Writerly types will often ask, "Are you a planner or a pantser?" Planners outline and plot out their stories before writing, with a clear end goal. Pantsers, on the other hand, fly by the seat of their pants (hence the name) and write without a plan. Some people consider themselves "plantsers", planning some things while also doing whatever they feel like. Full confession: I first heard "pantser" as "panzer", like the tank, and thought, "Heck yeah! I ride over the writing process and destroy everything in my path! I'm a panzer". I'm not sure that still isn't an accurate description.
Regardless,
I am hardly a planner, no matter what else I am, but find myself in need of
some sort of outlining scheme for two of the WIPs I'm starting: the
alternate-history fantasy mystery (AHFM), and the novella-in-verse. There will be a
lot of storylines and developments to wrangle, not to mention the huge cast of the novella, each member of which will get at least one poem per chapter. Winging these stories isn't
an option, but I've tried planning using notebooks before,
and this just ends up with pages and pages of good (and bad) ideas in no
sort of order. I am, after all, a panzer, so I come up with scenes non-chronologically and will often scrap storylines at the drop of a hat. I needed some
way to have the order of planning, with the freedom of pantsing, and my brain
finally settled on a way to do that: three-ring binders!
The
beauty of three-ring binders is, first, that they allow for change. Did you
write out a plot line that totally changes? Just remove those pages. Want to add
in a note about the magic system in your setting? Write it on a new sheet
and pop it in where appropriate. I also like that you can buy tabs to separate
sections. To me, outlining is more than just plotting. It involves world
building, character backstories (which may never appear in print), and even
blog preparation. So, without further ado, here are two separate examples of how I, a
not-planner, have gone about outlining:
The Alternate-History Fantasy Mystery
This is the story that, without a doubt,
needs an outline, not only due to the complicated plot but also because of its three genres. Let me discuss each tab, and what I plan on including in each
one. This is my process, which might look very different from other people's,
so this is sort of an example of what one could do, rather than what one should
do.
Characters: I've always based my character
profiles off of the ones in manga, because I am a hopeless weeb.
Anyway, these often involve likes, dislikes, blood-types (because Asia), and such, but can obviously be tweaked. While my Styx Trilogy profiles included spirit
animal and spirit vegetable, this story will include "Flower" as a representation of the character's personality. I will also include a
note about magical ability or lack thereof, as well as the backstory and
current situation of each character.
Setting and Magic: These are the most relevant
to its being an alternate-history and fantasy. These, or something like them,
would also be useful for a sci-fi, horror, or paranormal story. The
"Setting" tab will concern which events, historically, are different
from our own and how that has effected the world. Politics and culture will be
planned out, as will the layout of the city in which the story takes place. The
"Magic" tab will involve how the magical system, spirits, psychic powers, and curses work.
Main Plot and Cases: While any outline will involve
plot, I've separated out the main plot because my story involves lots of little
subplots or cases to be solved. Thus, the "Main Plot" tab will
involve the basic storyline and sequencing of events, also noting when
certain cases take place along this line. The "Cases" tab is specific
to the WIP's being a mystery. Each case is essentially one chapter, so I'll
include a basic outline of said chapter as well as any dialogue I already have
planned out. I will also enumerate the themes explored in each case and the
details important to the mystery aspect of it: the crime and set-up, the
evidence and clues, the perp and motive, and the denouement.
Side Stories, Blog Posts, and Miscellaneous: These tabs
involve the non-writing aspects of the book. Side-stories are like those Iwrote for Styx, where we get to explore parts of the characters' lives that don't make it into the main book. Blog posts will involve a general list or
schedule of posts I plan to do about the book once it's closer to publication.
These include the initial announcement blurb, character profile and
world building posts (taken from those tabs in the binder—how clever!),
contents and cover reveal, sneak peaks, giveaways, and the actual release (I
said I wasn't a planner when it comes to writing; I never claimed not to be an
obsessive lunatic when it comes to blogging). Miscellaneous is just
that: whatever doesn't fit anywhere else. This might include topics to research, notes on what I've found in said research, cover concept art, or (fingers crossed) ideas for chapter splash pages.
The Novella-in-Verse
This will be a much, much simpler
outline in terms of world-building (since it takes place in our world) and in
terms of plot. What is more complicated is the characters, as there will be ten
of them, they all get equal page-time, and they will each have a different
poetic style (because I'm insane).
Characters: This tab will involve the
history and current state of each character as well as their relationships with
the other characters in the story. This is going to be a whodunit, so I might
also include notes about why they each seem equally guilty. I'm not going to do
actual character profiles as blog posts for these people—that would ruin the
mystery quite a bit—but I will explore their personalities by noting what poetic
style they each use and why. Some characters will only speak in sonnets, others
in haiku and waka, others in free verse. Some of these styles will change
throughout the course of the story—different sorts of sonnets, short tanka to
long chouka, etc.—so I'll note down when and why that happens.
Plot and Chapter Tabs: The plot tab will be a
basic plot outline of the whole story, and the chapter tabs will include what happens in that chapter and rough
drafts of poems. True, this is getting into actual writing rather than
outlining, but like I said, I'm a panzer, not a planner. I do what I want, and
sometimes I want to write a poem as soon as it's in my head.
Blog Schedule and Miscellaneous: Similar to
what I said for the AHFM, these concern non-writing things. I'm planning on
actually publishing this novella on my blog as a serial, so that schedule will
be included. Miscellaneous will likely include art for each post, and anything
else that might come up.
Who is the Outline For?
One
thing that you pantsers, plantsers, and panzers out there must realize is that
any outlining or planning is for you and you alone. If you don't want to use
tabs to separate your sections, don't. If you want to cover your binder with
stickers that represent the story, or alternatively have nothing to do with the
story, do. If you want to have more sections about the characters and fewer
about the plot, or an entire tab devoted to maps or characters outfits, go
nuts.
The
point of an outline is to help you write your story, so anything that
interferes with that should be scrapped, and anything that helps with that is
fair game. I feel the need to say this because I have seen some very
persnickety outlines. I've seen handwriting that's so uniform and neat that it
looks like a computer font, or each chapter's happenings typed out on index
cards. In most outlines I've seen, you never see any scribbles or scratching
outs. I think that's why a lot of people don't want to wear the planner mantle,
even when they do a ton of planning. But planning or plotting or outlining
doesn't need to be immaculate. You don't need nice handwriting or complete
sentences. You can scribble stuff out and add stuff above, under, and around
what you've written. You don't even need to use character names, as initials or
symbols will do the trick as long as it's clear to you
what they mean. Just look at this mess, from one of my AHFM cases:
It sure doesn't look like a planner's outline, but it gets the job
done. I have a record of what I want the chapter to be, how I want it to go
down, and enough details that it all makes sense in the end. I think it's a
pretty good outline, as far as I, a pantser/planster/panzer am concerned, and
that's really all that matters.
No comments:
Post a Comment