Chapter Text
Part II - Outline, Brainstorm, Mind Map, Organize, WRITE!
Hello again!
In Part I , we talked about setting a goal, creating habits to stay focused, how to face doubt/fears/critique, and hopefully got some motivation to get shit done.
Next up we’re going to discuss getting organized and coming up with a viable plan.
The key items we’re going to address are:
- The two types of writers
- Pantsers
- Planners
- Creating a viable plan
- Outline
- Brainstorm
- Mind Map
- Organize
- ACTION!
Imagine that we’re planning a trip. First we decide where we’re going (brainstorm). Then we start getting ideas about how long it’s going to take (mind map), and what is needed to get there (outline/write).
How we get there…we’ve got some options :)
(Also…don’t know where we’re going on this trip? We’ll get into brainstorming in a bit!)
Now that doesn’t mean that we have to know every frickin’ detail; personally I can’t work like that at all. Details can destroy my creative process. So I like to go into a story with a rough outline, that way I have an idea about where I’m going, but my plan is subject to change and I can adapt.
OH and before I get too in-depth about this, just a quick reminder that these are ideas and suggestions. There are some amazing resources listed in Part I of this resource guide, and of course that’s not a definitive list. As always, these are just some suggestions. Nothing’s concrete.
Find what works for you.
However! The suggestions shared here are a compilation of best practices shared by high performers (authors, musicians, artists, performers, businesspeople, academics, etc) as well as lessons learned from people who have struggled (myself included).
Anyway, before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s first talk about the two main types of writers: Pantsers and Planners.
Pantsers are authors who fly by the seat of their pants. They listen to their muse, make up stuff as they go, and build their stories, worlds and plots as they write.
One of my good writing friends is a Pantser, and holy shit she produces a LOT of work. She has over two dozen books published and she’s not stopping anytime soon.
One perk of pantsing is there’s no pressure to get to a definitive place in a specific way. It’s immensely creative and free-flowing.
So it does work for some…but not for all. Not for many.
I’m gonna just say it - this doesn’t work for most people.
Pantsing always reminds me of the film The Wonder Boys , particularly Michael Douglas’ character. At one point in the film, he gets called out on writing and writing and writing but not having any direction on where his very long novel is going.
(Great film, by the way!)
And that happens. Sometimes we get ALL of these ideas and they’re great, but if we ever plan on finishing a story, it helps to have an idea - even if it’s a very rough and general idea, such as “they solve the crime and the bad guys get caught” - and then the how will start forming.
Ideally.
However, in the various writing communities I participate in, often when I see people running into issues, writer’s block, frustration, not finishing multiple stories and yet starting up more, quite often those authors are Pantsers.
And, sorry to say it, it isn’t working for them.
Again, this method does work for some people. However, for people who struggle to complete stories, it’d be worth considering a different approach.
That brings us to the Planner.
Look, I am a fucking bucket of chaos. I have SO many ideas and goddamn I have a lot of things going on. My brain is relentless and can often be unforgiving.
So I have to manage the chaos.
I am a Planner.
And look, I get the unfocused, unorganized thing. Gosh do I get it.
Having focus challenges is a big thing. But we don’t have to let those challenges run our lives. We can build habits to manage them and actually get shit done.
That’s where an outline comes into play.
Outline:
- Setting (where are we?)
- Conflict (main problem)
- Action (leading up to the climax)
- Changes (what happens to our characters? What changes from the beginning to the end?)
- Climax (the zenith! DRAMA. Get the tea.)
- Conclusion (the resolution/how it will finish)
Add one or two bullet points for each item (a good practice is like 1-3 bullet points to keep from getting too heavy-handed with the details; we’ll talk more about details when we discuss brainstorming).
Generally, when I do an outline, it’s very general and not super detailed.
And again, this is a rough outline for the story as a whole; I did a LOT of pivoting, shifting, and accommodating because shit happened and I had to adapt.
Confession - this is what a story outline looks like when I have a clear vision. For that particular outline/story, I had a very clear vision and objective for what I wanted to happen.
I haven’t had that kind of clarity for most of my other fics. Frankly, my most challenging pieces were one-shots, because I didn’t outline them at all. I used writing prompts and had some ideas for what I was going to write about , but didn’t know where I was going .
I really pantsed my way through the one-shots I did for Flufftober 2021. I planned for every prompt, and outlined and planned my novel-length fic, and the few multi-part fics that I did.
Okay, so…my outline is a bit detailed above, but again I had a very clear vision for the story. An outline doesn’t have to be that detailed; if anything, just get some general ideas.
However, a piece of advice I use in business, my career, my writing, any creative endeavors and all of my goals is from Stephen R. Covey - Begin with the end in mind.
Malcolm Gladwell also discusses this in his Masterclass. Or so he says in the trailer for his course on Masterclass. I dunno. I haven’t taken the course :P
BUT! Seems to be a theme, yeah? Know where you’re going, and the path will be revealed.
And again, it doesn’t have to be completely concrete! It can be something as simple as “they have a happy ending but holy hell it’s a long, angsty, long, slow burn to get there.”
I used to work with a life coach who would routinely remind me to focus on the WHAT ; the HOW is none of my business.
A similar approach can be taken with writing stories - have an idea of WHAT you’d like to achieve, and the HOW will be revealed in the process.
Have an idea of WHAT you’d like to achieve in the end.
The HOW is your creative process ♥
I’ve come across a few great resources that share a common theme regarding inspiration:
Jane Espenson’s interview on the Slayerfest98 Podcast - Jane talks about having a tone (for each season of Buffy), and to hit those notes in each episode in the season.
