Comments on: Do You Outline Your Work?

By: Hope Wilbanks

Hope Wilbanks — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 23:48:55 +0000

I almost always outline first by hand in a notebook. It seems like when I do that, the writing always comes easier at the computer.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:26:00 +0000

I very rarely do outlines.

If I have a particularly complicated article to write then I may do a brief outline consisting mainly of headers, mostly just to determine a suitable order to follow.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:22:34 +0000

I have to have an outline before I start writing or I feel like I spend more time changing my mind about what I want to say than I actually spend saying it.

Sometimes, the outline is shorter and in my head, but the process is still the same. I just prefer to have a roadmap to structure my writing with.

By: devon ellington

devon ellington — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 20:29:36 +0000

Fiction — yes

Longer non-fiction articles, travel pieces, interviews, yest.

Short articles, web content — no. I can write the piece in the time it takes to write the outline.

Blog posts — I might make a list of topics if I’m on the road, but I don’t pre-blog. When I sit down to write, I write.

I “write in my head” quite a bit, but sometimes it’s detrimental to write it down before I’m ready to actually write it.

By: latoya

latoya — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 20:26:51 +0000

I usually think through a piece before writing it, so I guess I outline, just not on paper using bullet points or Roman numerals.

By: Paula

Paula — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:40:42 +0000

I have a friend who asserts that all planning, whether lists, keywords, a,b,c stuff, is outlining – just not the formal kind we learned in school.

Most of the writing I do is free flow, especially the blog posts. I want to just let the words go and then edit. Ditto with my fiction writing, although with both I generally have a beginning, middle, and end in mind. With nonfiction articles and my book, I generally have a loose outline or headings structure to what I am doing.

With a nonfiction proposal you are forced to do an extensive outline anyway and after I did that, I jotted down key words or phrases about ideas I wanted to cover in a chapter before I started writing just so my thinking process wasn’t cramped by structure.

ANd like many others here, I now do almost all of my organizing and composing on the computer. It took my husband years to convince me to stop writing everything longhand first and now I am hooked.

Good question, Deb!

By: Erik Hare

Erik Hare — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:22:11 +0000

I used to outline everything I wrote, but for shorter things like blog entries I just sit down and do it. The beauty of the outlining habit is that I think in outline form, meaning I can crank out stuff that’s well organized pretty quickly. Years of habit got me to the point where outlining can be done on the fly like this – but, oh yes, I still do a “virtual outline.”

Everyone should have this habit, IMHO. Especially if you want to write a novel someday.

By: Chryselle

Chryselle — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:12:45 +0000

I like to outline my articles, longhand, before I query. That way I have more information or at least a sense of direction, in case the editor asks for details.

Blog posts are spontaneous. I try to keep a calendar for my pro-blog, but other blog posts are not outlined.

By: Deb

Deb — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:50:13 +0000

@Saad – I forgot outlines because I didn’t list it on the outline.

By: Damaria Senne

Damaria Senne — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:47:53 +0000

I outline most of my articles. It helps me think the story through, and to visually see how the information is to be arranged, where each of my sources come into play etc. Some days I even number the main points in the outline. Once the outline is set out, I can let the words flow without worrying about logic/factual issues and that speeds up my writing process considerably. This is especially useful when I’m working on technical articles, or where I have more than 3 three sources.

I don’t outline my blog posts though.