Whatever You Want To Call It - You Need This If You're Going To Write A Novel

There's one thing when it comes to writing that somehow manages to start wars between factions of writers and sends others scrambling back from their computers, or clicking out of this article faster than it takes them to blink. 

Well, there are two - the first being called out for not writing. 

The second is a thing known by many names, but in the end, it's all the same. 

Are those hairs on your arms standing up yet? Are you ready to see the word that you are most dreading? 

Whether you call it a blueprint, guide, roadmap, skeleton, framework, plan, summary, storyboard, sketch, or most simply known as an outline, it's all the same.

And yes, you need one. But before you run away thinking that I'm about to have to write down every single detail of your story from the first page to the last - stick around, because you couldn't be more wrong. 

I don't know when or where it started that writers started balking at the idea of having a guide map for their novels. Sure I've heard some say that it takes all the exploration and fun out of discovering their world - but it doesn't. 

Plotting, or outlining your novel is just having a place where you've written down the key elements of your novel. 

My outline is a single piece of paper that has the main idea of my story, and every time I name a character I write down their name and something brief about who they are so I can keep them in line. 

The current novel I am in the process of editing takes place in a school, there's no way I would remember the names of the teachers from each of her classes without having them written down, and scrolling back and finding where they were referenced is a bit of a pain in the back end. 

There are too many writers that I come across who tell me that they began writing their novels only to get dropped off somewhere in the middle of things and have no idea how to get to the next part. 

Now I'm going to tell you the same thing that I tell them - an outline, even if it's as simple as an index card that sits on the corner of your desk, would eliminate all of those problems. 

Write down the key events in your novel and what happens to change them. 

Who is your character at the beginning of the novel? What happens to change them and start them on their journey? What do they want - the outer goal they want to achieve and the inner goal that has to change for them to achieve it? What gets in the way of both of these? 

You need to know the answers to these questions before you start writing or you're going to be up a creek with no paddle and no idea whether you should go right, left, or stay in the middle. You know there are rapids somewhere, but without the map, you don't know how to navigate through them. 

No matter what you want to call this, it's something that you need to help you navigate your novel. 

There is still plenty of room for tweaking it, discovering all the ins and outs, and diving deep into the characters, but if you get lost you'll have an idea how to trace your steps back or to find your way forward. 

Give it a try. 

With love, 

B.K. xo xo

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