Always Begin (Holly Schindler)

 

...with the middle and the end.

I'm a big believer in plotting. Big. Huge. Enormous. Outlines are so important in my world that they count as the first draft. 

But by outline, I don't mean starting at the beginning of the story and listing bulleted plot points down to the conclusion. That's what I have at the end of it, but I don't get there starting at the beginning and working my way through chronologically. 

I start with a giant hazy blob of an idea, and I break it apart into smaller and smaller chunks. 

The first break? Take that hazy blob and divide it into thirds: 

1. The beginning - What's the inciting event?

2. The middle - What's the complicating factor that makes this whole thing seem impossible?

3. The end - How is the problem solved?

From there, you can begin to break into smaller chunks. Usually, the manuscript will be divided by plot points that occur in whatever genre you're writing. And, yes, different genres have different requirements. A romance isn't a romance, after all, without a happily-ever-after (or, at the very least, a happy-for-now). I highly recommend Googling plot points (or turning points) for your specific genre. To be sure, nothing is ever completely agreed upon (well, other than that happy-ending romance thing), and different outlets or articles will have slightly different takes. And your book won't perfectly fit in with those plot points. But they're definitely a great starting point.

Spend time on that outline. Really. Enough to call it a first draft. Get the whole thing laid out. Know where you're going. And when your book begins to veer away from  the original outline, that's fine. But YOU SHOULD NOT KEEP WRITING. You should stop and rewrite that outline to fit where you're headed now. 

Trust me. It'll save you loads of time in the long run. 

~

Holly Schindler is a critically acclaimed author of books for all ages. Her first novel, A Blue So Dark (YA), took 11.6 billion rewrites. If she'd known how to outline when she first drafted that book, she would have.