M/M romance author L.A. Witt has a great post today on how to write out of sequence.
I’ve been doing that for a decade or so. It helps shake up my staid writing routine. I have an excuse to jump back and forth in a story whenever I have an ‘Ah ha!’ moment.
But something L.A. wrote has deeper resonance, and I’d like to touch on it:
“If the characters and outlines disagree, the characters *always* win.”
Remember that. Print it up and put it above your writing space where you will see it every day you write. Learn to trust it, in modern character-driven fiction of all genres.
Newer writers hear many debates about plotting-by-the-seat-of-the-pants versus writing-to-strict-outline. It’s easy to get sucked into one camp or the other when you don’t know yet how you function as a writer. The messy truth is that many of us fall somewhere in between.
I have to use at least a base outline to guide my work, or I get bogged down in eternal worldbuilding. But I’ve learned over the years to give my characters goals, motivations, and conflicts*, turn them loose, and see how they respond. Most of the time they surprise me. Most of the time, the new character-based solution is stronger than my outlined idea.
The best fiction I’ve written to date happened when I let go of the outline, and ‘listened’ to my characters.
No, I don’t believe they are real, or that I’m somehow channeling independent entities. I know how my creativity works. Once I build in enough parameters, my characters and creations can be a little more predictable in how they respond to certain stresses. Which, paradoxically, opens up my plot to more interesting variations.
*GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict, by Debra Dixon. I’ve shilled this book before. I’m doing it again. since it is an incredible resource for those of us still flailing around to write strong characters.
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Author’s note added 4-17-2014: Charlie Jane Anders has a great site over on io9 just filled with equally valid and useful tips for writers, many centered on character.
I always write out of sequence. My drafts look like a crazy patchwork – a bit here that is complete, a bit there that is half-sketched out, another bit that is only a chunk of dialogue, yet another piece that is a series of notes about what happened at that point and why.
All the bits gradually move toward their own completeness, and the whole thing gradually moves toward overall completeness as I make the connections between the pieces. Yes, I usually have an overall sequence of events sketched out, but working stolidly through from start to finish doesn’t seem to work for me.
I write academic pieces like this too, and when I was writing for a magazine, I wrote wine and restaurant reports this way. I write songs like this. Must be the way my mind works.
I just ordered Debra Dixon’s book. Thanks for the tip.
I’m not sure I know how to write in sequence anymore. I can manage large blocks of sequential text, say 6K to 8K. But somewhere in that mess, I’ll think of something to add in another part of the story – and I’m always terrified the whole souffle will collapse if I don’t rush over and add that one bit while I remember it.