Rob Steiner

I’ve written three novels, and for each one I wrote detailed, chapter-by-chapter outlines. You could argue they were my first drafts. All three outlines were in the 40-50 page range, even the one for my contemporary mystery novel, which turned out to be 70,000 words.

The reason I wrote such huge outlines was that I was afraid I’d start the first draft and have no idea what to write. So I added lots of world building, dialogue, and any other piece of information I was afraid I’d forget when it came time for the first draft. I spent months making sure everything in the outline was correct and that there were no plot holes. In many cases, I had to limit my words for each chapter so that the outline wouldn’t grow too large.

But as it turned out, the three books I ended up with looked nothing like the outlines I wrote for them.

Characters were killed off, plot holes were discovered (so much for “perfecting” the outline first), whole new chapters added, and completely different endings materialized that were so much better than the outline endings.

Whenever I deviated from the outline, I’d adjust it and then rewrite it to maintain consistency throughout the rest of the outline. Towards the end of each book, however, I simply ignored the outline and plowed ahead to the finish.

Needless to say, after following this process on my third book, I decided that detailed outlines were a waste of time for me. So when it came time to write my fourth book (an alternate history sci-fi novel), I decided to wing it.

Well, not entirely.

Instead of a 50-page chapter-by-chapter outline, I wrote a three page list of plot points and characters I envisioned in the book. Only took me a few days. I figured that if I had to limit my words in my last three outlines, then I’d have no trouble letting go in the first draft. I’d simply use my three-page summary to guide me.

And you know what? I’m 3/4 of the way through my fourth novel and the book looks nothing like my origional three-page summary.

But that’s okay. I have a good ending in mind, and I seem to be making good progress toward that ending. I’m discovering who my characters are as they progress through the story, not through detailed character profiles written before I begin the novel. I’m able to produce the same amount of words in the same amount of time per day as I was with the detailed outline.

Except now I haven’t wasted months on an outline that always changed.

I know which process I’m going to follow for my fifth book.

So outlining vs. wingin’ it. Which works best for you?

Since most writers are fascinated by the writing processes of other writers, I thought I’d share the process that has helped me write three novels and get me 80,000 words into my fourth. If you’re not a writer, the following mind hacks might give you ideas on how to finish your own major project.

1. Create a challenge

The primary challenge of writing any novel is to simply finish it. If you’re writing your first book, that should be your challenge — just finish it.

That’s why I came up with “100,000 in 100” — write 100,000 words (or finish the book) within 100 days.

I did this for a very commercial reason: to see if I could become a “book-a-year” writer. To build a loyal readership, publishers like to have their authors write one book per year. “100,000 in 100” was well within professional standards, and certainly doable for me.

Not to mention that the more books I write, the better my chances of getting published.

2. Set attainable goals

Writing a novel is a marathon, so it needs to be tackled in chunks or you’ll go crazy thinking about the enormity of it. That’s why I set a strict yet attainable goal of 1000 words per day. Once I reached 1000, I considered the day a success, and gave myself permission to quit. Getting to 1000 was hard at first, but once I got into a routine, I was able to bang out 1000 (first draft) words in about an hour.

3. Accept that your first draft is crap

Without a doubt, this was the single biggest key to reaching my goal. Once I accepted that my first draft will be complete and utter crap, I could simply write the novel’s first draft without second-guessing myself as I wrote.

It’s a freeing feeling to turn off that pesky internal editor. If I wrote something that contradicted a previous chapter, I simply made a note to change that chapter in the second draft, and continued on. If I struggled with the stylistic wording of a piece of dialogue, I wrote the dialogue in sparse text, and continued on. God forbid, I even used cliches! Whatever it took to reach my daily quota, I did it.

4. Stick to your goal

All writers have those days when we look at the computer and say, “I don’t feel like it.” To keep myself motivated and on schedule, I recorded my daily word output on a spreadsheet calendar. It was that little incentive of entering my word count at the end of the day — and figuring out my words-to-date total — that got me to finish my quota on some of the toughest days. Someday I’ll have a publishing contract to keep me motivated, but for now, this will do.

5. Celebrate!

After every book I’ve written, my wife and I celebrate by go going to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, where the steaks melt in your mouth and the lobster bisque should be illegal. After you finish a project – novel, short story, magazine article, blog post – do something to celebrate. Writing is a blast, but it’s also work. When you’re “pre-published” (thank you Lisa Shearin for the term!), you sometimes need something other than a contract to get your butt in the chair.