Are You An Outliner?

By Michael H. Thompson

I’m an Outliner. I prefer to know where my story is going before I write. Most writers are a combination of ‘Pantser’ and ‘Outliner.’ Neither, alone, is wrong.

Here’s a pic of how I used to do it.

I went to Home Depot and bought an 8 foot wide X 4 foot high acrylic board. I glued ACT ONE, ACT TWO, and ACT THREE in the middle, leaving room for Post-it notes. I also glued several arc points on the board approximately where they should fall in the story. For example, Opening Set Piece, Altered World, No Turning Back, Major Setback, All Is Lost … most all of the key points to hit at the right time. The board hangs on the wall in front of my writing table. Each Post-it note represents a scene. 

The problem with it? I had to walk over to the board every time a question popped in my mind concerning the sequence of scenes. What a pain.

Recently, I searched for easy to use computer software programs for my computer. I tried a few and settled on Scapple, shown below. (I realize you can’t read the words, but that’s not the point. The point is how easy it is to use.)

For ‘Outliners’ Scapple is ultra simple. Getting the hang of it took about 30 minutes. I can go anywhere on the Scapple board, click once, and a small writing box appears. The box can take as much copy as you want to insert. It expands automatically. I can even change the width of the box.

Font colors can be used to visually show scenes with various characters. The colors help me see the distance between character actions. Once a character is introduced, I can see the distance between that character and if too much time has elapsed before bringing that character back into the story. I simply click and move the scenes around with ease. Or cut and paste sections within the box.

I use these boxes as scene descriptions. I still follow the tried-and-true formula for storytelling— those key arcs necessary for writing a mystery, a suspense, a thriller, whatever.

Scapple could also be helpful for non-fiction. Scapple offers a one-time cost of $15. Southern Writers Magazine does not recommend any software programs and does not receive anything from Scapple. I'm just letting you the readers know what works well for me.  _________________________________________________________________ 

Michael Thompson was a successful ad agency owner and he and his company won numerous national and international awards. After selling his firm in 2011, Michael began writing, but what started out as a hobby, turned into a full fledge author, writing two graphic novels on the life of David from the Old Testament–DAVID–The Illustrated Novel. Volume 2-won first place Best Graphic Novel and Best Interior Design, 2012, from USA Book’s INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS. Volume 1 won 2^nd Best Graphic Novel of 2011 from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. His next project was a sci-fi thriller (JALA) that was serialized in a monthly magazine for an entire year. His novel The Parchman Preacher is available and he has finished the next book, The Parchman Redeemer. Michael writes Christian novels that entertain, intrigue, and shine a light on his Jesus. He’s a member of the ACFW, Mystery Writers of America, The International Crime Writers Association, and the Southern Writers Association. Visit his website, www.michaelthompsonauthor.com  to learn more about Michael.

Authors: Let’s not accessorize our nouns and objects. Okay?

By Michael Hicks Thompson

Do people talk like they read? I don’t think so. An interesting thing about us humans: when we talk, we tend to embellish our stories with adverbs … just to add more excitement.

Well, maybe you don’t, but the good storytellers do it! We all remember Mark Twain’s, “Why let facts get in the way of a good story.” While he was referring to the written word, I’d like to use it in context of verbal storytelling, if you don’t mind.  

Let’s say you’re an introvert, and don’t like to tell stories, but you like to write them. The premise is still true for you.

Yes, there’s a premise here: We don’t read like we talk.

And that premise leads to a principle: Don’t write like people talk, unless you’re writing dialogue. That’s where it counts to write like people talk.Here’s an example:

I was editing my sixth novel, when I came upon this sentence:

Still, that note in Andrew Dawkins’s clinched hand led to an investigation nobody ever expected.

I was reading aloud from the entire ms, to determine if the sound of each word matched my intent. I came to that sentence and, after vocalizing it, felt that I’d added an unnecessary word—the adverb, ever.

I had embellished a noun many readers would have taken offense at because of my unsubstantial opinion that nobody could have ever expected it. You see, the embellishment was merely my opinion. I dropped the adverb, and this is the result:

Still, that note in Andrew Dawkins’s clinched hand led to an investigation nobody expected.

Ahh, the difference is subtle, no? Only one word removed. But when I read the version with the adverb in it, I encountered an icky feeling in my gut that I (the author) can’t be trusted. “How could I know everything? How could I be certain that nobody ever expected it?”

Subconsciously, many readers will have the same reaction: Not sure I’d trust this author, they’ll think.

Here’s another example:

She was in deep denial.

The sentence actually comes from the same manuscript. After reading it aloud, I decided to drop the word, deep. It’s only important that my reader know she was in denial. My reader will not believe that I knew she was in deep denial. See the trust factor?

A reader who thinks, I can’t trust this author is likely also thinking, I’ll be closing this book. These are death words to an author.

Nobody likes death. So, let’s keep our readers away from embellishments. They need to trust us.

Ahh, but wait! Just as in life, there’s a season and a reason for everything, right? Here’s a noun in need of help:

I don’t ever want to interview her again, I thought, slipping into my car.

But this adverb, ever, is factual, not an opinion. The narrator of this story feels very strongly about not wanting to interview this woman again. That’s a fact, in the narrator’s mind. When it’s factual, it’s really not embellishment at all, is it? The sentence, without the adverb, would fall flat on its face, would it not?

Moral of this story? If readers don’t trust you, the author, they’ll drop you faster than a verb.

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Michael Hicks Thompson was a successful ad agency owner and he and his company won numerous national and international awards. After selling his firm in 2011, Michael began writing, but what started out as a hobby, turned into a full fledge author, writing two graphic novels on the life of David from the Old Testament–DAVID–The Illustrated Novel. Volume 2-won first place Best Graphic Novel and Best Interior Design, 2012, from USA Book’s INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS. Volume 1 won 2^nd Best Graphic Novel of 2011 from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. His next project was a sci-fi thriller (JALA) that was serialized in a monthly magazine for an entire year. His novel The Parchman Preacher is available and he has finished the next book, The Parchman Redeemer, and is waiting to be published. Michael writes Christian novels that entertain, intrigue, and shine a light on his Jesus. He’s a member of the ACFW, Mystery Writers of America, The International Crime Writers Association, and the Southern Writers Association. Visit his website, www.michaelthompsonauthor.com  to learn more about Michael.