Why you should outline your novel

I make a plan for just about every piece of writing I do.

For a blog post, it's often just a series of bullet pointed notes or a few key headings to direct my writing, but for a full novel it's a much more in depth outline of the plot and characters.

Four novels in, I'm beginning to see a pattern to the way I plan and have developed my own intuitive method. With this kind of long term project, having an outline to follow is like having a map with a clear path ahead of you.

The plot of a novel is so big and complex that I actually think it's impossible to hold it all in your head at once. Getting it down on paper and in front of you, means you're able to start writing free from the pressure of the big picture and focus on one chapter, one scene, one sentence at a time - free from overwhelm and safe in the knowledge that you're headed in the right direction (rather than about to write yourself into a dead end).

This forward planning is something I've been trying to teach my fifteen year old brother recently (as he begins exam-style English questions for GCSE). Planning out your essay before you start, I told him, means you can be sure you're hitting those key points and not waffling around without the content you need to include. It's for this reason that I often ended up with much shorter papers and essays than the rest of my class (back when I was sitting these types of exams), with the same or higher marks.

Now, it's one of the reasons my first drafts end up on the short side (50,000 words or so), ready to be fleshed out in the next revision. And just like my old English essays, my first draft has fewer plot holes because I knew what scenes and moments I needed to include ahead of writing them.

Following a simple outline and writing only what you need makes sense if you're aiming to write a speedy first draft; something I like to do in order to outrun self-doubt and avoid my inner editor. Following a more detailed and comprehensive plan is helpful if you want to write a cleaner first draft - something that will need less editing and fewer revisions.

Both options help you get to a finished manuscript (in my opinion at least) quicker and with less hand-wringing, indecision and writer's block.

There are a few common misconceptions about outlining - that it ruins the creativity and 'surprise' of letting your plot unfold as you write, or that it has to follow a particular structure in order to shape a commercially viable manuscript.

Keep these things in mind as you start the outlining process:

Outlining your plot doesn't make your novel boring to write

Depending on how you plan, you can factor in plenty of flexibility and freedom along the way. Having a certain scene listed in your plan as your next step doesn't have to feel like a prison for your words, it's just a way to show up and write, however inspired (or not) you feel on that particular day. If have a better idea or a sudden spark of inspiration - add it into your plan and do that instead!

Your plan doesn't have to look a certain way

Everyone plans differently - by hand or typed, in a spreadsheet, as a bullet pointed list, as a series of index cards or post-it notes. You are free to choose a style that works for you.

It doesn't have to follow a conventional story structure

There are lots of examples out there online of different structures and formulas to follow when you outline. If these feel jargon-heavy or off putting, don't feel like you have to force your ideas to fit this mould. Your story can take whatever shape it needs to on it's first draft.

It can be as detailed as you like

A plan can be anything from a basic bullet-pointed list of chapters to a fully detailed breakdown of scenes, characters and settings.

It can change

As we write a first draft, a novel stretches, grows and develops. You'll have new ideas as your imagination gets to work on the writing itself, and you'll figure out that some of your existing ideas don't work so well. That's perfectly fine - don't be afraid to keep things flexible.

Remember - only you can decide on the right way to outline or plan your writing. It doesn’t have to look a certain way or take a certain length of time to do. It doesn’t even have to be ‘right’, I think the truest test of how well a plan works is in how much it helps you get writing and keep writing.