Planning & Outlining - Writers Forum

S1E9A8N5 · 11-20-2006, 09:55 AM

Some of the comments I read about outlining and planning are negative. Why is that? Does it really make you less of a writer?

GradysGhost · 11-20-2006, 09:59 AM

Probably not. I typically don't do it simply because I rarely have the entire story planned out beginning to end before I write it. Also, when I'm going back through an outline, trying to stay in track with the plot, I find myself uninspired by the rigid simplification of the outline. I always seem to end up finding a different direction the story can take, and then my whole outline has become moot.

As for making you less of a writer? I wouldn't say that. I'm sure others would. Whatever works for you works for you. And if it's an outline that works for you, than an outline works for you. All I can say is that outlines don't work for me (or, apparently, dozens of other writers). You keep writing your outlines.

mammamaia · 11-20-2006, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Some of the comments I read about outlining and planning are negative. Why is that? Does it really make you less of a writer?

only in the minds of those who don't know what it takes to be a writer!... many [possibly most] of the most revered and successful writers of all time were/are planners and outliners... only a rare few [if any?] of the best writers could/can write by the seat of their pants, as it were, and turn out the finest examples of the writer's art...

that's true in re novels [and other book-length works] only, however... when it comes to short stories, which are more 'spontaneous' by their very nature, i think the best writers don't need to plan or outline...

imrhati · 11-20-2006, 02:01 PM

I have been trying my first detailed outline for a novel. So far it has been comign really well.

aspiring · 11-20-2006, 04:24 PM

The only times that I am negative about planning is when the writer has been planning the book for years and never actually written any of it. I do think there is such a thing as 'over-planning' and, like GG, I tend not to outline in much detail as I find it spoils my inspiration and enthusiasm to write it. However, if you are writing something long and/or complicated, some planning is essential.

cbrmale · 11-20-2006, 04:30 PM

I'll take Maia's comment further, I doubt if more than a handful of respected and revered and successful writers didn't plan in the past or don't plan in the present.

I recently read a reclaimed story from a successful pre-war French writer who was killed at Aushwitz, Iréne Némèrovsky. As part of the release of this recently discovered work, it had a section of her plan for the novel as well as an outline of her method: she used to write biographies for every single character, even the minor ones. The more I look, the more I realise that successful published writers don't just plan, they plan to an amazing level of detail.

I am a planner, I plan my writing at work, I plan my short-stories! Yes, they are spontaneous, but they are also demanding in that you are working with very few words to outline your characters and have your events happen , and without a plan developing those characters and foreshadowing those events is very difficult.

Quidam · 11-20-2006, 05:12 PM

I personally don't outline my stories unless it's going to be fairly long. In fact, I write better when I don't plan--mostly because I start with a vague idea and develop it as I write. The only reason I've come to hate the practice is because every teacher insists that you must outline and plan every detail, and I've figured out a long time ago I don't work that way.

A friend of mine is a planner, though. He can rarely write anything on the spot. In a way, his detailed planning a good thing because he knows where he's going with the story, but other times it's a vice. It doesn't make him any less of a writer at all. It's really just a different way of doing things.

cbrmale · 11-20-2006, 09:31 PM

There's hundreds of postings on this forum on planning, and many postings state that a plan is a plan, and if it isn't working, you change it! I've planned out something, partly written it, realised it wasn't working that well, changed the plan, re-written it and voila! But I am only changing the plan, the end point of the work is based on the theme, and so far I've never changed that.

The plan focusses my writing, but it can be as flexible as it needs to be to as well. Now I must go I have work to do, I have to write a computer system specification, and my first task is to write the plan for the specification.

S1E9A8N5 · 11-22-2006, 07:34 AM

I'm starting to think I'm a planner. When I was younger, I wrote a few short stories on the spot but now that I'm writing a novel length story it’s different. For me at least. Of course those of you who said you don’t plan every single thing, I do that sometimes. But I see the reason behind it. If you plan everything single detail, it can kind of take away the creativeness when you actually write it on paper. At least for some people. Thanks for the replies.

addle_brains · 11-25-2006, 12:37 PM

I don't bother, because I know I will stray from it in the end anyway. Recently I went on a trip to USA (woo!) for a music tour. I kept a little notebook and pen with me and I wrote down the weirdest stuff that just popped into my head. I know exactly where my project is going now. I already have the ending written.

Omnisu · 11-25-2006, 06:49 PM

I write 'plans' and 'outlines', sortof. I actually write scene-by-scene summaries of the story. But I only write them after a first draft. I wrote my first draft of my current work as my nano. Now I'm going back and picking out the bits I like and weaving it into a less chaotic and much better story.

Winged Sandals · 11-25-2006, 10:30 PM

I think it just depends on the writer. Some writers prefer plans, others don't. Personally, I like to have a hazy skeleton for my stories, but it isn't any fun for me if I can't make some things up as I go, haha.

Knight Error · 11-27-2006, 06:00 PM

It's easier said than done, but I have heard advice that once you have a skeleton, you should let the character of each, er, character lead the story. This means that you won't have to force the characters to do something which fits your plan, but which may not be a credible act.

imrhati · 11-27-2006, 08:34 PM

I have been trying to impulse write, but put the impulse in notes. It has been coming very well, but i havn't goten to the actual writing yet. I have deciced that planning may be better for logner works like novels but impulse better for short stories and poetry.

Mike C · 11-28-2006, 01:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight Error

I have heard...

Forget everything you heard. There isn't a right way. Find the way that's right for YOU.

Not all novelists plan. There's a sliding scale, from 'meticulously planned' through to 'winging it'. Mike Moorcock and Steven King, for example, wing it. They don't plan. That doesn't make it right for you - but it doesn't make it wrong either.