Time to do another outline. I feel like I must be a schizophrenic outliner. I have a bunch of books on the subject, I tend to pick and choose through them, and I edit the outline as I go. When I first discovered that I wasn’t a “pantser” I found my characters went left, a lot. That led to maps and that, eventually led to outlines.

So yeah, outline. Excuse the dust while I figure all this crap out. I figure if I do it in public I’ll actually get my process down. I’m sure most of you will laugh at me, but I’m used to it.

And books. Here are the books that, over the years, I’ve gleaned pieces and parts from. I’ve not gone through all these books completely. I’m taking time to do that now.

First Draft in 30 Days by Karen S. Wiesner: This is first book I ever got on outlining a novel. It’s badly titled but contains a way of looking at outlining that I had never scene before. It gave me several tools that I really rely on now.

No Plot No Problem Novel-Writing Kit by Chris Baty: In some circles the book is considered the pantser’s bible. I cheated and just got the kit…which I find inspirational every November. Not sure how well it worked into outlining. I’m relying on the daily cards for this, the other items (cheer-leading and inspiration for NaNo) I’m not going to worry about.

Writer’s Digest Writing Kit Okay this is full of idea cards and mini markets and tips. I got it for a birthday a few years ago…it’s still sealed. Seems to be aimed at beginners. Inside are cards with basic writing tips and definitions, an idea deck, a market list and writing tips. I’m going to use the writing tips and ignore the rest for this exercise.

You Can Write A Novel Kit by James V. Smith: I loved Smith’s Writer’s Little Helper, as it was just that, a tiny book with a ton of help. And this has forms too. I like forms.

Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt: This book advocates writing while outlining. Which drives me nuts. But it has forms…and I am a form sucker.

From First Draft to Finished Novel by Karen S. Wiesner: I’ve skimmed this book so not sure how much I’ll use.

Sundry Items: There are various tips, worksheets and such I’ve collected over the years. I’ll be referring to these as well from time to time.

So anyway on to Day One, Step One! Oh wait, you want to know why?

I started Without Honor in 2001, just after September. Not only was the world as we know it imploding but my life imploded as well. That’s nearly nine years. I have plenty of partial manuscripts around…why did my first novel take that long to complete?

I had no idea what I was doing. A creative writing degree doesn’t deal with novel composition at all. Okay it may now, but back then it sure didn’t. This was odd, considering how many novels we had to read. (I had fifty to ready for one class that fall of 2001…they were YA novels but still that’s not including the rest of my course load).

Without Honor started as a hokey dream that basically played out like a title sequence of my friends dressed in renfair garb playing up to the camera while they played up to the camera and theme music.

Yes, my dreams are weird. Back on topic:

I started a short story, decided I had a novel. I think I wrote three scenes…and then didn’t touch it until December 2002, after my first NaNo and had 16,000 words towards a sequel that would become two chapters of WH.

My life was crazy. I was writing every day but most of it was non-fic and helped me do things like provided food for my daughter. Now I have this finished thing except for a final sweeping revision…and I really like it.

I want to do that again, in a much smaller span of time.

Technically, Between Kingdoms already has an outline. However, I haven’t looked at it for a long time. The one written scene was written nearly six years ago. Let’s start fresh and get this down and ready.

Step One: The Idea

Everything starts with the glimmer of an idea. Ideas come from anywhere, a phrase, a joke, a mention, a dream, real life, fiction, anywhere.

I’ve heard a few would be authors’ claim they have so many ideas and can’t pick one. Write them down, pick one, work on it, finish it and then go onto the next. How is that hard…well I’ll get to that.

The current project came to me in a dream. A long narrative dream which I still remember vividly. I kept it in my head for a long time thing about it. Percolating as several authors call it. Now to get it in a novel I have to define it. So let’s start this outline.

1. Get an Idea
Got one? Good. No? Wiesner suggests brainstorming, reading, etc. Schimidt has a questionnaire about likes and dislikes to help you come up with an idea. Write that idea down. If notes, pictures and such come while your formulating…stick them all together. Smith suggests a salable idea. Then he states know one knows what that is until they see it. So make sure the idea is something you love and are willing to research and devote time too. If not. Drop it.

2. Write the Idea Down
Describe the idea in one sentence. Schmidt calls this the pitch. Smith calls this the nugget and includes title as well as small paragraph. Starting with a sentence you have the idea condensed from the start. It saves later condensing, and can be rewritten if the central idea changes later. I open yWriter, start a new project. Open the project settings and fill out the project description. Title, one sentence, followed by a paragraph.

3. Idea and Reality
Smith has a test for checking your idea. It’s like a Cosmo quiz that start’s “How do you rate?”. He also lists some Cardinal Rules that boil down to don’t be boring. This is similar to Richard Peck’s 10 Questions ask about your Novel. I don’t write these down but ask myself these questions about my idea.

And that’s step one. Now for inspiration!

NaNoWriMo Card 1: Just Write
Problem One: Not Writing

You know why not everyone who has an idea writes a novel? Because they don’t write.

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