Writing Without an Outline

Henderson's Tenants started out as a piece of "periscope writing": I had an idea for a novel about nanotech and wanted to see what Henderson's world might look like. (The title came straight from my subconscious, where my own tenants live what I suspect is a life of discreet debauchery that's much more fun than mine.)

So I had no outline, no synopsis. It was just "Guy develops nanobots that not only cure his cancer and other people's ailments, but transform them into something beyond superhuman...in the process getting rid of an obnoxious and oppressive government."

Now I'm just into the second 20,000 words of what will probably run to 80-90,000 words. Mike Henderson has overcome the first series of obstacles in his way, creating the code for his nanobots and getting hints of the tenants in his skull who are the code's real authors. He's about to build the nanobots (actually they get built on a printer) and to try them out on himself and his dying neighbour John.

By now, even without an outline, I can see where the story goes: two or three chapters about the immediate effects of being occupied by nanobots that replicate into the billions and grow themselves into his nervous system; then a series of major struggles: first, Mike's conscious mind has to regain some kind of control over the bots and their subconscious allies; the bots' experiments bring Mike close to death (and the same with John and Patty); Mike's Korean backers may be scared by the immediate effects; and the Homeland Security people, who've been watching from a distance, will decide to swoop in and intern everyone.

That should take me to 40-50,000 words. The rest of the novel will be the counterthrust of Mike and his people, all nanotech-transformed, against a society that regards them as highly contagious Walking Dead. The attempts to destroy them will fail, but they've got to come close to succeeding--even against the constantly increasing intellectual power of the human/bot combination.

I would still hesitate, though, to work out the scenes in any detail. This is going to be a case where my own tenants will have to tell me what happens next, and often that will be with no notice at all--Mike or John may walk into a room and the tenants will have to tell me what they find there, and what they should do about it.

They say Elmore Leonard writes all his novels like this, and keeps writing just to see what happens next. I envy him. It makes me nervous.

Comments

[Jennifer St. Clair]

I write all my novels like this as well! Sometimes I'm not sure what will happen on the next page. I think it's fun to write that way. :)

[Zarina Docken]

First of all, thank you for your kind words re: tossing my first manuscript.

I've written plays without an outline, but decided to "follow the rules" in writing my first novel (the rules dictated by the first novel-instruction book that I bought.) I followed that outline for my first draft and shredded it by the second. Now on my 6th draft, my plot has very little resemblance to that outline. Thank God.

[Lill]

I tried to write without an outline, but my first "novel" turned out to be about thirty pages long, and I had to spend many rewrites paying for my impetuousness. However, each to his own...

[glo]

Wonderful post! I do believe that doing an outline is not the best way to develop a story for every writer. In Natalie Goldberg's book, Wild Mind, there's a whole chapter devoted to how different people learn. Some learn by doing while others learn by instruction. Natalie took that principle and related it to the writing process. Some write their best when doing an outline while others do their best by letting the story develop as they write. One way isn't better than the other. Many stories have been written successfully with or without an outline. It really depends on the author and which way works best for them. The hard part might be knowing which is the best way for each individual writer.

For me, trying to do an outline does more harm than good. It took me a long time to figure that out. It's great to be able to witness an author's journey. Thanks for sharing.