For anyone who doesn’t know, Michael Scofield is the mastermind behind the escape in the t.v. series, Prison Break. The show had its moments (some brilliant dialogue and edge-of-the-seat action) but what captivated me most was Scofield’s wall.
Come on, novelists. Don’t you totally covet that wall? That is the wall of a planner. I want that wall for the novel I’m working on. Sticky notes and photographs and articles and blueprints – Scofield had the escape planned to the second. And like most plans, it didn’t always work out the way he’d expected, and he’d have to go back and try something else (sort of like throwing away fifty pages of work you love because you’ve suddenly realized they serve no purpose other than being loved by you).
I’ve been coveting this wall for so long that finally, this week, I made my beginning. I’ve put up some cork (since Scofield never had to worry about patching the holes in his wall), added photographs of the way I imagine my characters to look, index cards that plot the novel out chapter by chapter, a list of the books I need to read. My wall has not yet reached Scofield proportions (it’s actually pretty sad by comparison) but it’s coming along.
I’ve noticed a couple of things about outlining so far. One, you have to be willing to be flexible. Sometimes what you thought would work, just…doesn’t. Sometimes in writing the actual story you find a way that’s better than how you’d planned it. Sometimes you get those middle of the night anxiety pangs when you realize one major part of the plot is implausible, or worse – stupid. Down come the index cards. You work it out. New ones go up a few days later.
I’ve learned how hard it is to boil your Big Idea down to a couple of paragraphs – or even worse, one line. I’ve learned that if you can’t do these things, your novel has a problem. It might lack focus or be unnecessarily complex. You might not truly know what it’s about yet or what your protagonist truly wants. Kurt Vonnegut famously advised, “Every character should want something, even if it’s only a glass of water.” An outline forces you to find your character’s glass of water (or whatever it is that you’ve created them to want).
I love this process. Never again would I contemplate writing a novel without making this sort of plan. Next up: Scofield’s tattoo (just kidding).
Hi Michelle — I love your posts! so glad you announce them on Facebook.
I’m not ENTIRELY convinced about outlines, or at least I’ve never managed to follow that process successfully — but on the other hand my last novel took me ten years to write and in the process I had to kill of a major character — I mean excise her — altogether!
I also have a wall. It’s a laugh. Maybe I’ll send you a pick.
Cheers, B.
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I hung a white board yesterday to help me keep track of places and characters in the YA novel I’m writing. I also use index cards on Scrivener. It’s difficult when world building to keep track of everything, even when you’ve made it up yourself. The white board is on the wall to my left in front of me when I’m at my computer. Behind me are magnetic boards. Still, none of it looks as cool as Scofield’s wall. Too bad I don’t have a team of artists! Maybe I’ll have to get the tattoo 😉
My last novel took ten years too. At one point I had to kill my narrator and come up with an entirely new one, to say nothing of a new plot. Would an outline have prevented this? Hard to say. There is something to be said for hammering out a story by writing it – but I’m convinced it would have shaved off at least a couple of years. At least I hope so!
White board is a great idea! World building is hard to keep straight, I agree. As for Scrivener (sigh) you already know the struggles I’ve had with it. One of these days I’ll figure it out.