6 Reasons to Outline Your Book
There’s nothing wrong with pantsing a manuscript — I’ve done it and loved it. But here, I give you half a dozen reasons why plotting it all out makes sense.
For me, when I used an outline to write, the biggest thing that stuck out to me was the third point in the video — combating writer’s block.
With previous books, it was super fun because I never really knew where the keys (or pen) was going to take me. That was exciting in a way — I call my business takingdictation because sometimes it’s more like I’m just listening to someone else spew it all. I don’t really know where it comes from or where it’s headed.
But with my last novel (which I’ll hopefully publish soon), I had so many other things going on in my life I knew I didn’t have the luxury of waiting for the spew. I needed to put some structure into the process so that, when I sat down, there was a little more guarantee of finishing pages. The outline was enormously helpful in that I always opened my file knowing what I had to accomplish. That clear sense of direction kept me from stressing out.
That said, I didn’t OVERLY outline. I didn’t dive into scenes too much, but rather just summarized the key action that everything revolved around. By keeping the outline simple, I had necessary structure but still could allow myself to let the scene develop on the fly. It still felt creative.
Some people need more or less structure than others. I’ll never say you HAVE to use an outline. But at least be aware that creating one gives you these advantages, and be open to experimenting to see if it supports your process.