Ode to the Murderous Outline

There is hope. Reason to rejoice.

Midway through a fierce streamlining and repeated shuffling of scenes, my manuscript was a shredded mess. My last version of the story was scattered across my kitchen table, looking decidedly disconnected. I was totally incapable of reading it again with a variety of knives so close at hand.

Rather than surrender to my looming hissy fit, I buzzed through my manuscript. I listed characters and events and locale in a chapter by chapter format. Did the pagination thing. By the time I was done, I had a rough-and-tumble outline. I saw where moments/objects were introduced twice, where I'd skipped important clue dropping, where the scene dragged on too long, where a character who just left the scene was still sipping coffee alongside the protag, complaining about the need for more creamer.

Peace was close at hand. Based on my messy outline's chapter notes it felt easier to continue cutting and pasting and deleting and filling in segue snippets. The very idea of an outline gave me stomach cramps when I tried to erect it early on in my writing. Now, at this stage in my writing process, the messy outline was a valuable tool. Next time I plan to sketch the story, write the story, let it lie fallow, read the manuscript, outline the crappy manuscript, rip it apart, swap passages around, add sticky notes where things are missing. Hang on for dear life. Hose myself down, go frolic in the open air, return to the Frankenstein I've created and read through, settling the passages into their proper places as I go. And don't forget to double check the outline, readjusting it as is wont.

Simple. Ha! Maybe not, but it has saved me from imploding as I slogged my way through the reorganized revision. I'm a better soldier now - I mean self-editor.

Way earlier in my manuscript's birthing process I had created a sticky-note outline of my book. Each fresh page was a new chapter. Soon I was using the full spread in my notebook - back of left page across to the top side of the right hand page - to hold all my sticky notes. I tried different colored sticky notes for setting versus characters on stage versus time of day. They were a fairly cheap option. Not for me, however. Those color coded sticky notes were far too complex a system, considering the emergency room nature of my editing needs. Triage! STAT! Transfusion needed on page 137! That sticky note outline now lies in ruins, but I'll likely try that again in my up-coming revision of a different manuscript.

Despite the occasional beating of my head against a brick wall, this approach to outlining the problematic near-final draft seems to be a godsend. Thinking of the outline as a tool to resurrect my plot is a new approach for me. I just might have found a new ally!

Hope your days of rewrites are delightful moments in the garden. I can see you now, gliding along, plucking the occasional weed, pondering the addition of some begonias here and some impatiens there to add a little finesse to the perfectly developed landscape where your characters cavort in a free and fascinating style.

Or at least, so I would hope for all of us.

Until next rant, Write On!