I used a full outline from beginning to end for the book I just finished drafting. Here is how it went.

I finished drafting the final book in the Bound Trilogy this week! I am so excited about this book for a lot of reasons, but I did something different with my writing process that I’d like to share with you.

What’s this different thing? Well, I used an outline. 

I’ve mentioned before on this blog that I kind of consider myself to be an organized pantser. Meaning, I don’t typically use an outline, at least not one with many details in it. Instead, I typically jot out my big ideas for the story when I originally get them, and then I pretty much leave it at that. 

For a few of my books (Azure Light and Emerald Shadow, mostly) I’ve done a sort of reverse outline as I worked through the books to make sure I had a really good grasp on where the story has gone as I worked on it. 

I’ve even updated my very loose outlines with new ideas as I write. 

But I have never before written out a full, detailed outline of a book before starting the writing process before. 

So why did I do that this time? 

To be honest, Bound put me on the map. This book got me tons of new readers. It made up more than half of my total book sales this year and last, and the story itself has grown into something I never imagined myself capable of writing (at least capable of writing well). I have LOVED writing this trilogy, and I really wanted to be thorough, to do the book justice. I wanted to ensure I knew exactly where this book was going, so I could pay close attention to HOW it would get there every step of the way. 

Plus, I was so inspired for this story that I already knew what I wanted to write for the vast majority of the story. 

I also wanted to make sure I had an ending that would do the story justice and be satisfying for the readers. I think the ending I have written will do that. 

What concerns did I have when writing my outline?

Well, as I said, I’m not really a detailed plotter. Usually I feel like it’s a waste of time for my writing process, because I’m so driven to just write the story. I was concerned that it would slow me down. I was also concerned that the outline would feel restrictive. One reason I almost never outline the end of my story is because they are most often character driven, and the ending I usually picture is rarely the one I end up writing. I like to be surprised when it comes to discovering my story.

Did it slow me down? 
A little bit? I took longer to write this book than I had anticipated, but having this outline already planned out did allow me to write more words for the story each time I was able to sit down and write. 

Was it restrictive? 
Surprisingly not. I still was able to discover small details of the story as I went, and I was honestly so pumped about the direction I planned the story to go that I didn’t stray much from my original outline.

What were the problems that came up? 
I’ve mentioned many times in this blog that I like to leave myself notes. Even though I had everything outlined, I still ended up writing myself a ton of notes, either adding in what parts of the outline would come up next, or reflecting on what needed to be adjusted in what I just wrote, or for many of them, drafting a very loose scene so I could get to the next exciting part and leaving myself notes about what I should fix.

So… drafting felt messier than it usually does, and I have a lot of notes to address now before I can send it off to have it developmentally edited. 

All in all, I was surprised to find how easy it was to stick with this outline I made for myself, and I was so happy I had taken the time to really plot everything out. Doing so made room for me to deepen my scenes and make more first draft connections that I usually go back and add in during my rewrite. 

Will I use a detailed outline again?
​I think… for books that I have been thinking about a lot and have a good idea of where I want it to go (especially where I have a good idea of the ending I want and the emotional journey I want my character to take), yes. 

That’s it for today! I recently found a new podcast that I’ll link for you here. I’m not affiliated or sponsored by this podcast by any means, but I have loved listening to it and have gotten so much useful information from it. If you’re a writer looking to improve your processes, I’d definitely give it a listen. 


Fiction Writing Made Easy by Savannah Gilbo