Should You Outline Your Book?

Should you outline your book? There’s an ongoing debate between the plotters—those who swear up and down that you NEED structure for your story before you start writing it—and the pansters, who write by the seat of their pants.

Pantsers rightly point out that extensive outlining can turn into a form of procrastination: endless character profiles, overblown worldbuilding, or fruitlessly searching for the perfect ending. In other words, the obsession of a perfectionist, and an excuse to do anything but actually write the book.

“Outlines are the last resource of bad fiction writers who wish to God they were writing masters’ theses.” —Stephen King

Plotters counter that outlines help you create the skeleton of your story, so you know roughly where it needs to go, which actually improves your writing flow.

“If you don’t have to think about what’s going to happen in your story, then you can just write and write and write,” say the folks at Novelize.

Yes, You Need an Outline 

“Your outline is not there to restrict you, but rather the opposite. A good outline will give you the nudge you need to get going with your story.” Great advice from the team at Novelize.

Great Stories Follow a Handful of Templates

Humans are hard-wired to respond to stories, and as Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and Kurt Vonnegut’s Shape of Stories tell us, all great stories follow one of several templates. These forms are universal across cultures and ages.

Outlining is Not Interior Design

Blogger Bella Pope points out that this will save you time, fill plot holes, sidestep continuity errors, help you avoid writer’s block, and better map out the story’s flow.

Want advanced tips for outlining your book? Our expert, author Barbara Radecki, will teach you how in our New Year, New Book program. Apply now!

About the Author

Michael Pietrzak is a freelance writer, founder of So You Want to Write?, and a Mindset & Habits Coach to entrepreneurs.

He has published dozens of articles in entrepreneur lifestyle magazine, SUCCESS (online & print), as well as men’s magazine, Pursuit.

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash