbecause it doesnt work for me. Now I wont worry about that.

I love your advice about following the rabbit holes. Some of my most beloved secondarycharacters were created thanks to those rabbit holes. (I also wrote a lot that I didnt use, but Iconsider it worth it; practice makes perfect, right?)

Your ideas of going with the flow mesh with my own experiences. When I just let go and let thecharacters tell their stories, beautiful things happen. Its only when I get in my own way byforcing myself into preconceived rules/boxes that I experience writers block.

Thank you again for this. I have it printed out and will be consulting it every time I start a newbook or need a little nudge.

Nicole EvelinaOctober 17, 2013 at 5:01 pm

The way of writing described here is the way I almost always written. While I usually have amental plan, an idea of where I want the characters to go and how I want the story to end, Inever have a formal outline. I usually have a list of characters with their basic information andmaybe a note of something important for each to do in the story, but that is it. I let thecharacters find their own way through their story. I also do like to go back and re-read from the

Sylvia AuclairOctober 16, 2013 at 7:42 pm



beginning, which many people have advised me not to do. But I like to see how it reads and itgives me the opportunity add in scenes that I realize are needed for future events in the story.Its nice to hear that Im not the only one who does this.

This article is a machine gun of logic fallacies. If someone wants to write without an outline,more power to her. But dont use the blatantly flawed logic in this article as your rationale:

Lots of outliners teach that a story should have three acts.According to whom? Outliners say this, but pantsers dont? That is a general storytellingconcept. First you introduce the characters, then you put them in terrible peril or in the middleof a huge conflict, then you kill them, save them, or resolve the conflict (either favorably orunfavorably for them). That has nothing to do without outlining. You want to have a bunch ofconflict before introducing the characters? Go for it, but nobody is going to care about theconflict, because they dont care about your characters involved in it yet. Resolve the conflictbefore anything else happens? OK, but (1) nobody will care about the resolution, because theyhavent been introduced to your characters yet; and (2) the rest of your book is going to suck,because all of the conflict was resolved in the first act. Good luck with that.

Popular outline and structure formulas are filled with misconceptions about what makes astory work.The hundreds of thousands of unpublished/self-published novels written without any ideawhere they were going are personifications of misconceptions about what makes a story work,too. Again, this argument has nothing to do with outlining. You can outline in a bad storystructure as easily as you can pants a bad story structure. This simply has nothing to do withthe pros or cons of outlining. It has to do with the cons of bad storytelling.

Here are some common ways that outliners may break their contracts with readers:These were my favorites, because the arguments are nonsensical:

Foreshadow something and fail to make it significant.Is this a threat with outlining because if you dont outline you dont ever foreshadow? If you doa bad job storytelling, this can happen if you outline. If you do a good job, the fact that youactually know what is supposed to happen four scenes down the road makes it possible toforeshadow. At best, this can be read as since you dont know whats going to happen either,you dont ever foreshadow. Not what I would call an advantage. Chekhov wasnt only telling usthat the gun from the first chapter needs to be used by the third. He was also telling us that ifsomeone grabs a gun to save the day in the third, it should have been introduced in the first.The alternative is deus ex pantser.

Introduce a character, make readers care about her, and then drop her from the story.What the hell is this person talking about? Before an outliner introduces a character, she knowswhether shes relevant to the story. This is a problem outlining helps you avoid (see theadvantages of rabbit trails analysis in the article, which directly contradicts this part of thearticle).

Develop conflict and then fail to resolve it in a satisfactory way.Again, an outline is not guarantee this cant happen, but it is a step in the right direction.Outlining requires the writer to think of what the conflict is and then reason through theresolution conceptually. Just letting your characters wander around does not lead to moresatisfactory conflict resolution.

Have characters act in unbelievable ways.Maybe I missed it. Is this article just tongue-in-cheek sarcasm? Looking at the cause, effect,interrelationships and long-term results of a characters actions from a birds-eye view does notmake them act more unbelievably. If I need a character to pick a lock in Chapter 8, Ill showhim getting out of prison for burglary in Chapter 2 and maybe even have him dig up his oldlock-picking tools that he buried years before in Chapter 6. Knowing where the story is goingahead of time guards against this, it doesnt cause it.

