Why You Should Never, Ever Outline Your Novel

By Allison Grace

Are your characters out of control? Is your draft a dumpster fire? Have you given up hope of ever finishing a coherent story?

If that sounds like you, you’re in the right place. 

Face it. Life is busy. 

No one has time to create a fifty-page outline for their book. (If you do, please let us know. We would like to have that much time to waste.) 

But guess what, you don’t need an outline to write the perfect novel. You can just sit down, start writing, and wind up with a perfectly coherent book by the end of draft 1. 

Want to learn the secret? Let’s go!

Readers Hate Structure

A lot of people spend time writing outlines because they want their story to fit into classic structures. They think that every story ever written can fit into the Three Act Story Structure or the Hero’s Journey. And don’t even get them started on character arcs. 

But let me tell you a secret: Readers hate structure. 

Using an outline for your novel is just like writing a school paper. It sucks away all the creativity and magic. It reduces your story to a mere formula. 

Who wants their novel to read like a chemistry textbook? 

You see, even when you do a chemistry lab and your teachers are all “Oh boy, what do you think will happen if you mix X and Y?” you have to follow the rules. Each formula has a predictable outcome. And if you try to get creative and add your own spin on the experiment, you’ll probably get in pretty big trouble. 

The same goes for writing. Once you decide to follow a story structure, you’re trapped. You can’t do anything original. You’re stuck with the same stories that have been told a thousand times. 

It’s like carpentry. 

Everyone thinks a table has to have a top and four legs. 

B.O.R.I.N.G.

They say you have to carefully measure and cut the wood. They check and be sure they have all the supplies they need--plenty of wood, a drill, and a handful of screws. 

And no matter what color they paint it, a table is always a table. 

A structured story is always exactly the same as every other structured story. You want to write an adventure story? Here, follow the Hero’s Journey and wind up with a book that’s the same as every other adventure tale ever spun. 

Now you plot enthusiasts are probably saying, “Just think outside the box! You can write a unique and engaging story with an outline.” 

But who says we even need a box to start with? Why can’t we write stories with no beginnings, no climaxes, and no resolutions? Who gets to say that a table always has four legs and a story always has three acts? 

As you are writing your story, remember:

Speaking of rabbit trails, let’s take a quick look at plot twists, one of my favorite things of all time.

Readers Love Plot Twists

Nothing brings your story alive like plot twists. 

Everyone loves surprises. There’s no denying it. People love being pranked on April Fool’s. No one ever winds up in tears or anything like that. And if they do, they’ll eventually realize your genius, even if it takes a couple of years. 

If you’re writing along and realize that “Hey, I really shouldn’t have killed that side character in chapter three,” guess what? You can bring him back. And don’t worry about explaining how he’s still alive after he fell into a volcano, the reader will be so excited to see him alive that they’ll simply forget that plot hole. And if anyone ever asks how he survived, just say he faked his death. That trick always works. 

In the words of Ryan George: “Super easy, barely an inconvenience.” 

When you realize your romantic comedy would be better as a gritty war novel, you can just change it. Your reader won’t care about the dramatic genre swing. In fact, I can guarantee that they will tell all their friends about your book. They might even post about it on social media and write reviews on Amazon. 

And anything that gets people talking is good. 

The best plot twists surprise the author. If you have the big reveal planned from page one, it loses its magic. 

And the more unexpected, the better. 

Like when Emperor Palpatine showed up in Rise of Skywalker. That was a brilliant plot twist. No one ever saw it coming and even after rewatching the entire saga, the most avid fans can’t figure out what happened. 

Or when Captain America decided to go back in time and marry Peggy Carter. There’s nothing quite like making a fan-favorite do something extremely out of character. 

Be sure to add a heavy sprinkling of plot twists like these to your novel to keep your reader on their toes. 

Try:

The Actual Writing Process

Now that we’ve covered why you never, ever want to use an outline, let’s talk about the writing process. 

First, you’ll want to just sit down and start with whatever pops into your head. Just go for it. Nothing is out of bounds. 

(See, if you were plotting this novel, the first multiple steps would involve research, development, and lots of outlining. Just starting saves a HUGE amount of time.)

Second, repeat the first step until you have a finished draft. 

If you get stuck, just try to think of the most unpredictable thing that could happen and go with it. Remember, there are no rules when you have no outline. 

Try: 

Third, editing. Wait… how did this point get in here? If you write without an outline you don’t need to do any editing AT ALL. It will come out completely perfect on the first try. All you need to do is be sure all your commas are in the right place and you’re ready to publish. 

If anyone protests that it doesn’t make sense, sniff sophisticatedly and say something along the lines of, “It’s art, I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand.” 

Now you know why and how to write a novel without an outline. 

Remember that readers hate structure but love spontaneity. And when it feels hard to write with no end goal in mind, think of all the time you are saving by not outlining. 

Note: This is a satirical article (as you probably guessed). Nothing is meant to be taken seriously. I hope this gave you a laugh or at least a smile. 

As someone who has written two novels without outlining (and is currently pantsing a novella), skipping the outlining process doesn’t save much, if any, time. Because I don’t plan much of anything before I start writing, I have to figure it all out as I’m going/after the fact. When I’m done with my first draft, I have to reverse outline to make the story coherent.

But I’ve found there’s a little bit of magic in discovering the story as I write. Sometimes letting the characters take over is the best choice I could have made. They take me down better rabbit trails than I would have ever discovered mulling over an outline. 

So here’s to all the outliners, the pantsers, and everyone in between. Write your stories however you need to. But please, please, I beg you, don’t bring back long-dead characters to further the plot. (Unless of course, that character is Loki. Then by all means bring him back.)