The writing process fascinates me. I have read books, articles, and essays on how writers approach their craft and how they write their novels. I have also listened to hours of successful writers being interviewed as they discuss their writing process. And here’s an important tidbit, no matter how you shake it, writing a novel is always a process. Now, every writer is going to work a little different and if you are a writer or you aspire to be, you’ll need to find the method that works for you.
While researching the method of different writers I came across a Master Class1 by David Baldacci. David Baldacci is one of the most successful writers in the world. He has published 46 novels and has sold over 100 million books. He’s an ex-lawyer who worked in D.C. for years and went home to write novels at night. (I’m a fan of his Will Robie Series which is about—you guessed it—Will Robie, a C.I.A hitman with a conscious who puts his life on the line for his country.)
How does Baldacci write such compelling fiction? Well, he usually starts by hand to get his creative juices flowing but like most writers—he thinks of a situation or character and asks himself the fiction-writers-best-friend question:
What if?
The way David Baldacci explained his writing process stood out to me because his approach makes so much sense. He doesn’t B.S. you and explains what he does so you can do it too. Too many new fiction writers focus on the dreaded decision…to outline or not to outline? David Baldacci explained a ‘hybrid method’ that I found myself applying to my first novel, The Checkered Butterfly even before I knew what it was.
So, when he explained it I knew I had stumbled onto something good.
When I was writing The Checkered Butterfly I had about 500 pages of fiction. I wrote this novel over a period of years, just winging it, with no outline or direction. I sort of knew what was happening but when I was done, it was hard to go back and make corrections because I didn’t have control of the novel. There was simply too much information to organize inside of my head. I thought this was how the pros did it and boy was I wrong. Even successful writers who make it a point to speak badly about outlines like Stephen King use some form of documentation to keep things in order.
Stephen King2 has even shown himself holding a sheet of paper with a character names list and notes for different characters or places. As a King fan myself, and after reading his famous On Writing book, I thought such things were blasphemy and would lead to stale or non-compelling stories. Do it like King, I told myself. Now I tell myself, do it like Baldacci.
When I had 500 pages of my first novel in hand, I didn’t know what happened where. I had repeated chapters, characters showing up before they were introduced, and characters being sentenced to prison after they were already dead. Ooops. How did I fix it? I had to do a retroactive outline. This is a fancy way of saying I had to re-read the novel and create an outline for each individual chapter. This was the only way I could start to organize the information so I could see what was happening in the story.
This created a framework or how I like to think of it—a skeleton of the novel. David Baldacci does the same thing with his stories. He creates bullet point mini outlines for each chapter as he is writing. This helps to see where your story is going. When you are on Chapter 22. You can look back and start to see the form or trajectory your story is taking. The best part of this method is that you can create a mini outline in bullet point format of what comes next. And this will give you momentum to push on or shall I say, write on.
Here’s an example:
Premise: Lawyer gets caught up in a murder involving his estranged best friend.
Chapter 1:
• Introduce main character ‘Mr. Harry Snow’
• Mr. Snow is a criminal defense attorney.
• Mr. Snow in his kitchen pouring himself whiskey.
• Mr. snow hears shots and ducks down as bullet holes start going through his walls and windows in a drive by shooting.
• He realizes someone tried to kill him.
Now you can create the mini outline first and you’ll find it’s much easier to find the words. Or you can imagine the scene in your head, write it, and then go back and create the mini outline to keep track of what’s happening in your story. There is no wrong way but Baldacci usually writes first and keeps track as he goes, which is what I do now, and it works miracles. Going back to create the retroactive outline for The Checkered Butterfly was a pain in the ass. Imagine the time I would’ve saved had I kept track as I wrote chapter by chapter? Think of all the errors that could’ve been avoided.
The skeleton allows you to see the endless possibilities of where your story could go. It also helps you connect the dots.
Here’s an example of Chapter 2 mini outline:
• Mr. Snow realizes he’s been shot in the arm.
• Mr. Snow calls 911.
• He’s transported to the hospital.
• He gets a call from his best friend from high school who he hasn’t talked to in years.
• His friend tells him someone might try to kill him.
• Too late, Harry thinks, what the hell is going on? What has his friend gotten him into?
These random ideas compound when you ask yourself the magic question. What if? What if this happened? What if that happened? What happens next? The story starts to take form. All you have to do is use the David Baldacci Hybrid Outline method to keep track. These bullet points are like rebars for building houses or structures. It will keep your foundation strong and when you do get to page 500 you can look back and see what has happened in your story and how it could end.
Dennis Lehane3 found himself in a similar situation when he wrote Mystic River. He had written about 300 pages but he didn’t know what was happening in his story or how it would end. What did he do? He created a retroactive outline and then outlined the rest of the book once he knew how it should end. The bullet points let you tie the information together. It’s wonderful writing approach and one I vouch for since I used it myself to finish my first novel.
What makes a successful fiction writer? David Baldacci says it’s consistency. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ David Baldacci says if you want to be a successful writer you can’t be ‘out of sight out of mind.’ Writers need to be deliver a book a year. He says readers will forget your name unless it’s on the shelf.
During his Master Class he never ‘named’ his method. But I call his approach to writing a ‘hybrid outline method’ because David Baldacci doesn’t outline his books in the traditional sense of what an outline is. Writers who outline, outline. That means they go chapter by chapter introducing characters, planning conflict, emotions, conversations until they have a plotted out the entire book, including the ending. And there is nothing wrong with doing that if that’s your cup of tea.
For me, that approach brings back unfond memories of school and takes the fun out of writing. There are many successful writers who outline their books in their entirety and many successful writers who don’t. There is no wrong or right way to approach it, it’s going to depend on how you feel as a writer. And what makes you put down word after word. Push on. Write on.
And believe me, I wasted an inordinate amount of time deciding which method to use. Should I be an outliner? Or a Pantser? What will my fans say? Here’s the truth.
Nobody cares.
Readers only care about the story. They care about being entertained. You should decide to outline if that approach works for you and the only way to know is to try it. And likewise, for not outlining. What I like about David Baldacci’s hybrid outline method is that it’s the best of both worlds. It’s a little bit of both with the flexibility to change things. Because things always change, even for writers who plot out their entire books.
Try the K.I.S.S. method (Keep it Simple Stupid), write the first scene and then decide what should happen next inside your mind. If you have time to write that scene, then by God write it. More words never hurt but if you don’t have time or you get ‘stuck’ then decide what you think might happen using the fictional-writers-best-friend question: “What if?” Try difference scenes. Not sure which scene is the right one? No problem! Pick one.
If it’s the wrong direction, you’ll know it. Go back and change it. Adjust your mini outline. Keep writing. Keep plugging. Keep having fun. That’s the whole point.
Isn’t it?
Push on.
Write on.
The skeleton will be there at the end.
And maybe, your novel will come to life.
FOOTNOTES:
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