Prewriting

Prewriting

Sorry about the delay. I’m trying to be better about that. Obviously, I’m not perfect yet. Part of my problem was that I couldn’t figure out a topic. This was absolutely not what I planned to write on. But perhaps this is what someone needs to read.

Some writers know absolutely every facet of their story before they sit down to write. Their writer’s bible may be hundreds of pages long, involving everything from what shoes the characters are wearing to what is the position of the stars on any particular night. I am in awe, but I personally can’t do that. Nor have any of my stories actually required that though some stories might.

Other writers may go in with a vague idea, or no idea, just discovering things as they go along. Stephen King is famous for this. I’ve seen this referred to as the ‘Headlights method’. So named because it’s like driving a car on a remote road at night. The headlights only illuminate a few feet ahead of the car, but it’s possible to get all the way home that way.

Personally, I need something a little more in-between, though I definitely lean more to the pantser method (as in flying by the seat of your pants) than the plotting method. But I do some outlining, some freewriting, which some call being a ‘plantser’, a hybrid of pantsing and plotting. No, I didn’t name these.

I suspect most people are somewhere in between. But there’s still something about the word ‘outlining’ that sends chills down the spines of so many. (Is it Roman numerals, capital letters, numbers, lowercase letters?) Guess what, it doesn’t have to.

No one, and I mean no one, is going to demand to see your outline and critique it in red pen for being in the wrong format. Because no one cares how you outline or even if you do at all. All anyone cares about is if you write a coherent story. A good outline can help with that, but it won’t do it for you.

But that means you can do any kind of outline makes sense to you! Be as organized or unorganized as you like. Outlines are tools. No tool works for every person in any situation. I’ve tried many of these methods at least once, and some I liked, some I didn’t. One caveat, while adequate preparation can speed the writing process, it can also be a way to procrastinate. It can also drain some of your excitement if every plot point is planned before you write the story.

This also isn’t something you can only do before you get started. Maybe you start with an idea, an image, or a sentence. Then after you write for a while, you come back to plan where you are going. Or this can be something you do when you find yourself getting stuck.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Pre-made templates: Many writers have created templates for characters or plot or other important elements. Many of them can be found for free online. Try WritersDigest.com, I know there are some there.

Or you can look in other directions. A character creation sheet for role playing games is not the worst starting point, especially if you are also an experienced gamer. (My brother is trying to get me involved). Again, there are often free templates online.

If you like templates and can’t find one that meets your needs, maybe make your own.

Flash Cards: This method works best for plot and particularly when you know you want several particular things to happen but you aren’t sure the order. So you write each plot point on a flash card (3×5 index cards or post notes work well for this) and then arrange and re-arrange until you like the order. Having a board you can stick them to or a string you can attach them to makes it so you can view all cards at the same time.

If you like using flash cards, it might also be beneficial to make an index card of important information for each character. Be sure to mention eye and hair color, because readers will notice when your protagonist has blue eyes in Chapter Three but green in Chapter Twelve, but you don’t want to go through three hundred pages to make sure you are consistent.

Mood Board: This is a visual method that means collecting a bunch of pictures that make you think of your story. This can be a physical collage with pictures from magazines or printed out, but it’s also likely to be virtual, maybe on Pinterest or a blank document. This can include pictures of people you are modeling your protagonists after, pictures of the setting, and so much more.

Ideally, the mood board puts you in the mood that you are trying to evoke when writing. If you are writing a gothic romance, maybe this makes you feel slightly spooked. If you are writing a story of an exotic place you have never been, the board should give you a feeling of wonder.

It also gives you a starting point in describing what something looks like. I can give you a vague description of a castle, but wouldn’t it be better if I had a particular castle I wanted to describe?

Tentpole Method: I got this from a writing book, but sadly, I do not remember which one. I’ll add it in when I find it. The tentpole method is that you figure out the ten most important scenes in your book and then spend most of your effort on those scenes. Not that you neglect the rest, but more like the 80/20 method. These are probably going to be the scenes that resonate the most with your readers, the scenes that make your book the unique masterpiece that it is, so you want to make sure they are as perfect as you can make them.

Freewriting: This is my standard method of prewriting. It is exactly as disorganized as it sounds, at least when I do it. I tend to open a blank document and just spew out words. There are a lot of ‘So’s, ‘Okay’s, and ‘What if’s. I’ll go with an idea and then write down that I like that or that I don’t like that, what if we went with this instead. To give an example:

So, I’m writing an example for my freewriting. Should I actually try to plot something out, or should I just freewrite as if this was my example? Well, if I did plot something out, then what? Would I feel obligated to write about what I freewrote about? Or would I feel obligated not to write about it since someone could read it? Is ‘freewrote’ even a word? It ought to be.

Okay, so if I just use this as an example, then isn’t it going to be boring? Probably. Should I put in something more interesting? Like what? If I do, am I wasting time or being inaccurate?

Okay, what if I…

As you can see, I ramble. A lot. I probably put in at least as many questions as I do direct statements. The point there is usually to just keep the words flowing. My freewriting may not be coherent, but I usually manage to uncover my ideas and decide how I want things to go.

There are many other methods of outlining and prewriting and you may prefer a combination approach. I know that for Nightmare’s Revenge I used a lot of premade templates, outlined everything I could, and still ended up throwing in a new subplot early on that ended up anchoring the story. With the Hyde Chronicles I had pages and pages of notes that included every major character’s important information that ended up lost when my computer was stolen. I used the tentpole method when I was working on my quest story. I’ve created mood boards for a few stories and am making a few on Pinterest that I will eventually open up to be public. I’ve used my ramble-y freewriting on probably every novel and most short stories I’ve written.

I promised an announcement. Whimsy and Wonder Publishing (my publishing house) is expanding! There will soon be a Non-fiction imprint. The first book (booklet, really) in that new imprint is a guide to the uses and growing of Lavender. It will be available July 29^th! If you are interested in being an advanced reader, please email me at hjhardingbooks@gmail.com. As an advanced reader, you would receive a copy of the booklet for free, early, in exchange for writing a review when the booklet becomes officially available.  This is ebook only for the present. Please just mention in the review that you are an advanced reader. Thank you.

I am also accepting names for the non-fiction imprint of Whimsy and Wonder.

What ways have you used to outline?