Outlining is one of the big things people ask questions about every year. Should you outline your novel? And if so, how much outlining should you do? It’s a valid question. NaNoWriMo is all about being spontaneous. It’s about starting with nothing and ending up with a novel. Some people believe that it’s best to just start with a vague idea and run with it. And that’s fine. But unless that is how you normally write, then if you want a novel that has potential instead of being just a pile of words, then relying on inspiration alone is probably not the greatest idea.
NaNoWriMo is an intense challenge. You have to hit a minimum word count every day if you want to win. The word count graph doesn’t care whether you have the flu, stayed up to two in the morning writing assignments, or that your muse didn’t turn up to work today. The fact is, you have to write those 1,667 words every day, no matter what. And inspiration isn’t going to hit every single day. This means that there’s a high chance that your book will come to a grinding halt. That’s where outlining helps. Even a little planning can make a huge difference once NaNoWriMo starts.
Outlining for Pantsers
Pantsers, I know that the very thought of writing an outline with neat little scene and chapter divisions fills you with fear. You’re about the creative flow and letting the characters take over. So writing up a detailed outline isn’t really going to help you at all. Instead, write a short synopsis of your book. It doesn’t have to be more than five or six sentences long. All it has to do is give a broad overview of the basic plot to give you a road map when you start writing. It gives you a bit of direction, while still leaving plenty room for creative improvisation. (The second step of the Snowflake Method is really helpful for writing that synopsis.)
Outlining for Plotters
Plotters, you know your method of outlining better than I do. Plan your book so that you’re sure you know enough to get started writing it. Make sure you’re comfortable with your outline before NaNoWriMo starts. Once you start writing, there won’t be any time for extra outlining. But don’t get too attached to your plan. The craziest, best ideas can pop up during NaNoWriMo. But they can completely change the direction of your book. Be ready to let go of your outline if something amazing comes up. Spontaneous ideas are often some of the best ones.
Are you a plotter or a pantser? What are your best NaNoWriMo tips? Know someone who is doing NaNo? Share this blog series with them!
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Great tips!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jollygirl. I hope you found them somewhat useful.
DeleteThis was a really great post! I've never done NaNoWriMo before, but I'm planning on it this year!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually somewhere between a pantser and a plotter. But the best of both worlds, hopefully. :)
I'm glad you enjoyed it Willa. I'm somewhere in between the two as well actually. I used to be a complete pantser (my very first NaNo was pretty much totally unplanned) and I still love just starting with a vague idea. Just not for NaNo. I like to scribble a few ideas into a notebook rather than formally outline so that I at least have some clue as to where this is going. What about you?
DeleteI'm finding these NaNoPrep series of blog posts really interesting and useful *-* they're actually helping me calm down when I think about writing 50,000 words in November x.x oh, btw, I think I have a plot that I just might be able to stick with for one whole month :D
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad you're finding them useful Catalina. I've got another six planned at the moment so hopefully they'll help you be much more relaxed by the time NaNo comes. I find it really helpful to break everything down into little steps. Outlining the book is one step. Writing the day's word count is one step. There always seems to be so much to do when you look at the big picture, but breaking it down like this and making things simple makes NaNoWriMo less daunting I think. I'm so glad you found a great idea. I hope you'll share something about it, maybe on your blog? I'd love to see what you come up with.
DeleteIt's tricky overdoing plotting, but as a plotter I can say that it's probably better to do what you said than establish every detail before you start writing... It really sucks the life out of your writing!
ReplyDeleteI think you must be right. NaNoWriMo seems to be one of those things that takes a plot and twists it right when you weren't expecting it. I've known plotters agonise over having to throw out man of their hard planned details. I've never been able to plot every detail myself because I prefer to discover most of the story as it comes, but if I find too much plotting sucks the life out of my writing, I'd imagine even plotters can feel like that some times.
DeleteI definitely need to try the Snowflake Method. I keep hearing about it. I think it's what I need. My middles always muddle and my endings go straight to heck
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely give it a go. I'll be the first to admit that I am not a plotter (I used to start every book with nothing more than a vague idea and just go for it), but when I used the first few steps of the Snowflake Method, it really made a difference to my book. If you're not a massive plotter then it's perfectly ok not to do the last steps where you plot every single scene, but some of the other steps are really, really good for giving you an overview of the plot and don't take that long to do either.
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