Outlining Tips—Wielding Your Writing: A Guide Series For Writers

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“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”— Louis L’Amour

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I was trying to come up with some new ideas for blog posts, so I started scrolling through my analytics to see what posts have done the best, and I found the posts that have done the best are all about writing/reading tips!

I don't know why I found this surprising, but I did. Then I thought about what really catches my attention as a writer, and it's learning to hone my skills and better myself as a writer.

It makes sense that we all want to be constantly improving as writers, so I am launching a ten part blog post series all about writing. From the earliest steps of outlining to publication and marketing, and everything in between, it's all going to be covered here. I'm not an expert at any of this, but I have done a lot of research and have watched countless videos, taken courses, and read articles. I'm a firm believer that you can never know everything there is to know about writing, and that you are constantly growing, but I hope this series answers some of your questions, and I hope you return for the next five weeks to continue learning and evolving as a writing.

Welcome to the Wielding Your Writing Series! Let's get started.

Outlining

I'm a plotter which means I need to have a pretty good outline and an organized layout of my story before I feel comfortable putting words on the page.

Let me just put it out there right now that there is no wrong way to outline, and a lot of people I know don't even outline at all!

Some people use post-it notes, others use there computers or make plot maps or use certain structures.

Outlining for me is trial and error. You may outline one book one way and completely change it up for the next book. Keep in mind that this is the first draft you're writing, and it's going to need a lot of work regardless of which route you choose, so don't stress too much.

When I outline, I start with brainstorming. I get a lot of ideas and inspiration out of the blue, and my brain is constantly coming up with new story ideas. Usual my ideas aren't plot related or character related. My mind works by theme. I come up with emotions and fears and conflicts and build my story around those feeling and thoughts. I don't know if this is very common or not, or if other writers think like this, but it works for me.

Once I have an emotion, I usual brainstorm situations or things or circumstances that make me think of that emotion. After that a plot comes into line and then characters, but at the center everything comes back to those themes.

These are the kind of story I love, but I know that everyone's mind works differently, and everyone likes to write different genres. So if this way doesn't work for you, try coming up with characters first, or maybe just one simple scene. Ask yourself questions about the world your characters live in and expand. Image your story as a body. The first draft is you building the skeleton and each draft after that is you adding muscles and flesh. You are building the skeleton and then "fleshing" it out.

Play on words there, (I'm a writer if you can't tell) but it makes sense!

Asking yourself questions is the best way to brainstorm and find inspiration for ideas. Make it interesting don't throw away any ideas. Write them all down because you'll never know how that idea might fit into the story later on.

My next two posts our going to focus on plot and characters. We will get more into themes, world-building, and even different types of literature later, but for now focus on those outlines.

Set yourself up for success even though your first draft is guaranteed to be rough.

Focus on the bigger picture when outlining. Focus on the bigger picture for the first two drafts. That means plot and characters. Don't worry about grammar, and above all don't worry about publishing or marketing. Focus on the now. Focusing on the now is the biggest piece of advice I can give writers.

We're always, myself included, looking ahead. We are looking at the future and publishing and all of our dreams coming true when we should be focusing on the present. If you don't write the book now, you won't have anything to publish.

Don't spend too much time on outlining. A week or two at most depending on how fast your process is, and how much free time you have. Above all don't procrastinate over a rough plan! If you never get past the outlining faze, how are you going to handle all the drafts and edits to come?

You have to know when to say, "It's good enough!"

We writers are perfectionists, but writing is not a perfect business. It is a creative and imaginative industry. Your stories were made in your imagination which means they are only as good as you believe they are. No one can tell you your writing isn't perfect because no writing is. As long as you are proud it doesn't matter what anyone else says because it's not their story, it's yours.

Thank you for joining me for this quick introduction to outlining, and the announcement of this new series. In the next post we will dive deeper into plot, plot structure, conflict, and the basic building blocks of a story.

I hope to see you there.

Leave a comment telling me about your outlining process!

It's been a pleasure writing for you, and until next time--stay weird and stay writing. - Lexi