In a music discussion, I read that Muse wrote the album The Resistance with music in mind - melodies, keys, and such before they even started writing lyrics. That’s fucking beautiful.
Quentin Tarantino has a room FULL of records, and when he’s thinking about starting another project, he goes into his room, listens to music, and then the plot starts coming to mind . This also explains why his film soundtracks are always AMAZING.
Y’all we also need to talk about information overwhelm and oversaturation. I’ve seen too many aspiring authors (fanfic, hobbyist, and professional) get mind-fucked, over-preparing and psyching themselves out of a project.
Oversaturation is a thing, and while courses, books, guides, groups, classes and such are helpful, they’re not the end all. There are some cool authors’ tools out there and if that’s helpful, go for it. But for me, goddamn I get overstimulated.
Getting overwhelmed is definitely a thing that happens. I know I’m sure guilty of it.
So I start by breaking things into manageable chunks.
First, I start outlining my chapters as I progress in my stories; I use my story outline to guide me through the first few chapters, but then I have to get very clear about where I’m going. I also tend to have a specific number of chapters in mind, but again I adapt as needed. My last two novel-length stories got WAY more complex than I had anticipated, so my plan and outline had to adapt. And then I had to get very disciplined in my outlining.
I outline each chapter as I go, and if I get ideas for subsequent chapters, I start a new Google Doc for the next chapter(s).
Then, I keep a master doc with my story outline, and that doc also contains all my ideas, brainstorm, fever dreams, nuggets of dialogue, cool plot ideas I have and such. Then as I work on chapter outlines, I’ll plug those ideas into those chapter outlines/brainstorms.
My most recent story…holy fuck did it get complex. I had a LOT of moving parts and as I neared the finish, I had a LOT of things to resolve and to flesh out how things led up to that point, and then show what happened.
…I legit had 5 documents on Google that had my brainstorm, ideas, and outlines that just got out of hand. I had too much going on and I had to get it sorted out.
This is a problem I’ve also had in business; too many ideas, and I struggled with direction. I used to get out a HUGE sticky note pad (like I’m talking three feet tall) and just get shit out of my brain.
The problem with that is I ended up having notes all over my walls with ideas. I was overwhelmed with what I needed to do, without a plan of how to get there.
Recently I adopted a practice that got my ass in gear - Brainstorm, Mind Map, Organize (outline), and ACTION!
As I was getting ready to resolve the unresolved parts of my most recent fic, I had a lot of details to sort through. Also, I had to get different characters to interact in different ways to make things happen. And, what really messed me up was I had to make some choices about sequencing.
I was overwhelmed with ideas and information. In the past, this is what has fucked me over and why I couldn’t finish anything; too much was going on in my brain and I didn’t know what to do with all of those ideas.
Same happens in business. It happens in relationships, too. We get SO many ideas and try to do too much at once, and what happens is we’ve got one foot in reality and one foot in la-la land, and all these ideas pour out of us and we end up shitting all over our project.
Bad visual.
( Here’s one where my cat Charli decided to give her input . She’s very cute.)
Anyway, the way I worked past that dilemma is I grabbed a stack of index cards and literally wrote out EVERY detail and idea that I had. Every unresolved issue, connecting ideas, character pairings/interactions, etc. Everything that was in my brain and in those five goddamn documents.
This was my brainstorm.
Then, I walked away and took a breather. Actually I took the rest of the night off.
My wife said it was the best sleep I’d gotten that week.
Those ideas were finally out of my head and in a place where they could come together and come to life.
Next morning I woke up extra early and started putting the related ideas together. Then I started sequencing them.
That was my mind map.
Once I had an idea of what I was doing, how to get there started to come together.
Then, voila! I finished the chapter in two days.
Two days. After being mindfucked for almost a week.
So, in summary, there are two methods to writing- Pantsing and Planning.
With pantsing, be ready to re-read, go back, and make some notes about what needs to be resolved by the end. Which is like reactive organizing.
With planning, there’s an idea that can be adapted. Most importantly, there’s a map.
I also want to be clear that planning isn’t restrictive; if anything, it’s freeing. It’s the same argument when it comes to budgeting - ultimately we are the ones in control and the ones making the decisions. The plan (or budget) is just the guide.
One more thing I’d like to touch on. I see this a LOT in writing groups so I’d like to talk about it a little bit here.
Quality of writing…welp, there are a lot of factors, and to be completely honest, the purpose and intent of this guide is to provide guidance and resources on getting shit done. However, I do want to share that quite often, the killer of productivity is self-doubt.
That leads to procrastination, and procrastination is self-sabotage.
Look, we need to take breaks, we need time away. We need balance in our lives. Burnout is real.
But if you want to get your story done, complete a challenge and/or just be more productive, then ya gotta take action.
Productivity engenders confidence, and confidence is the killer of self-doubt.
The doubts may still be there, but here’s my tip - those doubts can ride along, but don’t fucking let them drive.
You’re in charge.
So drive, and get where you want to go.
You’re in control.
Get that shit done.
Go. Do.
SLAY.
And remember, fictional writing is just a bunch of shit we’re making up.
Try not to take it too seriously ♥
As always, I’m happy to answer any questions in the comments!
Wishing you all the best in your endeavors!
- Slappy ♥
(P.S. I’ll let the Queen herself take us out ♥ Also if you EVER need some cheering and hype, Missy is the best person to go to. She’s astounding.)