This author just listed a bunch of disadvantages not knowing where your story will go (youcant foreshadow if even you dont know whats coming next, you cant know what significanceyour character will have in the last chapter when you introduce her if you dont know what isgoing to happen in the last chapter, same for conflicts, same for planning out things so theyremain believable.). Then just blithely asserts that they are disadvantages of outlining.

Some people write incredibly well without outlines, so that part doesnt bother me. Irrationalarguments swimming in patent logical fallacies, however, bug the crap out of me.

Thanks for coming back for a second post, Mooky. I wholeheartedly agree with your critique ofthis articles pretentious pretzel logic, as I hinted at yesterday. Im not condoning elaborate

MookyMcDOctober 16, 2013 at 12:38 pm

jaredbernardOctober 16, 2013 at 3:32 pm



set-in-stone outlines (I dont even know who uses them aside from maybe screenwriters) orarbitrarily aimless narratives, but this article is using certain arguments against outlines thatare fundamentally irrational.

In regards to your comments on Have characters act in unbelievable ways, I think that thearticle refers to bending characters to suit situations. So you *outline* the plot, and it has to gothat way (because you cant, you know, change the outline I dont really think anyone wouldwrite in concrete like that), but youve *developed* the character in a different direction- suchthat the two dont mesh. I have seen a lot of bombing on the writing prompt forums whenpeople use created characters because theyre being inserted into scenes they were nevermeant to be in.

I think a lot of the points are silly if theyre based on someone that writes in concrete, but Ivealso never met anyone who writes like that. If I ever meet one, Ill stop thinking so many of thepoints here are flawed.

So, in summary, I agree that it sounds like this article is totally one camp vs. the other with nomiddle ground (and I express my thoughts below, in a comment of my own)

But, honestly, though I get your points, but youre going about making them in I dont knowhow to say this, honestly maybe harsh/ rant-like way. Not that its not warranted on someof these points I guess where Im coming from is that Id love to read a retort to this articlethat was well a professional retort you would submit to a journal or something. If yourehere, youve got writing talent. Dont squander it on angry rants when you can weave a muchmore elegant reply.

True. It seems more likely to me that you would forget to foreshadow when you arent surewhere the story is going.

SvapneOctober 22, 2013 at 5:06 pm


Ive written two novels as a pantser and have received positive feedback from other writers andeditors. Outlining seems socontrived. Thanks for letting me know Im not alone!

[email protected] 16, 2013 at 9:27 am

Brian, I really enjoyed your thoughts. I start a story with a seed and then watch the branchesgrow in various directions. An outline is herbicide on that process.

I dont know if a satisfying climax is always the right direction to take. Sometimes stories thatend with questions are the ones that stick with readers.

Im torn. Im not sure which way is best; but I do feel that too many rules can take all the funout of writing.

Kathy SteinemannOctober 16, 2013 at 9:22 am


I think there are two ends of the spectrum that any writer who is interested in commercial oreven mainstream literary success should probably avoid. At one end of the spectrum is aconcrete outline that stifles any organic character or plot growth. At the other end of thespectrum is starting a 100,000 word novel without knowing where it starts and where it endsand having a reasonable idea how it is going to get from the former to the latter. There is a lotof real estate between those extremes, and Ive found myself at different places on thespectrum because of the nature of different projects, but I cannot imagine going to eitherextreme for any project.

MookyMcDOctober 16, 2013 at 1:21 am



As far as I know, Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad were just two writers who didnt outline who wrote seat-of-the-pants and they didnt do too badly.

And while a novel is fiction, were the story to be real life, the characters might plan and plot,but they could hardly dictate the outcome of a course of action. Why should a novelist?

