NIL 15 - Outlining

Hey, lookie at this. A new NIL. I've been missing a lot of these recently. Ah, well. Relatives.

I have an exam later this week. Then finals. After that, I will collapse for a week and do nothing.

In other news, the new movie "Safe" with Jason Statham is HILARIOUS. I really enjoyed it. Not only was it action packed to the point of a never ending bloodbath (a well choreographed and executed bloodbath, mind you) it was also funny in a deliciously dry, sarcastic kind of way. I recommend it. It's worth a theater ticket in my opinion.

I liked how no matter what condition he starts a movie in, by the end of it, Jason Statham is wearing a nice suit. He always insists on wearing an expensive suit when he goes to kill people. XD

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Outlining</u>

Ah, outlining. Some writers hate it. Others love it. Many prefer to ignore it. I, personally, couldn't write my story without one.

An outline is pretty much your book condensed. It tells you what's happening without having to write the scene. This is a critically important thing, because for stories like mine that branch over several months, you need to know where people are and when. Trying to keep track of time without an outline is nigh impossible and an exercise in futility. For me, this is the reason I made an outline in the first place.

Then again, I also forget something a week after, so I need everything written down. I've also learned an important trick. Never delete your outline. NEVER.

Outlines don't need a formal format. It's probably better if you don't get into the habit of bullet points under Roman numerals under numbers under asterisks. That gets tedious faster than trying to get a hummingbird out of a greenhouse (I had to do that once.)

Many people use the excuse not to make an outline because it takes so much time. Well, yes, an outline does take time, but not as much time as it would take me to find out what season, day, time, and place it is supposed to be in every scene. And if I want to remove a scene or move it around amongst other scenes? Impossible without an outline. It. Gets. Confusing. Really. Fast. Take an hour or two to make a decent outline. It pays for itself within the day. I have spent more time trying to find out what day it was than writing the actual scene. That's pitiful.

Outlines can be as detailed or sparse as you need them to be. Mine are straightforward unless there is a big character developing scene happening and I need to remember their exact thought process and motivation. I learned to record thought processes after I'd read my outline a month later and forget why I had a character doing something instead of something else. When it comes to action scenes, I leave it small. "He almost gets killed." There you have it.

Outlines also do not limit creativity. There is a difference between knowing where you are going and hobbling yourself. An outline tells you where you're going and the basic idea of how you're getting there, but other than that, you're free. Also, a good outline is flexible. Sometimes characters throw curve balls. It's true. Your outline needs to be able to work with that, but your plot should stay basically the same. A character may decide it wants to get somewhere a different way, but the destination is the same. How can you get somewhere when you don't know where you're going?

An outline helps me. It is like having a safety line while mountain climbing. The outline prevents you from falling, but you chose your own way up the mountain and can change when you need to. It's something I would call a good chain. Some chains are for your benefit. An outline is one of them.

In this way, an outline provides assurance and consistency throughout the narrative. You know what's going on. You got this, as one of my friends would say. In short, make an outline.