On Writing: Outlining
Good writing is organized, and an indispensable tool for organizing our thoughts is an outline. An outline is a road map for our writing, allowing us to identify a logical order to present the points we wish to communicate.
As I noted in a previous essay, thoughts occur to us randomly. If we write in the order that those thoughts occur, the result will be disorganized and confusing. We need a process to organize our thoughts so they are coherent and understandable. Outlining is that process.
When we brainstorm, we rely on our subconscious to provide us with thoughts and ideas regarding our topic. When we outline, we use our conscious mind to evaluate and organize those thoughts and ideas. The outline will then provide us with orders to our subconscious when we write our draft.
To illustrate, the following is a partial outline for my novel All Men are Created Equal:
- Samuel sees Will playing and joins him
- Buck scolds Will, tells the master
- Father scolds Samuel
- Samuel finds Will and talk about chess
In this example, each bullet point identifies the major action in the chapter. As I write, each point becomes an order to my subconscious to provide me with the action and dialog necessary to develop the point.
As a general rule, the outline should not go into great detail. Too much detail will not serve as an effective order to the subconscious. When I outline a novel, I list the main action in each chapter as bullet points (as I did above). When I am writing the draft, each bullet point is an order to my subconscious to provide the action and dialog.
When writing shorter nonfiction pieces (less than 1,000 words) an outline consisting of bullet points is often sufficient. For longer pieces, which will have more points, the outline should usually have sub-points. As an example, the following is a partial outline for one chapter in my nonfiction book, The Affordable Housing Crisis:
- Highway policy has had a dramatic impact on affordable housing
- The Good Roads movement lobbied for better roads
- Highway policy gave birth to the suburbs
- The interstate highway system destroyed affordable housing
In this example, my main point is the impact that highway policy has had on housing. I have several subpoints I want to develop to explain how this has occurred. Again, each point serves as an order to my subconscious.
It is important to understand that your style of outlining is flexible. The purpose of the outline is to provide orders to our subconscious, and multiple styles will accomplish this. An effective style for one writer may not be effective for others. However, if we understand the purpose of the outline, we can develop a style that works for us.