JohnAOctober 16, 2013 at 12:52 am

Thank you for this article! I no longer feel alone. Whenever I received a writing assignment ofany kind that required an outline, when at all possible I did the same thing as Steven James: Idcomplete the assignment early (and several hundreds of words over the required limit) andthen write up an outline. Ive never been able to write within the strict confines of an outline,yet every time I read another piece of writing advice, one of the first things I see is create anoutline of your story. And I immediately feel inferior because if I fail at not being able tocomplete that initial step, does that mean Im automatically destined to fail with the rest of mywriting? (My low self-esteem invariably answers with a resounding YES! which I try to ignore.) Ienjoy letting my characters and the situations of my story take me where they will. Sometimes Ihave to wrangle things when they get too far out of hand, but other times I discover that thewandering path Ive been led down has actually created a more cohesive and creative narrative.Not to mention I can deepen my characters personalities and motivations by letting themspeak to me; in a way, they explain why this particular story needs to be told. If I follow anarrow outline, how much then am I missing out on?

Laura DragonWenchOctober 15, 2013 at 11:40 pm

Since when did the writer of this excellent revelation learn how to read my mind? Our storiesare live entities when properly translated into words. Id share this wonderful epiphany with allmy friends, but it tastes so delicious that I want to hoard it until they beg for the secret.Although I knew all these things, I cant imagine putting them into words so eloquently as isdone here, and only hope my characters continue to take me in new directions as they alwayshave because they achieve a life of their own beyond my control.

Call it muse if you wish. I call it magic.

Kerr BerrOctober 15, 2013 at 10:26 pm

I have never been able to outline. It seems a bit too pigeon-holed and forced. That is a rigidoutline: I, II, IIIetc. I could never force myself to do that. I am working on my first novel now.Ive written several short stories in college years and years ago and completely stopped writingfor a very long time. Then, forced into an early retirement for health reasons, I had all this timeon my hands, so decided to write the novel Ive always wanted to write. The issue that Imhaving is structure. I tried to outline at first, to no avail. So, I decided that Id just start writing.Then I got stuck. I didnt know where to go. I am writing a dual mystery in two differenttimelines, a cold case from 1993 and an even colder case from old west 1871. Im finding witha mystery, you do need to do some plotting to know where you are going, but not so rigid thatit stifles creativity. So, I guess I am half and half. I read Stephen Kings On Writing too. I am abig fan as a reader, and Ive read a lot of how-to books on writing. This one is the best of themall. It is as if he is sitting there in a recliner or sofa next to you, telling you his story. It amazesme that he can write the huge volumes with so many characters and not outline. Anyway, I amstill finding my way. Does anyone have any advice for me about weaving a tight murder storyorganically?

BeckyOctober 15, 2013 at 8:26 pm

I even discouraged starting with a packet of 35 index cards for research papers. I saw nothingwrong with what was most comfortable for the student. I was nearly banned from the Englishdepartment.

But wait! I had been making a very good part-time income as a technical writer (while teaching)and had more published articles than the entire department.

In the words of Tevye, Tradition, Tradition

johnmorrisbensonOctober 15, 2013 at 6:36 pm



Big sigh of relief! I write this way and rather happily. Then I read an article that makes me feelsomehow deficient because I dont plan at all. This article seeped deep into my soul and said,yes, trust the process! This is how the magic comes.

Jeri BairdOctober 15, 2013 at 3:50 pm

I would agree that writing a concrete, no-deviation outline is stupid, but Ive never seen anyonedo that. Kudos to a writer that can make it actually work without forcing characters that aredeveloping in a different direction adhere to the original plan.

I would agree with jaredbernard that its got to be impossible to write with no idea wherethings are going. Even if its in your brain, you probably have a rough outline of *some* sort.Im one of the most chaotic writers, and I even keep a brief mental outline. But Im pretty surethis article means to refer to those soul-killing, set-in-stone, table-of-contents-to-be outlines,and not some simple mental notes.

As for my own style, Im generally fairly organic and sporadic, writing what comes to mecompletely without regard to logical order.

-I generally write the beginning, because I usually think up rich expositions first.

-If I know where it ends, I write the ending next (either very broad how-the-world-changed stuffor very narrow, personal stuff that doesnt necessarily change too much even if the character(s)involved are sole survivors or among the masses).

-While I may have a general idea for some things in the middle, I usually leave that to developorganically, and shape whatever else happens around what grows. I write chaotically, so when Icome up with an idea, even if it is three chapters ahead, I write it down. It keeps me fromforgetting things and allows me to work them in as I go along.

