Who Uses Outlines?

I was recently asked about my writing process. Do I use outlines? Do you plot a story or just make it up as you go along? Please keep in mind that what works for one person might not ever work for anyone else or even that one person ever again except that one time.

For my most recent title, Connecting Flight, here’s what happened:

In mid November, 2011, a plane carrying two coaches of the Oklahoma State women’s basketball team crashed. After seeing the story on the news, I wondered about the last moments of the two coaches, one male and one female. I wondered what might go through the minds of people on a plane that is plummeting to earth and death is certain or at least likely. What do people think about? What do they do or say? Did they pray, cry, scream, or something else? And then I settled on what I would likely say. “I’m not ready to die. I’m not ready to die.”

And then I wondered about that proverbial light we’re supposed to see upon death, and I wondered what would happen if I or they were truly not ready to die. What if they refused to go into that good light? What if they just wandered away? And what if they lived (no pun intended) up to that ghost theory that some spirits are here because of “unfinished business”? What if?

I had the beginning of a story, but I couldn’t use the basketball coaches because that would be wrong. So I did what most writers do – I put myself into it. I made the male ghost an uptight math teacher. I needed the female to be different, so she at first she was a rather uneducated, stay-at-home wife. However, after going through several drafts, I eventually realized that she needed something in her past to haunt her. (Again, no pun intended.) She eventually became a model/actress. Then she became a model/actress of the kind with very little clothing. That was because she needed to have something in her past to hide and something to make her resist going to “heaven” because of a fear of being rejected based on that past. There’s more to it than that, but it’s enough for now.



I had people. I needed reasons. They are both on a plane together going from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. He is going to spy on his wife whom he thinks is having an affair. She is going on business, another “modeling” job, so to speak. She also suspects her husband is having an affair, but he has provided her with a great amount of wealth and material things that she shares a good deal with her less-fortunate family, so she quietly takes one for the team.  No pun intended.  I had a connection between them - both suspected their spouses of cheating.

But that’s not important right now. What’s important is the process. What I first did was treat the story as I always do – like a movie. I write outlines and, unlike some writers, I cannot work without one. Mine begins with a setting followed by the important events that should happen in that scene/chapter. Here are the first three scenes/chapters in the outline:

1. Philly airport
    a. Ann and Chris, nervous, getting on plane, Philly airport,
    b. neither happy, notice each other, assume fear of flying
    c. small talk, both hinting but hiding something,
    d. turbulence, distracted, notice wedding rings
    e. Plane going down, people freaking, ann and Chris hold hands tightly, repeating “I’m not ready to die”            intensity so great they can’t let go, plane hits, all goes dark

2. Airport runway or wreckage site
   a. smoke clearing, EMT all around, blood, wreckage, triage, yelling.
   b. Ann and Chris looking in disbelief, sounds muffled in and out, vision blurry at times
   c. They’re perfectly clean, most others are a mess
   d. Both know something is wrong, not sure what, see a few others like them
   e. Some others walking away, looking back at them, waving for them to follow
   f. Still holding hands, pull apart, big Zap! Touch again, painful Zap keeps them away
   g. Ball of bright light, others going in, Ann and Chris refuse
   h. See man crying, bloody, next to lifeless body of wife, kids too
   i. Leave area, run quickly, not looking, ambulance goes through them.

3. Random places away from crash site
   a. Panicking, crying, debating what to do, to go into the light or not
   b. Agree they not finished on earth, things to do still
   c. Discuss movies, ghost clues, rules, what they can and can’t do?
   d. Ann tells him to be more of a “man” when he cries. He admits he’s not.
   e. Do we eat? Sleep? Piss? Guess we’ll find out.
   f. Where did others go? why didn’t we go? people say spirits don’t know they're dead
   g. But we know. But we not ready? Tired. Do we sleep? Mental detox.

This is not exactly how the story went, but it was the first, maybe second version of an outline. Although the original outline only had 14 chapters, I eventually ended up with 18. I always print my outlines so that I can keep them in front of me on the desk as I type. I constantly check each line to make sure I’m going in order, although there’s always room for changes and improvising. I also print the outlines because I like the visual of crossing off numbers and letters as I write. It helps give me a sense of progress and accomplishment. Another part of my process is basically "watching a movie." When I type, I imagine that I'm watching a movie in my head, and I am simply writing what I am watching. It allows me to write a lot in a short period of time, but it does have drawbacks, such as a drifting point of view and too much dialogue. Oh well. That's what revising is for.

