Sat, May 19 2012
Outlining Workshop!
People can play in the Outlining Workshop, in the Missing ScenesWorkshop, neither, or both. I have made a due date of March 10th forMissing Scenes and March 15th for Outlining, so that we can staggerthe requirements a little.
Outlining Workshop:
An outline assumes that you have a vision of your story; if you don'thave a vision of your story, outlining forces you to consider whatyour vision is. Why do you want to write this story? Whatsignificant events (action, internal realization, smart-aleckremarks, gratuitous ouchies, crashingly horrible puns) are importantto you in writing this story?
Done well, an outline will allow you to identify weak areas in yourstructure, and clarify the motivations and development of yourcharacters; done poorly, it can become an exercise in time-wasting.Please don't ask me how I know that second thing.
Once completed, an outline can be used as a process document thatprovides guidance for the story as you write it, and a handy summaryof where the plot is going and why. You can also completely discardit and set about your story with gay abandon if you like! Thediscipline of making an outline is useful in making sure you havewhat you want in your story and that you can get what you want out ofyour story, but it doesn't need to be any more than that.
How detailed does an outline need to be?
Well, how detailed do you need it to be? The complexity of anoutline will depend on the complexity of your story and the claritywith which you see your characters and events in interaction.
Your Basic Outline: What Happens. Pro: It's quick. Con: It's sohigh-level that it may not be sufficient for you to really start work.
Your Expanded Outline: What happens, why it happens, how it happens,and how it affects the players (character growth and change, etc.)Pro: More thought, character development, more detail. Con: Morework.
Your Ultimate Outline: What happens, why it happens, how it happens,what the background is, which scenes will be written from whose pointof view . . . The most detailed outline I ever wrote had abackground document; a document with thumbnail sketches of thecharacters with their histories, physical descriptions, interactionswith other people in the story, and psychological growth or changeduring the story; a two-paragraph summary; a two-page summary; adetail outline, and a scene-by-scene outline. All of that, and threwout the outline before it was half-way through the story and went offon a tangent. Pro: Most detailed; good background. Con: Uses agreat deal of time and energy that you could be using to write yourstory; and it's probably going to be at least deviated from anyway(all outlines are subject to deviation and discarding). I wouldn'trecommend it, but it can be fun.
In all except short format, the story is almost certain to deviatefrom the outline in progress. This is not a bad thing. The outlineis a living document whose purpose is not so much to define the storywith absolute certitude as it is a tool to ensure that the desiredelements are in place and in balance with one another. In themonster outline referred to above, for instance, the story wassupposed to be about Character One, but he didn't even appear in theoutline -- even by reference -- until the second fifth of theaction. This identified an issue: Either the story wasn't reallyabout Character One at all, or else it needed a radically re-thoughtopening to refocus it on Character One.
Some (hopefully helpful) Examples
(1) Jules and Rebecca get married.
This "basic outline" isn't even really that. There's an obviousquestion -- why? How? What's going on here? It doesn't give youmuch to go on by way of starting, continuing, or ending your story,and there's no hint here about why you want to write this story.
(2) As a result of some specified event, Jules and Rebecca decide toget married; this resolves the UST in the show and lets Phileas geton with his life, for crying out loud.
Better -- we have an event and a decision. But this is still prettysketchy. What's the event, and why does it result in a decision toget married?
(3) On an adventure, Jules is badly injured rescuing Rebecca; butrejects her attempts to thank him. She realizes that Jules' love isdeep and true but -- even more important than that -- clear-eyed,contrary to her prior assumptions (her belief that Jules was merelyinfatuated with her). After dicsussion and negotiation, Jules andRebecca decide to marry; Phileas, delighted, can't wait to spoil thechildren.
Beginning to flesh out how and why, and contains the germs ofcharacter development -- i.e. a change in Rebecca's attitude in someway, her realization of an error in interpreting Jules' feelings forher.
(4) Jules Verne, in a desperate attempt to save Rebecca's life,succeeds in rescuing her only at considerable cost to himself.Feeling guilty (Jules wouldn't have done so foolhardy a thing if hehadn't been blinded by an adolescent crush) Rebecca nurses Jules inhis recovery; however, he doesn't react to her tenderness quite asshe expected. She realizes that his act of daring was one of genuinebravery, motivated by something more complex than the sort of quietlydesperate devotion she has been accustomed to receiving from hercousin Phileas. Her realization enables her to see Jules in acompletely different light. Jules notices the change in Rebecca butdoes not know how to interpret it; Passepartout, consulted, isequally at a loss, but Phileas congratulates Jules on having gottenRebecca's attention -- something he, himself, has been unable to do,for all these years. In a discussion with Rebecca, Jules finds shehas made a decision to leave the British Secret Service becasue shecan no longer pretend that her life is her own business and nobodyelse's; Jules assumes this is with respect to Phileas, Rebeccaadmits "actually, I had someone else in mind," and confesses herhorror at seeing Jules badly injured on her account. It's just notfun any more. Jules may point out that everywhere she goes she'llexcite the same kind of devotion; she may disagree -- she's never meta man whose regard was as genuine and meaningful as his, Jules'.These parameters established, the conversation continues to a logicalconclusion. Rebecca breaks the news to Phileas and finds himdelighted; Passepartout can't wait to help plan the wedding. Julesisn't quite convinced by Phileas' show of good-will until Phileaspoints out that he wasn't getting anywhere with Rebecca, he's veryfond of Jules, the additional brains can't help but improve the Foggbloodline, and since Jules is right and Phileas does love Rebecca hewants to see her happy and believes that Jules may be the only manwho could give her happiness, though he anticipates more than onerocky period in the future relationship. The last obstacle to thematch thus removed, Jules pledges to Rebecca with a whole heart (andthey live happily ever after . . .)
