Thoughts on Writing #29: Outlines by Seanan McGuire

[doc]

I find that I frequently write outlines for stories. But in nearly every case those outlines get left behind as the characters begin taking over and telling me new things I'd never thought of on my own.

I think it's important to remember that an outline isn't a suicide pact. It's just a plan, and like most plans, it will rarely survive first contact with the enemy.

[Lester Curtis]

In my novel project, I am relying more on timelines than any kind of outline. Maybe I'm obsessive about sequence . . . I keep track of what happened when (in two calendar systems, one ours and one for the planet the aliens are from) and how old each character is at the point of each significant event in the story. I also include certain other information, such as the names of characters and their relationships.

It's all under the category of world-building.

This became a necessity for me not too far into the work on the project. Once I'm no longer confused by the combinations of who, what, where, and when, I can place a character in a situation and let them be themselves.

It helps. It doesn't write the story for me.

[doc]

In my novel project, I am relying more on timelines than any kind of outline.

A timeline is just one form of an outline.

[Lester Curtis]

A timeline is just one form of an outline.

Yes. Call it a subset.

I've gone through several variations.

[Lester Curtis]

Once the hooks are figured out, the outline for me becomes more of an anti-blunder device, catching stuff like "Oh. Right. He can't say hi to Mom next scene because he's still on the business trip."

My timeline saved me from such a blunder just recently . . . I was writing a scene in which my main character's two younger brothers appear, and I was beginning to write it as though they were still little kids, when in actuality they were old enough to have kids of their own . . . this timeline is now the most-used tool I have.

[Lester Curtis]

I also recently drew up a family tree for the main character's family . . . had to do it just to keep track of names, but it adds another layer of information. And mentioning it just reminded me that it needs another connecting line.

As to:

drawing "character location by story time

-- if I wanted to, I could just add another column or two to my timeline with that information in it, but I haven't had any trouble along those lines yet.