So, the crash was in November of 2011. I had an outline finished by January of 2012. Normally an outline doesn’t take that long, but I was still teaching then and didn’t have a great deal of time to work on it. However, as January began, I knew that I was about to leave the profession, so that motivated me to work more quickly and enjoyably on the outline.

I started typing the first draft somewhere around February 1, 2012, and I finished that somewhere about the first week of March. It was right about then that I started working more at blogging, having just gotten my first few followers. That’s when I first started posting chapters as blog posts for feedback. There were some incredibly nice people who seemed to be reading and greatly enjoying the chapters. Not a lot of critical feedback, but a lot of polite praise. A few people even tweeted out my chapters for others to read, and I was gaining more and more blog followers. It was nice.



Somewhere in June of 2012 I began revising. The story was too short and the ending was too easy. I had rushed it and nobody was interested in the queries I had e-mailed.  I knew I had work to do and spent the summer revising heavily. But that’s when I was really starting to enjoy the blog following that was growing. Between chapters, I was writing humor, essays, posting photography, and I had also gotten hooked on the flash fiction thing. Writing and revising were pushed aside, far aside. I had an audience to feed, and it felt nice.

I won’t recount that episode because I have already spelled it out in Writing 2.0, which brought me back to writing fiction. It had been a year since I originally wrote the story, and it wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was I. That’s when I did two things at once:

1. Revised the chapters a second time in the form of a third draft.

2. I posted the new chapters for a new audience who immediately helped me revise it further for a fourth draft. It grew from 18 chapters and 50,000 words to 25 chapters and 76,000 words in about six weeks, and I could not have done any of it without an outline.

In January of 2014 it was accepted by a small print, Whiskey Creek Press, and was set to be released in July. However, Whiskey Creek was sold to Start Publishing, a small company that has bought up a handful of small presses and is in the process of re-prioritizing their publishing schedule. So I have no idea when it might actually be released. But that's now what we're here for today.

One last example of the benefits of outlining is the currently outline I am writing, which includes the page above.  It's a time travel story, and my outline was written out to 20 chapters.  Although I felt ready to start the first draft, I still followed my process of typing the outline.  A fortunate choice because, while typing it out, I realized there were several holes in my story's timeline.  It's a time travel story, and there are going to be continuity issues.  While typing, I realized that I had the wrong target year in the past for my character to visit.  Once I changed that one element, I realized the domino effect waiting to happen and then had several other necessary changes.

Had I started the first draft without typing the outline, I likely would have written thousands of words that would have eventually been scrapped.  Another good reason to outline - revisiting your story and making sure your story is going to hold water.  Or beer.  Do yourself a favor and try an outline.  It's like revising but a lot shorter, and I could save your character from ending up in 1993 instead of 1990.  I don't even want to think about how embarrassing that could have been.

How about you? Do you use outlines?

_____________________________________

Words in My Head by Zhäriya' Amani

By Kahlil Weston

I want to announce my publishing company called Mad Writer Publishing. It's a company that I founded and I'm assembling a roster and staff. If you're interested in bringing out a book, you can reach me at @KahlilDelgado on Twitter or you can contact Kahlil Weston or the president of my company Johnnie Thomas El on Facebook. Tracy Clark is the COO to my company and has a subsidiary division called "The Clark Administration" Publishing. My publishing logo exemplifies the personality of the company.

Zhäriya' Amani's book, Words in My Head, is officially live. All those interested, holla at your boy or Johnnie Thomas El or Zhäriya' Beautiful Jones. Thanks to Eric Jackson for the help with the cover. Whoever wants to have a book published come and see me.

Zhäriya' Amani is a very talented tenth grader who has been writing for three years. She's been published in Stars in Our Heart: Symbols by Word Poetry Movement, and is a resident of Camden NJ. The book, Words in My Head, is a compilation of eighteen select pieces from the poet. Cover design by Kahlil Weston and Eric Jackson. It can be purchased at Amazon here.

A launch party for the book will be held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Camden NJ on Saturday, July 12th, from 6:30 PM to 10:30 PM. Come out and show your support! $10 for admission and food, $15 for admission, food, and an autographed book. There will be food, drinks, great music, raffles, special performances, a sneak-peak, and plenty of copies there to buy!

About today's guest-blogger:

Kahlil Weston has authored three books (all mature content), "The Kahlil Weston Hour," "The Wes Daddy Mack Hour," and "The Young and the Wesless" "I consider myself a different breed of a writer. I wrote with no rules and everything within my realm is fair game. When I have a bone to pick I consider myself a battle writer. I have started my own publishing company called Mad Writer Publishing. My goal with my publishing company is to publish books for writers whose last name isn't Weston."

