How much outlining is needed?
I am working on a series of novels and it didn't take long into writing the first one that I realized the need to do some more outlining.
My question is how complete does my outline need to be before I start writing?
I've got my first two novels outlined pretty well and just rough outlines of the next 3. The first novel does have a few minor gaps in my outline but I'm wondering if I should deal with those when they come up in the writing or complete the outline before starting.
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What is needed is a definite story shape. Stories are not merely a sequence of incidents. There is a definite progression. The protagonist has a desire. That desire is frustrated. The protagonist act to achieve their desire and is rebuffed. They try again and are rebuffed again. Repeat as necessary until the protagonist comes to the final attempt which brings them to the limit of their ability and to a moral crisis. They then either succeed or fail. (This is based on Robert McKee's Story. There may be other ways of expressing story shape, or possibly other story shapes, but the point is, stories have a shape. At minimum, there is a challenge, a crisis, and a resolution.)
A story will meander if it does not have a good story shape. An outline will not help unless the outline expresses a story shape. I suspect that some writers start out with a strong sense of the story shape in their heads, while others perhaps just start with a character or a setting and set out to discover the challenge, the crisis, and the resolution. For some an outline may be a way of mapping story shape.
So, what role an outline may play, and how extensive it may need to be, and when it needs to be created, really depend on the role it plays in the author's quest to discover the shape of their story.
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There is no one answer to this because everyone writes differently. Some people have to outline every beat in every scene; some are complete pantsers. Every book is different too; some stories need a lot of outlining and some fall into place with broad strokes. Move forward, and if you're finding yourself bogged down or meandering, back up and try some outlining to see if it helps get you unstuck.
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