Here we can see the beginnings of a plot structure that explains whythings are happening and how people feel about them, although thereare a lot of unanswered questions and issues that will have to beexplored and motivated -- how convincing the writer feels thatPhileas' behavior is, etc. From this level of outline a person couldvery well go off and write; however, some significant elements arestill undefined (where/how does Jules talk to Passepartout and/orPhileas, etc.) which could tip a person up with the dreaded I-can't-believe-I-forgot-to-think-about-that experience.
The next level of outline requires decisions, but once it's completed(either internally as a thought process, or on paper) the draft ofthe story is laid out in outline and the writer is ready to rock androll:
(5) pretty darn complete version of an outline example
(a) Jules is injured
Scene: Rebecca is in jeopardy; Jules sees a desperate chance to saveher, and takes it. He achieves his goal but is injured. (Where arePhileas, Passepartout? What are the plot mechanics of thejeopardy/rescue? What's the nature of the injury, needs to besomething recoverable in 1860, etc. . . .) Jules' POV, or splitJules' and Rebecca's POV. Note: Depending on how you write yourstory this scene doesn't even really need to be in the story at all;the story's about changing feelings/attitudes, not about the eventthat precipitates the changes. Necessarily.
(b) Rebecca, feeling guilty, nurses him; but his reactions are notquite as expected
Scene: Rebecca helping Jules into, or out of, bed/his nightshirt/hisinvalid chair/something; discuss progress. Rebecca's POV as shesenses a difference between Jules' rather resigned attitude and onemore focussed on her. Jules is okay with having help but is quitesure that Rebecca will just be out doing the same things again verysoon; she is sorry he was injured, fine, but it's not going to stopher from endangering herself, she either hasn't ever thought itthrough that far or -- more likely -- doesn't care.
Scene: To demonstrate Rebecca's thought processes -- non-Rebecca POVas she talks to Phileas or Passepartout about Jules' progress. POVcharacter sees wheels turning in Rebecca's head and hears her re-evaluating the nature of her relationship with Jules, her assessmentof Jules' feelings about her.
Scene: Jules' POV, with Rebecca, her attitude is very much subdued,she's thinking about something apparently very unusual and/ordifficult; Jules is confused, and wishes he could help her throughwhatever it is. If she'd only just give him the chance to be hersounding-board, not as if he could ever protect her or etc. but hecould offer her companionship that from time to time he almostimagines she really appreciates, except of course that there'd beFogg to deal with. Though Jules is as friendly and gentle withRebecca as he can be -- letting his affection for her show -- sheleaves the area clearly upset, leaving Jules to wonder what is goingon.
(c) Rebecca makes her decision(s), and wonders how to communicatethem
. . . etc.
At this level the outline has got structure, motivation, may containbits of dialogue or description, and provides the writer with promptsabout how she could get from point "a" to point "b". She may discardany or all of it, but she'll have the issues (relationships, howdelicate issues might surface in conversation, what it is that Julesoffers Rebecca that she really can't get anywhere else, what it isthat convinces Jules that she sees him as a man rather than a babybrother, etc) in her mind. One way or the other, the story isprobably going to be richer -- deeper -- meatier -- juicier than ifit had been written without an outline, whether she uses the outlineor not!
We have episodes of The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne to draw on,and the scientific pull-the-ticket-out-of-the-hat selection methodidentified the episode "The Cardinal's Revenge" as the one to use forour missing scenes exercise. Episodes of SAJV are unlike fan-storiesin that while they have a beginning, a middle, and an end, withconflict and conflict resolution, they do not usually containsignificant character development due to the lack of control thecreative team had over the order in which the episodes were to beshown; this makes it easier to outline, if less satisfactory/moredifficult to pick one plot-line to concentrate on.
For our outline exercise . . . outline either the main action of The Cardinal's Revenge, or the Cavoir conflict-and-finale plot arc. Youcan if you like select one of the many plot threads to concentrateon; you can if you like make the story a Jules story or a Rebeccastory or a Phileas story or a Passepartout story or etc. Do not goso far as the last example unless you really want to! I have in mindthe level of detail of the second-to-last example, above.
Pretend that you are going to write The Cardinal's Revenge. Decidewhat the story would look like if you wrote it; describe what thatwould be in a short blurb -- "In an alternate reality Rebecca Foggfights for her life against the evil Cardinal Richelieu -- a beardeddouble of her cousin Phileas," for example -- and make up a shortoutline that lists the scenes you would want to write and what wouldhappen in each scene (short notes only!).
Send me your outline by the Ides of March (that's the 15th). On the20th, I will post all of our outlines, and we will have a look at ourdifferent approaches to outlining more-or-less the same material!
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