Merry Jones at SJWG

Guest Blog by Victoria Marie Lees.

At the South Jersey Writers Group monthly meeting held on November 2l, 2013, writers and friends welcomed Merry Jones, an established novelist and writing teacher at Temple University. Merry has a master’s degree in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania and an impressive array of writing credentials from humor to non-fiction to mystery, including her latest release, Outside Eden.

Merry opened her discussion with a surprising fact: The average writer earns about $3,500 per year.

“So why do we write?” She asked the assembled writing group.

That’s a good question.

Merry informed the group that some people have a need to communicate. Writing is a communication process. “Writers are writers because they can’t help it. If we don’t write, we feel guilty.”

The process of writing is a lifestyle for the writer according to Merry. It’s a part of their personality, a basic fundamental aspect of their lives.

One of her grad school professors felt that creative people must create. If they didn’t, there would be physical symptoms to deal with. Merry finds she becomes grouchy and agitated if she doesn’t write regularly.

While some writers at the meeting agreed, some writers felt that they needed to wait for inspiration or a reason to write. This brought up a very real obstacle for many writers: incentive. With no agent, no book deal, why am I writing? Why write if I’m not getting paid to write. I should find a real job and make money.

Merry understood their quandary. She had it at the beginning of her career, too. She informed the group how the publishing field has changed since she wrote her first book, advances are much smaller, no paid tours by the publishing house. Editors don’t promote writers like they used to. They don’t help writers much.

“In publishing no one is your friend,” Merry said, “not your agent, not your publisher. Sales numbers are how you acquire your next book deal.”

Merry was cut by St. Martin’s Press because she was a midlister, as that publisher eliminated all midlisters at that time. Her agent cut her off too. She was lucky, though. Through some writing friends she acquired another agent about a year later, and because she continued to write, Merry had books to give her new agent. Small presses are a good alternative to the big publishing houses.

Writing groups are essential for both the budding writer as well as established writers. “All writers need writers to share experiences, energy, and the drive to continue writing.” Merry said.

And she’s correct.

Do people really decide to become writers or is it instinctive? What do you think? Why do you write?

About today's guest-blogger:

Victoria Marie Lees has been a member of the South Jersey Writers' Group for several years, maintains blogs at Adventures in Writing: One Woman's Journey, Parenting Special Needs Children, and Camping with Kids, and she can be found on Twitter.

Keith R.A. DeCandido at SJWG

"This crap is hard."

That’s the tough truth that guest speaker Keith R.A. DeCandido opened with at the October 2013 SJWG meeting - The Business of Writing and Publishing - in Bellmawr on Thursday night. Wearing an "ironic" black tee under a NY Yankees Hawaiian-inspired shirt, the Bronx-born author of more than fifty novels reiterated what we’ve heard many times at writing conferences and from people in the industry.

Writing? Getting published? Self-Publishing? Yeah, all difficult stuff, he said, requiring a lot of work and discipline. In 1999, only after he’d successfully published four novels, was he "allowed" to pitch his Star Trek tie-in novels to an interested party. He’s since fifteen Trek novels, not to mention a ton of short stories and comics and stuff, he told the large, appreciative crowd who came to listen and learn. Many new members - and some of the usual suspects - took notes and listened intently. He is what we aspire to be, after all: a successful author.

Still, he gets rejected all the time. "One acceptance is just that; one," he said. Getting published does not automatically open the door for your next one. No matter what success you’ve had, you still have to work your ass off. Being a freelance writer means you must constantly be thinking, keeping up with things, and understand tax structure!

"If you treat it like a hobby, that’s all it’s ever going to be. Want it as a profession? Treat it like a job." He still gets the same thrill, he said, after fifty novels as he did when he saw his name on the cover of his first book in 1996. Although he has gone the "small press route" a couple of times, he says that writers should try to sell to the New York houses because we have nothing to lose.

DeCandido, who’s also a member of the Liar’s Club, said self-publishing is not for him because he doesn’t have time to market and promote his books. "I’m too busy writing," he said.

"To self-publish, you have to become the sole proprietor of a small business; that’s a full-time job and you have to treat it like that. So many writers don’t realize that going in." If you do choose to self-publish, he added, take care with the cover.

"The truth is that everybody judges a book by its cover!" he said, suggesting that writers work with graphic artists. When asked how publishing contracts work, he said that they’re all different. "In fact, the answer to nearly every question about publishing is: it depends."

