Outlines: Why I Never Work Without One.

Outlining is a bit of a contentious subject in noveling. Some people swear by their outlining process. Others believe that it’s stifling to the creative process. Personally, I can’t get through a novel without at least a basic outline—and would even go so far as to suggest that if you’ve gotten halfway through several novels before abandoning them, it’s probably because you’re an outliner trying to write like a non-outliner. Here’s why outlining is so crucial to my noveling.

Because inspiration won’t carry you forever. This happens to me every time I sit down to write a novel. For the first 100 pages or so, inspiration carries me. I know exactly where I want the novel to go—and the beautiful scenes just flow. Then around the 100-to-150-page mark, I lose my direction. I hit the point where I have to make real choices—limiting choices—about my plot and characters. Indecision can freeze me—and leave me thinking it would be better to just scrap this one and start over.

Because outlining gets me over story loathing. I get this around the same time that I lose my direction in terms of inspiration. I start to hate the story. I want to give up—and I’ve lost many novel ideas over the years this way before figuring out that this is how I work. The outline is like a lifeline, pulling me out of story loathing and back to a place where I can be excited about the book. It shows me that yes, this plot works, I have a plan—and I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Because without one, I couldn’t keep this stuff straight. I would lose my way so fast without an outline—especially after inspiring discussions with my writing group, new ideas about how the plot goes, and figuring out how to integrate all that. Without an outline, I’d lose new ideas as fast as I came up with them—or start to doubt them because I couldn’t see how they worked in the bigger picture.

Because outlines give you a sense of timing. Are you doing enough to build tension between your hero and heroine? Have you built up the suspense gradually, or is it all in one clump at the end? Timing is everything, and even in a long work like a novel it’s easy to get it wrong. The outline allows me to work out timing issues before I start writing—and my margin for mistakes is lower.

Outlining literally saved my writing career. Before, I would start novels, get them halfway done, hit a wall and then give up. I'd think the problem was what came before--and I'd erase and start over. I never got anywhere--until I started really committing to an outline. Then I finished the first novel I tried it with. If you don't outline, and you've never finished a novel--a lack of organizational structure may be at the root of why.