As I have mentioned previously in this blog, I am outlining my next novel—the Orange and the Black. Good thing that I am. I have changed the opening scene three times.
I have come
to appreciate the value of outlining. It allows me to go back--and in a
sentence or two--weave in a new plotline, add or delete characters, or expand
upon themes. If I were writing this novel without an outline I would have
already gone back more times than I can count to write in additional characters
and ideas.
A writer friend of mine—working on her first novel—told me that she was able to start only after, “I gave myself permission to write a shitty first draft.”
With any luck, I might get away with only writing a shitty outline.
I’ve written in these pages before about the value of getting something down on paper. I came across it in article in The New Yorker by John McPhee. When you have a draft, or even an outline,
… your mind is knitting at the words. You think of a better way to say something, a good phrase to correct a certain problem. Without the drafted version—if it did not exist—you obviously would not be thinking of things that would improve it. In short, you may actually be writing two or three hours a day, but your mind, one way or another, is working on it twenty-four hours a day—yes, while you sleep—but only if some sort of draft or earlier version already exists. Until it exists, writing has not really begun.
Even an outline serves this purpose. It allows you to formulate and solidify ideas—and then your subconscious takes over.
See ya’ later.
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