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I wasn’t implying a slight to people that use outlines or implying that it was less creative. I was just meaning that the story grows out of the character development, the underlying ‘world’ of the story and the events in the story until an outline emerges. I don’t know of any reason this couldn’t happen to someone developing an outline just as easily, that’s just a different way of doing it. If it works it can’t be wrong, can it?
I know writers that don’t write their outlines down, another that scribbles them on the back of a napkin (or whatever is handy.) Still another fellow that I know writes a 200 page outline for a 500 page novel, then fills in the details, following the outline quite rigidly. The end result in all these cases is good, so I certainly wouldn’t claim that one method is superior to or ‘more creative’ than another!
When we write for Foreworld we’re writing-for-hire, with a client that has a very specific way of doing things. We have to have a good written outline and for the most part stick to it because that’s what the customer wants- a story that is close to the pre-appproved outline. The client is on a schedule and doesn’t have time for ‘surprises.’ In some ways we enjoy this less than ‘winging it’ and just seeing what happens, but that is a personal preference, not an absolute statement that it is ‘The Right Way’ to do it.
Zette, your post made me realize we actually do use outlines when we’re not-writing-for-hire; we just don’t write them down and sometimes they don’t emerge until the story is well underway…
I’m blessed in that my coauthor sits across my desk from me at her computer. When I get stuck I tell her and we go over it and brainstorm a little to find a fresh approach or figure out what comes next. It’s brilliant and pretty much works every time.
