Hi Professor, thanks for addressing my question in such detail, I can certainly see how all the questions here are loosely related so dealing with them together made perfect sense. For me, writing an outline is a no brainer. I feel I would wander off aimlessly if I didn't have a fairly good idea of what events the characters would face and how these events would shape the characters. As an example, in the story I am writing, one of the characters, in the final third of the novel, will need to parachute into the jungles of Borneo at night. Now this is a fairly unusual skill for someone to have, no matter how intrepid or capable that person is. It is also a skill that would need to be developed over time, it's not something one could pick up at a two-day course. So, by writing the outline, I have identified a credibility gap in the character development of one of my main characters. So, to fix this I was able to quickly go back in my outline and massage the character's backstory to make him capable of performing this feat when required some two or three hundred pages later, which is better than rewriting a big chunk of the novel. Also, writing the outline has identified a natural resolution point (about 3/4s of the way through), that I feel might be a tighter ending. This will leave the final quarter as a starting point for a potential book two, as it would naturally follow on from the first story and it would also be able to stand on its own. It's something for me to think a little about, something that I wouldn't have noticed until late in the writing phase if I didn't write the outline. Thanks again and I look forward to seeing your next video.
In the Hideki book I thought you did an excellent job with the whole "breathless" thing you talked about in the video. At a certain point in the narrative, I found myself wanting to rush through so I could find out how it all resolved. Not because the narrative was slow but because the pacing and plot really had me anxious for the characters and how everything would work out (or not) for them in the end.
Have you outlined projects like Macbeth or Hamlet? Were these projects more or less anxiety-inducing? In other words, did you feel relaxed because you were working from solid material, or did you worry about messing it up? I often struggle with feeling inadequate when it comes to writing a novel. I worry I haven’t read enough, or that there are already so many novels out there, making mine feel unnecessary. I’m also paralyzed by uncertainty: is the story I want to tell YA or adult? Should it be a serious neo-gothic novel, or would it work better as satire? How do I overcome these doubts and move forward?
Hi Professor, thanks for addressing my question in such detail, I can certainly see how all the questions here are loosely related so dealing with them together made perfect sense.
For me, writing an outline is a no brainer. I feel I would wander off aimlessly if I didn't have a fairly good idea of what events the characters would face and how these events would shape the characters. As an example, in the story I am writing, one of the characters, in the final third of the novel, will need to parachute into the jungles of Borneo at night. Now this is a fairly unusual skill for someone to have, no matter how intrepid or capable that person is. It is also a skill that would need to be developed over time, it's not something one could pick up at a two-day course. So, by writing the outline, I have identified a credibility gap in the character development of one of my main characters. So, to fix this I was able to quickly go back in my outline and massage the character's backstory to make him capable of performing this feat when required some two or three hundred pages later, which is better than rewriting a big chunk of the novel.
Also, writing the outline has identified a natural resolution point (about 3/4s of the way through), that I feel might be a tighter ending. This will leave the final quarter as a starting point for a potential book two, as it would naturally follow on from the first story and it would also be able to stand on its own. It's something for me to think a little about, something that I wouldn't have noticed until late in the writing phase if I didn't write the outline.
Thanks again and I look forward to seeing your next video.
Yeah, that's a good example, and--as you say--that kind of restructuring is so much easier at the outlining stage. Glad you are finding these useful!
In the Hideki book I thought you did an excellent job with the whole "breathless" thing you talked about in the video. At a certain point in the narrative, I found myself wanting to rush through so I could find out how it all resolved. Not because the narrative was slow but because the pacing and plot really had me anxious for the characters and how everything would work out (or not) for them in the end.
Wow, thank you! I appreciate that :)
Have you outlined projects like Macbeth or Hamlet? Were these projects more or less anxiety-inducing? In other words, did you feel relaxed because you were working from solid material, or did you worry about messing it up?
I often struggle with feeling inadequate when it comes to writing a novel. I worry I haven’t read enough, or that there are already so many novels out there, making mine feel unnecessary. I’m also paralyzed by uncertainty: is the story I want to tell YA or adult? Should it be a serious neo-gothic novel, or would it work better as satire? How do I overcome these doubts and move forward?
Added to the list. Thanks!
Not outlining is not a failure. It's a decision.
It's possible to pants the outline and then come back and flesh it out into an actual novel, yeah?
Definitely, though I normally keep the 2 documents separate for ease of reference.