“Outline – 1) A line showing the shape or boundary of something; 2) A statement or summary of the chief facts about something; 3) A sketch containing lines but no shading” – Oxford American Dictionary
If you want to be a professional novelist, odds are that sooner or later, you’re going to write an outline. In fact, I would go so far as to say that eventually, you will have to write an outline, which is an extremely rare sort of statement for me. But what I mean by “have to write an outline” is not what most people think I mean.
This is because there are two types of outlines that are commonly used by professional writers, and one of them is entirely optional. The first, and the one that most writers will have to do sooner or later, is the outline that’s meant to sell a book (which can be further subdivided into outlines of unfinished manuscripts and outlines of finished manuscripts). The second is the planning outline, which writers do for their own guidance. It’s totally optional; whether you use one of these or not should depend on whether it helps your process or not.
An outline meant to sell a book fits under #2 of that opening definition: it’s a statement or summary of the chief facts about the book, with maybe a bit of #1, a verbal line showing the shape of the book. If the book isn’t finished, the shape may be a bit vague and some of the facts may not have been determined yet; if the book has been written through at least a full first draft, the shape should be clear and the facts solid. Otherwise, the outline for a book that hasn’t been finished yet and the outline for a book that has are usually quite similar in form and general content – the main difference comes when you sit down to write the one for the unfinished book and realize just how much you still don’t know about what’s going to happen.
Note the emphasis on facts and shape, BTW. The two main things an outline-to-sell needs to do are: 1) name the main characters (not all the characters, not your favorite characters, but the main characters, which even with an ensemble cast usually means maybe three or four on the side of the protagonists and maybe two on the antagonist side. If you find yourself wanting to name more, you should stop and consider carefully whether you really need to name them. What’s needed in a 100,000 word novel may not be in a five-page plot outline) and 2) summarize the major events and key plot points of the story.
A sales outline is not the place to play coy games about what happens or how major plot events occur, if you know them. “Jack is imprisoned, but escapes the dungeon with help from a guard who changes sides” is acceptable, or even “Jack is imprisoned and escapes,” if you’re short on space. “Jack has many exciting adventures” is right out, unless there really are far too many to fit in five pages, in which case you give a couple of specific examples: “Jack is captured by pirates, marooned on a desert island, unjustly imprisoned and escapes, and has many other adventures before discovering that his real destiny is…”
There are also length restrictions on outlines you’re sending to a publisher: five pages is the norm, but a few publishers request one-page or two-page outlines. If they specify, give them what they ask for. There really isn’t a standard format for a selling outline, though some publishers will ask that specific points be covered. I just write a summary of the central plot, but some people prefer to do a chapter or section breakdown, or Dramatis Personae plus a paragraph of plot summary, or…well, there’s lots of variety. Again, if the publisher says they want a particular format, do it that way. Rewriting five pages of outline shouldn’t take that long, and you never know – looking at your story that way might tell you something interesting about it that you didn’t know before.
There is no point in writing a “sales outline” for short fiction. Magazine and anthology editors don’t want them; it takes more time to read an outline, send a form letter asking for the story, and then read a short story than it does to just read the short story in the first place.
When it comes to the second sort of outline, the one writers do for purposes of guidance and planning in actually writing the novel, all bets are off. I’m going to talk about that next.
I’ve found that doing the first sort of outline really helps with the revision process. Once I’ve finished the first draft, I’ll outline the book which highlights where I’ve gone off track (as well as many other first draft problems).
Alex – I’ve never been able to follow an outline to save my life, but once the book is done, I find that it’s often a useful revising tool. This is one of those cases where mileage varies, though.
I tend toward a `two or three chapters ahead’ outline -where I figure out what I’ll do next not long before I do it. I’m getting away from that a little as I practice writing and story-planning, though.
Chicoy – That’s a system that works really well for those of us who can’t actually follow outlines for more than a chapter or so!
you should really think about doing a book on boy scouts or cub scouts!
The distinction between the two kinds is really worth making. My version of a usable working outline is an ever-changing contents list and a long series of mutually incompatible sketches and speculations. I did once do a regular portion-and-outline for a tie-in line that accepted unsolicited submissions in that form. Got a rather good individual rejection, too – though not the only good-enough kind, that says, “Change and resubmit”. Boy, that taught me a few things:
1) Boiling down to outline length hurts.
2) Chapter-by-chapter belongs to my writing process, and is not necessarily optimal for the publisher’s outline. Even if one of the chapter titles is among the best evah. Here is your “#2 with maybe a bit of #1” writ large.
3) Even in a series that’s all about time travel, don’t assume the poor overworked slush-reader will correctly follow the plot’s screwing about with time unless one frames the trick in ruby-studded gold and bolts it to the wall. This may require one to remember point (2) above.
4) After boiling it down to a skeleton in (1), dancing with it just ain’t the same. Specifically, trying to write from the result is the same kind of fun as trying to read an Agatha Christie novel – whilst consulting a set of exam notes before embarking on every chapter. Darn, point (2) again!
Things I’m not so sure I’ve learned:
a) You can get away with half-a-dozen named characters in the outline? Good gravy. I hate to think how many I had. One reason was space – ‘the King of Essex’ eats words a lot faster than ‘Gary’.
b) I’m okay with my WIP – write first draft my way, check; write publisher outline afterwards, check; redraft both and submit, got it. But I am a denizen of the slushpile. Being a professional who presumably can’t afford to write a whole novel whose outline nobody offers to commission – how much leeway do you have with that outline, once it’s sold? And how do you frame the outline to give you maximum breathing-room?