Outlining

[scarlettina]

So I'm wondering how people feel about outlining. I started this book by pantsing it (in other words, writing by the seat of my pants), trying to just write it as it came, and what ensued were structural issues, idiot plotting, and uneven characterization. I'm outlining now in a very abbreviated way, a way that Mark Teppo calls the Hardy Boys method: Select a number of chapters (he recommends 26, at 3-5K or so words, a modest, achievable length, at least initially), and then to name each chapter as the chapters in a Hardy Boys book were named, following the three-act structure as you go:
Tom goes fishing with Spotty.
Tom discovers a monster in the lake.
Lake monster eats Spotty.
Tom battles the lake monster.
And so on....

There's more to the technique than that; I'm truncating it here for simplicity's sake, but you get my point. (Teppo's a smart guy; this description doesn't do the technique real justice.) I'm finding this act of simple outlining kind of fascinating because I find myself wanting to do more, add sub-bullets and more detail, but needing to stay succinct so I can see the structure as I go and stay focused on the mission immediately at hand. Structure, somehow, has become very important to me. I suspect that once I have the 30,000-foot view of the story and structure, getting into sublevels will make more sense. Some of this, I suspect, has to do with what jaylake calls span of control, how much I can keep in my head and manage at a time. I wonder if I'm overthinking it. (It wouldn't be the first time. Or maybe this is the first time I'm thinking about this particular thing in this particular way and it feels big.)

So...thoughts? Who's a pantser and why? Who's an outliner and why? Thoughts on outlining generally?

Comments

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Most of my problems get solved by more plannng, at one level or another. Some problems get caused by too much planning: an outline that keeps branching out into subplots and sequels and prequels, instead of zooming in to actual usable scenes. But the solution to that, is usually to do more planning about the core scenes: timetable, which events need to be onstage, who all is present, PV character for each, main point or punchline, etc.

Then when I'm actually on the ground, so to speak, it all looks different than it did from the air; usually shorter and often better.

[steve98052.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling about planning turning into endless subplots and back-story. Although it's nice to avoid plot inconsistencies that result from too little planning (or ending up with 11000 words when aiming for a 6000 word limit), one has to strike a balance and not over-plan.