167
An outline is simply the organizing of your imagina-
tion. You have to do that at some point. NOPs usually do
it at the end of a draft. OPs do it fi rst.
NOPs usually have more heavy rewriting and ed-
iting to do with their drafts, but like the spontaneity.
OPs put that time in up front, and are spontaneous with
their outlining. They will tell you, too, that it’s easier to
change an outline than a full novel.
I always outline my fi rst act extensively, then keep
track of “signpost scenes,” scenes I know I need to have at
some point. In the early days, I used index cards, a prod-
uct of my screenwriting training. There are now software
programs that do pretty much the same thing.
The only advice I can give here is that you try things
out. If you’ve never liked outlining, why not invest a
couple of weeks and try to whip one up? Even if it drives
you batty, you’ll learn a lot about the story bubbling in-
side you.
And you outliners, if during the writing a character
refuses to obey you, let him have a few minutes to explain
himself. Be prepared to tweak your outline as needed.
Any novel, if it is to live, has to be able to breathe a lit-
tle. “Slowly, slowly, I am learning to listen to the book, in
the same way I try to listen in prayer,” Madeleine L’Engle
once wrote. “If the book tells me to do something com-
pletely unexpected, I heed it; the book is usually right.”
Z4273i_160-183.indd 167Z4273i_160-183.indd 167 9/24/09 11:21:13 AM9/24/09 11:21:13 AM