Novel remodeling: What a 1-month scene structures overhaul REALLY looks like
Myth: "Pantsers" can't outline without killing their love of the story.
Last month in my Tenacious Writing community, we had an event called #MakeProgressMay in which a bunch of members decided to set a goal of our choice to accomplish by the end of May, without attaching any shame or guilt to the process. It was also recommended to set minimum and maximum goals since life events out of our control can always happen, and this strategy helps to keep perfectionism in check. đ
Therefore, your brain canât say its favorite irrational perfectionist arguments like, âYou didnât hit this incredibly specific goal of editing 32 scenes this month, so you have FAILED if you only made it to 31 scenes!!â
Their goal-setting workshop is the best Iâve ever seen on this subject for writing advice. (They did a podcast about it, so if youâre interested, bookmark this Story Magic episode and go here next.)
I wanted to use this opportunity to push through a big step in my revisions process:
đčBuilding the dreaded đ±REVERSE OUTLINE (Scene by scene)
For a true âpantserâ or discovery writer like me, (who just makes the story up as I go along without worrying about what comes next) making an outline is typically death because, as Stephen King said:
"If I've written an outline, I feel like I've already written the book."
That means the excitement is gone. The joy of finding out what happens next vaporizes.
Outlining a story (for a pantser) often feels like all the secrets have been revealed, you already know everyone dies in the end, so youâre already bored when you start writing.
And if you try the brilliant technique of making a reverse outline (where you make scene cards about what you actually wrote after the first is done, all so that you can make big structural changes BEFORE doing a big rewrite second draft)⊠then it feels like the revision has also already been done in your head! So why bother doing it? The dopamine hit has already happened. You wonât get any rewards for the work of revisions for months or longer until all those changes have been made.
I tried doing the reverse outline twice on another novel several years ago.
I gave up both times.
It gave me the worst blocks, sent my mind into downward spirals, and made me hate my story because it felt like an unsalvageable fucking mess. It made me want to quit writing. I am not a fan of rules because they restrict my creative freedoms, and once thatâs gone, then I share the sentiments of many other âpantsersâ who start believing that:
Weâre just not meant to plot or outline, so fuck it.
Then they either:
Decide to hire editors and others to work it out for them to get around this
Or they publish unedited stuff just because they feel like it
Or they quit writing
However, I have this novel that Iâm serious about publishing well, and I honestly want it to be the best it can be. I saw that a reverse outline could help me because I had only made the loosest of outlines before drafting my book (the final first draft went DRASTICALLY off the rails in places).
So I went into #MakeProgressMay with hopes to really try thisâŠbut could I do it without hating my story afterward?