So Im glad Im not alone in the chaos!

SvapneOctober 15, 2013 at 3:18 pm

At lastsomeone else who seems to work the way I do. I started writing only a few years agoafter spending years fixing computers and did things similar to this article right only to be toldby other writing friends Ive met online that I was doing it all wrong. They knew more becauseof the Creative Writing courses they took in college. Ahhwhat a relief that I didnt listen tothem!

MertzOctober 15, 2013 at 3:12 pm

For years I have tried to outline my stories before I write them, and find halfway through theprocess that I give up, completely frustrated. In every aspect of my life I am detailed and makelists for everything, but when it comes to my writing I just have to dive in and let the story takeover. I dont believe there is a right way, or a wrong wayonly the way that works best for youas an individual. If that makes me a Rebel, so be it!

JKDauerOctober 15, 2013 at 3:12 pm

The topic of pantzing as opposed to outlining comes up all the time. Most instruction willsuggest outlining over pantzing because it organizes thinking. In other words, an outline is askeleton guide for the writing to flesh out into an organic body of the story that goes fromthe beginning (setup or protagonists ordinary life style) to the middle (extraordinary crisis andstakes that disrupt pros ordinary life style, forcing choices) that lead to (life style changes) theend. That is the outline for every story genre. It is the outline for life itself. We all live it.Director Hitchcock said it best: Entertainment is life with all the dull stuff taken out. We relateto and learn from the experience even if it is fiction.

sassyOctober 15, 2013 at 3:11 pm




Maybe we can learn from film. Hitchcock was a very tightly organized director right down tothe shot.

Great article. I cant remember the source but a well-known author once asked How can youknow what the story until youve written it.

sbahlesOctober 15, 2013 at 3:07 pm

Sorry, but this is a little pedantic. I agree that organic writing is important Alice Munrotaught us that but to imply that outline-less writers are better able to fulfill contractualobligations made to readers because they are more attuned to the direction of their stories ishairsplitting pedagogy. You just have the outline in your head. What difference does it make ifthe writer keeps the storys direction in mind or if the writer writes it down? I think outlines areoften useful, but I rarely write them down and when I do I only write a rough back-of-the-napkin style half-pager. Whatever works. But dont tell me keeping your storys plans in yourmind is not an outline.

Jared,I hear what youre saying, and I get that even when were not planning were a step or twoahead in our minds. To me what resonates in this article is not being too formulaic. I can tellwhen I pick up a book thats just been too, TOO planned outlike some romance books forinstance. They do have a formula, some of them follow it a little too strictly, and its like . . .wheres the tension? Even if I do know theres going to be a HEA, I need some great back-and-forth guessing.Anyway, thats my nickel, for what its worth.-Christina

jaredbernardOctober 15, 2013 at 2:23 pm

FailingBetterOctober 15, 2013 at 3:16 pm

I am so glad to find out that Im not a freak of nature of the writing world. I dont use outlinesand just let the stories flow and then go back and rearrange and edit. I believe that betterstories are told that way because you are not over-analyzing each and every scene. Thank youso much for such a great article. Im proud to be a REBEL!!!!!!

SankatOctober 15, 2013 at 2:18 pm

Great article!!!!

In all honesty, it is rather refreshing to read this. I have NEVER been able to outline as I tend tolose interest in the story when I know how it plays out. I often feel as though I am readingsomething new and exciting even as the words form across my screen and that excitement tofind out what happens next is what makes me keep writing!

Short stories aside, I have never finished a novel/rough draft when I have the story plannedout.

captainbarredOctober 15, 2013 at 2:13 pm

Amazing article that raises a lot of good points. With my latest project, Id been doing all mybrainstorming and planning before settling down to write it. Every other story Ive written, Ivedone the exact opposite, barreling in without my idea being fully realized, so Im doing this fora change of pace. Nonetheless, Ill take a lot of this to heart while I continue along thatprocess, especially when it comes to making sure my characters motivation is concise and theensemble of cast members act within their given characterications

JackieOctober 15, 2013 at 1:38 pm



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