Outlines Promote Creativity by Erik Christopher Martin
If you’ve frequented online writing spaces, you are likely aware of the Plotters vs. Pantsers debate. Plotters are writers who plan their stories to varying degrees before they draft. Pantsers get an idea and just write full steam ahead, discovering the story as they go. A frequent sentiment from the Pantser side goes like this, “Whatever works for you, but I like to be creative,” implying that outlining a story before drafting is not creative.
As a Plotter, I say outlining promotes creativity and holds advantages over writing without one.
My observation has been that many online pantsing advocates think their plot is the whole story. The name “Plotter” supports this view. But the plot is just a vehicle to move the story forward, and that is what they fail to realize in their criticism.
When you realize that your story is much bigger than the plot, outlining takes on new dimensions.
For the last few years, I’ve been writing a middle-grade mystery series. Last month I outlined Book Five. My process starts with the characters, theme, and the logline. Characters and theme are what the story is really about. The logline boils the plot down into one or two sentences.
Since I’m writing a series, I know who my primary characters are already. Even so, each character needs a new arc unique to this book. What are they struggling with, and how will they resolve it? For example, my main character feels abandoned by her friends at the start of the book and experiences the death of someone close. Rather than face her pain, she shuts herself off from her supports. But in order to resolve the central conflict of the book, she will have to cope with her feelings of grief and abandonment.
In my books, the major theme is a question tied to the main character’s arc. In this book, the thematic question can be expressed thusly, “Is it better to isolate yourself from others so they can’t hurt you? Or is it better to let others in even if it is sometimes painful?” At the top of my outline, I’ll spell out the major theme just like that.
Next, I put all three elements together and create a scene-by-scene summary of the book. This is an immersive process because I understand both the underlying “real story” and the surface plot that moves the action forward. Many times, I discover new characters or a direction I didn’t anticipate. This is always fun and amazing. And I can make the changes with relative ease, rather than having to rewrite 25K words like I might if I was pantsing it.
The finished product is a blueprint of the story that is much more flexible than a blind first draft. Because changes can be effected so easily, the process is a lot more creative and efficient than writing with no plan. Plus, I never write myself into a corner. Which is nice.
By Erik Christopher Martin, author of The Case of the French Fry Phantom: Dotty Morgan Supernatural Sleuth Book One