"If we knew what was gonna be successful, we’d all be much richer right now." DeCandido went on to say that it’s better to get rejected by someone who’s not enthused by your book than to be accepted by them. "Editors have to work for you, be seriously behind your book, get it in front of the publisher’s eye." The good news for us is that he said publishers look for new writers because we’re 'cheap' and 'get paid the smallest advances possible.'

Still. JK Rowling was once an unknown. The Help was only accepted after more than 100 submissions; now that was a relentless writer who believed in her story! Publishers will not, however, be interested in a book that’s already been published online or through self-publishing. But that is just one of many reasons your book may not make it to the show.

A publishing house may already have too many books like yours. Or, maybe they think their sales force won’t be able to sell it. Yes, it’s tough to write; it’s tough to market and promote yourself; it’s tough to get published. Still, we do it and hope for the best. His suggestions:

FINISH WHAT YOU START

"The ratio is like six-gazillion to one - novels started to novels finished. Don’t worry about going back to rewrite all the time; forge ahead and finish the damn thing. It’s like your mother told you: if you keep picking at it, it’ll never heal. Get to the end; fix chapter four later."

READ YOUR STUFF OUT LOUD

You’ll hear the repetitions, the word you used five times in the first two sentences.

FIND YOUR OWN PROCESS

"It’s up to you when and how you work. Make your work place free from distractions like the internet. I listen to music, some people like it silent. Whatever works for you is what’s right."

PROOFREAD

GET AN EDITOR

For more info on Keith DeCandido and for a list of his books, visit his website.

Also, DeCandido’s fiancée, Wrenn Simms, offered this: The L. Perkins Agency is apparently looking to publish ten erotic romance books per month for the next year. Manuscripts should be 125 pages and up, and she’s paying between $600 and $1,000 for each. So get your Shades of Grey on and get writing.

About today's guest blogger:
South Jersey Writers' Group member Patti O'Brien is an award-winning writer and editor extraordinaire. Be sure to check out her excellent editing service Editing Is Everything, Follow her on Twitter, find her on LinkedIn and Facebook, and read her always entertaining blog, A Broad Abroad.

An Interview with the Charismatic John Farquhar

                                                                      

                                                                   

Author John Farquhar is a member of the South Jersey Writers Group and one of the very talented writers in our anthology. His stories are so funny that I can see them winding up as a sitcom on T.V.
 

Story: Bad Day for Santa

 

Tell us a little about yourself?

My name is John Farquhar. I was born in England, of Irish parents, and my surname is Scottish in origin. It took me 10 years to learn how to spell my surname, but it has become much more mainstream since the advent of the great Lord Farquhart in Shrek 1, who is one of my heroes. I was educated at Liverpool University, and St. John’s College, Oxford. I teach languages and literature at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and Temple University in Philadelphia.

What got you interested in writing and when did you start?

My writing career began with stories published in student magazines in Oxford.

What type of stories do you enjoy writing?

Comic writing has always come most naturally to me. I enjoy making fun of myself, and adore making fun of others. The comedy is usually generous, unless I am in a particularly bad mood. I feel that comedy can and should raise issues about life, death, religion, and relationships. My aim is always how to achieve that without getting either stuffy or shallow.

Where do you get your inspiration for your stories?

I’m inspired by everyone I listen to. That’s all I do: listen to the conversation of others and make mental notes of their comic potential. This is not as creepy as it sounds- it’s what all writers do. Like many writers, I only join in life if I’m absolutely forced to.

Why did you pick this particular story for the anthology?

Bad Day for Santa: I’d like this to become part of the Christmas tradition. I think the spirit of Christmas has changed since A Christmas Carol, and I just wanted to reflect this.

What advice can you give to our readers who are interested in writing and getting their book published?

I am the last person in the world to give advice on how to get published. My first novel, written when I was a student, was acclaimed as ‘brilliant’, ‘highly original’, and ‘hugely talented’ by some leading publishers. None of them published it, as they felt the market would be too small. It remains unpublished, as do my other novels, though some short stories and a play had a little more joy. Again, like most writers, the pleasure comes from the creativity and, as Samuel Beckett says, leaving a stain on the silence. Sometimes I think my writing is wonderful; sometimes I find it valueless. This probably explains why I am not good at marketing.

Is it important for new writers to join a writer’s group and why?

Writing groups are wonderful, as you have a good chance of being understood there and it’s an ideal way to share your work and ‘market’ it before you take on the bad boys. I am very grateful to the South Jersey Writer’s Group for listening to me, and most of all, letting me listen to them. You wouldn’t believe the thousands of mental notes, I have taken, and stored away, for future use.

johnjfarquhar.wordpress.com/charles-chickens