The Value of Mixing Surprises with Outlining

In writing novels, creating games, or creating movies, there are two methods that take center stage.

The method most English students are familiar with is outlining.

On the other side of the line, there’s discovery writing.

Outlining plans things out before committing to anything in a story.

Discovery writing takes an idea and lets it grow organically, discovering the plot as it comes to the writer.

Neither method is correct. The correct method works for you.

The best of both worlds is to mix the two extremes together.

Think of it like being a gardener that also builds the planter boxes the plants will grow in.

You have the soil, the material, and the green thumb (in writing it’s probably more sore than green) to make it all work.

You’d plan when you water the plants and cultivate while removing the weeds from the soil. You know when you’re going to fertilize the story but may not know how vibrant the plant will be until nature takes its course.

Outlining is crucial for longer projects. For my current long-term series, I’m using the first three books as shorter introductions before writing full-length works to flesh out the world. So, three short light novels, then full-blast stories from then onward.

This will push me to work harder and make something epic in the end.

It’s like giving a trailer before the major story picks up.

For newer writers, I’d suggest having a twelve to twenty-page outline of the story’s major plot points. My dark fantasy novel, Auminous, had such an outline, but I mixed it with discovery. I started discovering the story, yet I needed a plan to tie it all together.

That may look to be too much, but knowing the story’s grand narrative helps cut down on editing time. There’s no escaping editing.

Choose where you do most of the work, up front, or in the ending stretch.

If you’re a discovery writer, then I’d suggest editing as you go to cut down on editing time further down.

Mixing the two methods, you can do either.

And for different books, you might try one method or another.

One book might require you to figure out the ending first, and another walking in the dark with only the moon’s light to guide the way.

Some writers feel that when they plan things out, they lose the joy of creation because there are no surprises.

You don’t have to fit into some pre-made box.

Think of it like a road trip.

Let’s say you start in Seattle and end up stopping in Lansing. Further down, you get to Harrisburg and end up somewhere in Maine to finish it. On your way back home, taking the entire east coast south and then back west through the Gulf States will give that much needed variety.

Discovery writers hate knowing what they’re doing beforehand.

They might take a country road and take the longer way home to give the trip some spontaneity.

You know where you are, where you’ll end up, but not in between the points.

That’s mixing the two methods with a fine balance.

Some writers might hate that and choose to blaze their trail on their own terms.

That’s a wonderful thing, and I don’t want to take that valid method away from anyone.

For me, I started as a discovery writer but learned the value of planning things out. It saves so much time, gives the vision room to breathe, and lets you see the forest AND the trees.

You read the lines, and what’s in between them. All bases get covered, and both sides of the brain get to shine.

I suppose that’s fine. At least it works for me.

But what works for you?

And how does it work for you?

How can you make two opposite ends meet in the middle? You can’t just teleport from A & go to B.

 But there’s no need to make a bed and lie in it while writing. You get to choose your way and make it work with a little creativity. None of the consequences, no bed to lie in. Streamlined processes make things work well.

If you plan it right, you’ll get from A to B with grace and far fewer headaches.

I’ve found knowing the ending first helps me plot the way forward with twists and turns in the story to make things more interesting.

Predictable doesn’t have a wow factor these days when novels compete with movies, video games, and even TikTok and YouTube. Different forms, sure, but attention spans are dropping as the years pass.

Reading will never go away. It’s been around for thousands of years. But we need those twists and surprises to make things powerful and fun.

Sometimes you will get to the end of a book, and you find you must alter the ending you’d planned out to better fit those twists that grew organically as you wrote them. That spectacular battle in chapter 33 might have gone a whole different direction than you’d intended.

That’s the wonderful thing about mixing the two methods.

You had planned the battle, but you hadn’t planned the method of victory.

Both these things work.

There’s no need to sit on the fence when we can build our own fence.

Writing is a liberating art form, so write without constraints, whether through architectural prowess before the tale begins, or through a journey through the darkness with nothing but a flashlight and some guts.

Besides, you’re discovering your outlines, anyway.

Not so different, after all.