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THE OUTLINE PROCESS
'BIG' books are planned, re-planned, and planned again. Every section is as carefully constructed as a skyscraper, with all its supports and cross-sections tested in advance.
(Margaret Mitchell wrote the last chapter of Gone With the Wind before tackling any other)
Ken Follett, for instance, always does at least four outlines of his books. His first outline provides mainly background, and the projected plot may have "only two characters and only a handful of scenes that portend high drama."
More and more steps (and counter steps) are added in following outlines. Finally, the last outline starts off the plot in Chapter One, and carries it through to the The End.
I remember finding all this painstaking preparation so depressing at this stage that I could not take notes, and instead photostated some paragraphs. I have them still. On Page 115 the author of "Writing a Blockbuster Novel" says:
"Most crucially, perhaps. Follett transforms a story involving people who are strangers to each other into one whose characters are most intimately linked, thus creating the possibility for scenes of great poignancy and high emotion.
"The action becomes focused more and more narrowly on his four principal characters with whom we can become more and more involved. At least one of them and usually more than one ultimately is present in every scene. And all scenes that would have centered on secondary characters are eliminated by the final outline."
A paragraph on P 42 reads: "Follett's novels (and those of most bestselling authors) begin with plot." [In case you think this too obvious, bear in mind that many great authors do NOT leap from the gate at the shout of "They're off", or immediately start whipping the plot into full gallop. Some don't even have an Outline routine. . . but there's lots of ways to work. Even Follet is cautious, for his agent writes: "At the outset, the plot is often no more than a strong situation that can be summarized in a sentence or two. You'll see how Follett uses the outline form gradually to enrich and complicate his plot while at the same time to narrow, and sharpen its focus. But character is equally crucial. And Follett, from outline to outline, adds and eliminates dramatis personae, as well as their past histories and unique idiosyncrasies - all with a view toward building up the stature of his people, making them interesting, exciting and enhancing our feelings for them."
At this point of producing Outlines, you are suddenly struck with the bad news, and perserverance may wilt. Chin up.
P54 the first thing to keep in mind about outlining is that you must not let yourself feel intimidated or discouraged by how hard it seems to sit down and in a day or a week write one that you can look at and say, Hey, this really works.
You should expect your first outline to be perhaps a little vague or poorly focused, and that it most likely will end up with some loose ends, some unresolved plot strands. Then you'll have to go back and approach it afresh, adding twists to the plot, enriching the background of the characters and the complications between them, changing elements you previously have set down to make them conform to your new ideas.
Chances are you'll find shortcomings in your second outline as well, and you'll have to repeat the process. . .. For "The Pillars of the Earth", Follett wrote nine.
But take care. Planning a book is different from writing it.
Your final outline will serve you better if you refrain from letting it become a mini-novel. What will help you most is writing up a solid paragraph or so about each of your major characters as each one enters the story. As you go on, write a paragraph or so (but no more than a page) setting down the main action of each chapter or major scene. There is no specified length for an outline, but I would recommend between twenty and forty double:-spaced. pages. Try not to encumber yourself at this stage of your work with details of dialogue, description or interior monologue.
When you come to the actual composing of your text, you want to feel as uninhibited as possible and let your inspiration take you where it will. And outlines, as you'll see in the next to last chapter of this book, do often need to be at least partially set aside and reconceived as you go about writing your text and your novel takes on a life of its own.
My experience, and that of some writers I can compare notes with, is that our books never take on a life of their own. They lie there, brooding, and threatening you with eternal death. You have to wrestle them all the way to their close - and beyond, into a reluctant publisher's office. But then, we're not giving birth to blockbusters.
If you don't like Outlines - simply rewrite the book, as Robert Louis Stevenson always did (seven times, he once revealed). Or use a storyboard, as many publishers' agents suggest: You can rub out bad ideas; throw the chalk at the cat; do all sorts of things that don't require actual writing.
Now let's look at something less intimidating. |
