Guest Post: Options to Outlining a Mystery (or any genre, for that matter) by C. Hope Clark

It has been almost four years since the last time C. Hope Clark was here with a guest post. Please welcome her back today as she explains that you do have some options regarding outlines. I have always resisted outlining thinking of it as that mandated hideous way of writing crammed down my throat in middle school and regurgitated several times a year through High School and College. Made me think about things a bit differently. Might strike a cord with you as well.

                                                

Options to Outlining a Mystery (or any genre, for that matter)

By C. Hope Clark

            Outlining dredges up a dry academic déjà vu for most. The formality of taking something creative and distilling it into a dry outline would make me hate the project in school. All those roman numerals, letters and numbers dissecting an idea apart.

            However, after publishing eight novels and two nonfiction books, I’ve reached a happy medium with the process, and can even give outlining a much stronger sense of credibility. Part of that acceptance came from the knowledge that forecasting your novel doesn’t necessarily mean all those numbers and letters.

Most writers have heard the argument of pantser versus outlining, but I argue that there are gradients that fall in between. It’s not an either-or choice. A full-blown, freestyle pantser is the opposite of a detailed outliner, each on the opposite ends of a spectrum. We can find all sorts of in-betweens to satisfy the type of novel prepper you are.

Journalistically

Before writing the novel, define what any journalist would for a story: who, what, when, where, why, and how. Make it one liners, paragraphs, or whole pages for each one. . . completely your option. Who are the players? What is their problem? What are their strengths? When did this story take place, and of course, where? Why is there a problem, and why does it matter that it’s solved? And then, how do they do it?

            The answers are the skeleton to your story and can be considered a rough outline. If you despise detailed outlines, you could take these answers and start writing.

           

Linearly

            Some writers, like me, function best linearly, starting from Chapter 1 and writing straight through to Chapter The End. You can outline the whole book from start to finish or write pantser-like the same way. However, for those of us who would rather be beaten than outline, but also don’t want to write ten chapters into a book and lose our way, there is a middle ground.

            That option is to outline three chapters, then stop and write them. Then stop and look around. Learn anything new in the experience? Did a character speak to you and suggest an angle you hadn’t pondered?

            Then outline three more chapters, sit back, and weigh where you are again. How do your characters like the direction? Three roughly outlined chapters might become two or five chapters, and in the writing you have a revelation about a unique direction without being too far committed.

The Juicy Parts First

            You know those parts. The climax. . . the second climax. The sex scene and the murder. The deceptions and the stings. When we find out who did it or learn who didn’t. Some authors write the ending first, then work backwards, needing to visualize what everybody becomes in order to understand how to write where they began.

You might be the type of writer who wants all the big juicy parts written first, laid out, so you can decide how they connect. Write the scenes on index cards and move them around, sorting, to make the story work best, or use a software program like Scrivener with its virtual index cards.

You’ll find as many ways to write a book as there are books to write. And outlines don’t have to be I, II, III and A, B, C. Try each method to see which one makes your adrenaline kick in or your creativity flow. The remarkable part of writing is that there is no right way other than the one that works for you.

C. Hope Clark ©2018

C. Hope Clark’s latest result of her linear outlining is Newberry Sin, her eighth mystery, released April 2018. The fourth in the Carolina Slade Mysteries, Newberry Sin is set in a beautiful South Carolina town, and digs into the secrets of its elder stallwark agrarian residents who appear to have been curiously compromised by a femme fatale to sell off land for fire-sale prices. At the urgings of a fearful lot of wives and a journalist turned DJ, investigator Carolina Slade delves into the mystery only for her curiosity to jeopardize her job, her friendships, her marriage proposal, and ultimately her life. C. Hope Clark’s books are well-loved, and she is a frequent presenter for Writer’s Digest, conferences, libraries, and book clubs. www.chopeclark.com