How to Write a Novel: After the Outline

I finished the outline for my new project!

If you’ve been following along with my “How to Write a Novel” posts, you’ll know it’s taken me about three months to get to this point, and lots of Plotting. I began with building my structure and filling in my workbook, moved on to mapping my notecards, and finally, onto writing the outline itself. But it wasn’t a straight transcription. Each step allowed me to discover another layer of my characters and plot to build my story.  

So, what changed from the idea to the workbook to the outline? 

My working title.

The name of one of my central locations. 

The portrayal of a second location. 

Names. I named some characters that had placeholders like “friend” and changed the name of one of my main characters to better suit the time period. I changed the names of three other supporting characters. I named the city the story takes place in.  

But the biggest change was that I added five scenes that weren’t in the workbook or the notecards. As I outlined, I discovered that there were gaps in my plot or character development that I needed to fill, gaps I didn’t realize I had until I got to them. Notably, all but one of these additions came after the midpoint, and the change that came earlier was still about 40% through my plotting. I had a solid idea of how to start my story, but as I added layers to my plot, some things had to be adjusted or added to keep building the story at a good pace.  

I want to point all of this out because I think there is a perception that Plotters have their entire plot figured out from the beginning, when in truth plotting is just a different kind of discovery process. My workbook, notecards, and detailed outline (approximately 23,000 words for 62 chapters) aren’t so far removed from a Pantser’s zero draft. 

So, what do you do now that you have this shiny new outline? You write. 

I think a trap that new writers especially can fall into is getting stuck in the planning stages of a novel. It’s understandable, especially if you’ve never written before. You’ve probably poured hours of your time into this idea, not to mention your heart. You want to do it right. You want to succeed. But part of you also knows if you don’t try this brand new thing, then you can’t fail at it either. At a certain point, planning can give the illusion of progress without actually making any. 

So if you’ve gotten this far, the only thing left for you to do is take that next step forward. For most, it’s to start that first draft. For some, like me, it’s sending your outline to outside eyes for approval and feedback, like an agent or an editor. But whatever it is, if you’ve got your story outlined, it’s time to move forward. (To be honest, this is as much a pep talk for me as it is for any other writers out there who may be reading this). 

You’ve done the work. Now, it’s time to take the leap.