To Outline or Not to Outline

[clint_csperry-org]

I am a fiction writer. For me, if I spent any time outlining, I would never write a thing. If I spend my energy trying to envision a skeletal frame for the story, I would never create it. For me, the story flows out of me as it will. I follow where the characters take me, and the plot builds itself. Often when I think I might know where it will end, the characters take a detour and surprise me with something completely different. At the end I have some clean up, sure, but the story is fresh, not forced into a frame, does not look like something that follows a formula. The characters act as people do, they are not stilted cardboard cut outs moving by strings pulled in the background.

[eastandalchemy]

I've always used some kind of working outline. I'm not super picky, sometimes the outline will look like bare bones, other times it almost looks like a stream of consciousness that I'll eventually turn into chapters. There have been times when I tried to eliminate the outline altogether, but it really does help me stay on track and organize my thoughts.

[rubinelli]

I usually outline major events in my story. I also like to write down specific dialogue or expressions that I want to use in a scene so that I won't forget later on.

[cdhundley]

I don't always start an initial draft as an outline, even with longer work. I free-write and try to leverage that initial burst of excitement/inspiration for a project down on paper. Then, sometimes, I outline shorter work using that material. I always outline longer work.

[DD129]

You don’t need to outline. In fact, Stephen King suggests against it. It’s all a matter of personal preference. I think all you really have to know is the basic idea, your main characters, and any major events because all these things shape your story. If you don’t know them, you don’t really know what story you’re telling.

Personally, I like to outline. I’ve recently tried to just let the story flow, but I realized it’s not my style. Whenever I return to the place I left off, I get lost on what happens next. I need a guide (it doesn’t have to be specific) to know what to write and keep the story on track.

[Inkroverts]

I think outlining the story helps me a lot. A lot of times I have a vision of a certain scene, the ending or the beginning of the story in mind, I might get stuck in the middle if I didn't outline anything.
But I have to control myself as to not micro-plan every single thing- because it's more like procrastination when I don't ever feel confident enough to actually start writing.