How to Write A Book

The Ominous Outline

When I first decided to write a book, I thought an outline was the most boring and useless thing I could think of. My story unfolded as I wrote. The characters told me where they wanted to go. I was a “pantser.” I wrote by the seat of my pants. I didn’t need an outline. In fact, an outline would only get in the way.

What I did for my first book

So that’s what I did for my first book. (Yet to be published but I’m working on it.) Boy was I wrong. Yes, it was fun to write by the seat of my pants. I wandered around the plot letting the characters go wherever they wanted. After five years of wandering and over 100,000 words, an editor gave me some valuable advice.“ You’ve got a talent for story, but your plot is repetitive in spots and the pacing slows and ebbs and flows. Instead of this being a page turner, it keeps letting the reader down. You need to cut entire swaths.” 

The Inexperienced Author

I asked her to show me what she meant and that’s exactly what she did. After she got through with it, there was more red ink than black on the page. Like most inexperienced authors, I was highly offended. But when I stepped back and took a look, I could see that everything this editor had said was true.  I did wander around in all sorts of places that were not conducive to the plot. The characters were not concise. In essence, the book was a mess. it was fixable, but edits would take another year and rewrites another year after that. 

“Is writing a book always this awful?” I asked the editor. “I don’t see how anybody gets published if this is what it is like.”

“Did you use an outline?” my editor asked.

“Of course not,” I replied.

“An outline would have saved you years of extra work.”

I Have Never Been An Outliner

I have never been an outliner. I am not organized. I do not plan anything. Someone calls to go out to dinner an hour beforehand, I’m your girl, but don’t ask me to plan a get together a month in advance. I wrote my first book exactly like my personality dictated, and I came to regret it. It wasn’t until I wrote my second book USING AN OUTLINE that I saw the genius in it. 

The Second Book

In my second book, I knew exactly where I was going. Not only were the characters flushed out, I could add things about who they were knowing in advance where the book was going. I did not waste months and months of work chasing down plots that were only going to get cut. I learned about “beat sheets” which are a good beginning on how the plot needs to rise and fall. 

Outlining For People Who Write By The Seat of Their Pants

Did I have every single detail outlined before I began? No, remember, I am still a “pantser.” I did a general outline following the beat sheet to begin with and wrote in details as the book unfolded. If you want to write a full length novel, or even non-fiction, you need to know that at a certain point, the book is so long, you cannot possibly hold everything in your head. Outlines give you the ability to quickly reference where you have been so that you know where you are going. 

Outlines are not written in stone. Mine mutate as I write, but that doesn’t mean I don’t heavily rely on them. Where is the first place to start if you want to write a book? Outline it first.

Free Resource

Jami Gold’s Romance beat sheet is available online for free at: https://jamigold.com/2012/11/write-romance-get-your-beat-sheet-here/