4 Alternatives to Outlining a Novel

If you fall somewhere in the middle of the plotter-pantster spectrum, this post is for you.

If the idea of plotting out every scene in your novel doesn't appeal to you or makes you feel creatively constricted, I’ve got good news! Outlines aren’t the end-all-be-all. Let’s get into a few other options.

If you have a character, voice, or first line you want to explore...

Some authors hear their main character first. A few lines come to them, vivid and unique in style, and they want to explore it further. If this is you, here’s one way you can plan your novel without plotting:

Write a journal from your protagonist's POV.

Keep in mind, this is not a draft (unless you are planning on writing an epistolary novel). It's not an outline either. You're just allowing your character to speak through you starting at wherever you see them at the beginning of the book and describing things as you see them happen.

Don't worry about the plot beats or making sure everything ties together. How many people actually consistently write in their journals every single day? I skip days; sometimes I'll even skip weeks. If you don't know what happens the next day, or even that entire week in your characters life, skip ahead to the next thing that excites you. If you find yourself getting bored as you write about your characters day, shake things up: throw a challenge at them with the knowledge that this isn’t anything you have to include in your novel. You’re just seeing how they react and getting to know them better. 

If you have an idea with multiple POVs…

This is something I did a few years ago for a mystery novel and I was shocked at how effective it was.

Make a character chart like this:

Across the top are your characters. Down the left side are wants, needs, and secrets (along with anything else you feel like adding).

Once you got these filled out, start making connections and looking for conflict points. How does one character’s secret affect the others once it’s revealed? How does it impact their relationships? Does this combination generate a cool plot point or scene idea?

This thing is great for busting writer’s block. Your chart can turn into an unlimited scene idea generator!

If you have a premise where the timeline is inherent…

Let's say you want to write a book about going through a pandemic. Well, we all know now the timeline of how that starts, right? Quarantines, lockdowns, (maybe a few of those), how long it takes for a vaccine and/or cure to be developed, the roll out, etc. You’ve got a timeline; you’ve got plot beats. How do your characters react each step along the way?

Let's say you want to write a a legal thriller. One where the climactic scene takes place in the courtroom. There's a natural timeline there too: an indictment, the start of an investigation, suspect and witness interviews, coroner results or the discovery of evidence, etc, all building up to the trial and verdict.

As another example, let's say you want to write a book about three strangers who meet at a Comic-Con-esque convention that lasts for five days—well, there you go. If you've ever been to a con, you can probably expect certain things to happen: some sort of welcome dinner, lots of panels, a costume contest, a banquet or dance of some sort... And yes this is actually how my co-authors and I started sketching out our ideas for The Pros of Cons - not with a plot, but with a timeline. 

If you’re writing a story with fast-paced action…

I like to call this one, “and then things got worse.” The method is pretty simple, and it works great if you have a really clear, easy to sum up premise about how your character finds herself in trouble. For example: A man finds himself the suspect when his wife goes missing. (The Fugitive; a classic.) Or how about: An astronaut is stranded in space after the destruction of her shuttle. Honestly, Gravity is one of the best examples out there of the “and then things got worse” plot I’ve ever seen. You know when a movie starts with the main character floating out into space, alone and untethered, that you’re in for a wild ride, because how could things possibly get worse? 

Summarize how your main character ends up in this bad situation: the events leading up to the kidnapping, the murder, the blackmail, whatever it is that kicks things off. Then use the prompt:

“Things got worse when…”

Do it as many times as you need to. Keep in mind this works best when the next bad thing happens as a result of your character’s last action; their attempts to fix everything just gets them in worse trouble. Let your imagination run amok here, because remember, we’re not plotting, this isn’t etched in stone. Just keep turning up the heat until the pot is truly boiling and it seems like there’s no way your character can survive this. Once you’ve driven your character into what seems like an impossible-to-survive scenario, you can look for ways to plant the information and resources they’ll eventually need to come out on top despite all the odds.

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The posts I publish here will remain free. But I have a series called Ask the Editor, which will publish every Friday. The short pitch: Dear Abby for writers.

The longer pitch: paid subscribers ($5/month or $50/year, cancel anytime) will receive a link to a form where they can submit pretty much anything within a two page limit. Things like…

• Queries

• Synopses

• Pages from their novel

• Questions about writing or traditional publishing

• A current problem or situation in their writing journey (ie: trying to decide if an agent is a schmagent, disagreeing with beta feedback, etc)

• A rant about this whole “trying to get published” endeavor to a sympathetic ear

Every Friday, I’ll respond to/critique as many submissions as I can and publish them together in one post. Because they’ll be behind a paywall, there’s some privacy—your query, pages, or rant about that one really horrible rejection won’t be online for editors to discover when they Google you.

That’s it! I hope to see you over there. :)

Michelle