Outlining: Cards or Computer?
Posted By Vonna on November 2, 2009
I am deep into the revisions on my current book and I am once again thanking my lucky stars for having made an outline.
The first time I wrote a full length novel, I did not use an outline. It did not even occur to me to do so. Like many who are writing their first novel, I wrote straight from the heart, sure it would hold together.
At this point I had never been to a writers’ conference, never read an agent or editor’s blog (not my fault—there weren’t any back then) and did not have a network of writer friends.
After my first conference and a devastating, but enlightening ten minute pitch session with the wonderful Laura Rennert of the Andrea Brown agency (who, by the way, has a new picture book out) I realized my novel-writing technique needed to be revamped.
At that same conference, an author gave a talk about outlining. I went home and gave it a try on a story idea I had been playing with for a while. Stunning results! I have shelved that particular novel for various reasons, but I’ll probably come back to it some day.
But up until a year ago, my outlines had been brief, about 4 pages for a 70K word novel.
Then I went to see Victoria Holmes, creator of the popular Erin Hunter series, Warriors, when she came to Houston for the launch of Fire Star’s Quest.
She talked about how she creates a 60+ page outline for each book, then hands it off to her partners to write the narrative.
I have since read of many well-established writers who also write outlines of similar or even longer length. Currently, my outlines run about one page per chapter.
But my question today is not To Outline or Not to Outline, but which method of outlining works best, note cards, Word-type documents or more intricate programs like Pagemaker or specialized novel-writing software?
I’ve tried all three, but my personal favorite is Pagemaker (now discontinued, of course). As you can see from the picture, I like to have images handy to help me remember details for settings and characters. I have found that for me, it is important to include these in the outline. Otherwise, something I really wanted to include inevitably gets lost. Plus, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. I’d rather put a picture in my outline and see all the details that will need to go in that chapter than type it all out.
So how about you? What is your favorite way to outline?
I’ve never tried the cards method, but have heard great things about.
I outline in Excel. Actually I keep everything in Excel except the actual document. I can add and move around rows as needed.
Good luck!
My outlines aren’t very detailed. More of a big picture, unless you count the backstory I write for the major characters. Usually I’ll use a word document.
I’m also experimenting with finding the perfect outlining method. On my next book I plan to start with cards.
I’m not an outliner usually (but my novels are short 30-40,000 words). I did do a little outline for my NaNoWriMo novel–so far it hasn’t been to useful, maybe I need to try cards.
Thanks to all of you for stopping in to comment. I love that!