By Lori Domingo @LoriDomingo22
If someone had asked me that question a year ago, I would have proudly declared, “I’m a pantser. I never write from a plot outline. It’s too confining.” I had managed to complete one manuscript without it, and was hard-pressed when I was required to write one for one of my MA classes. It was something I’d never done. It was something I’d never given much thought to, so having to work my way through one was difficult to say the least.
I had learned about the Three Act structure in a script writing course and was excited to learn that it could also be used to construct a plot outline. At least I was starting with something I was familiar with. So, I begrudgingly drafted a plot outline for the completed manuscript I was working on for the program. I think it’s safe to say that my effort was half-hearted. Drafting a plot outline on an already completed manuscript seemed ridiculous to me, but I had to do it to meet the class requirement.
It wasn’t until I found myself jumping off the Romance genre mid-ship and landing on the deck of the Christian fiction genre that the importance of having (and working from) a well-thought-out plot outline became very clear to me. Yes – I still had to have one to meet the MFA program requirement, but it went deeper than that. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I was starting from ground zero. My manuscripts are typically inspired by a song I hear, so I had the flicker of the idea in place. I knew how I wanted the book to end based on the song lyrics, but I had no idea whatsoever how to get there.
And that’s when the plot outline became my best friend. I spent hours developing “Light of Grace.” I pulled out the one I’d been “forced” to do and followed that Three Act structure all the way from the Beginning/Set-up to the Wrap-Up. Doing so gave me the direction I so desperately needed to turn my idea into a full-fledged manuscript.
A plot outline can be your best friend when taking a manuscript from idea to completion! @loridomingo22 #writing #outlines #ACFWCommunity #christianfiction Click To TweetFast forward to today, and that part of writing “Light of Grace” is long behind me. I’ve moved into the revision phase and am entertaining thoughts of self-publishing. While I’m working on all of that, I’ve also started forming the idea for my next manuscript – and, while I’ve written a few pages of it, I have also begun the process of developing the plot outline to guide me.
Granted, I still fight the idea a bit. Guess that’s the Pantser that’s buried so deeply in me wanting to take over and “just write.” It’s a voice I that I try to silence as much as I can, however, because I’ve learned the hard way just why I should start with a plot outline of some kind.
That being said, I have no doubt that there are many successful writers who have never constructed a plot outline. I can’t even say that I believe one way of writing is better than the other really. What I can say is that, based on my own personal experience, I doubt I’ll ever start a project without first forming the plot outline to use as my guide. I’ve found it’s way too easy to wander off track without it. Yes, it requires a lot of extra work, but in my opinion, it’s worth it. At least for me, it certainly is!
Lori Domingo is a multiple award-winning Christian/Inspirational Fiction author, whose most recent devotional piece, “Seen,” received an Honorable Mention in the 91st Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition’s Inspirational Category. Lori earned my MFA in Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University in April, 2023. Lori currently resides in the Tampa, Florida area with her spunky eighty-four-year-old dad. Visit Lori at: https://loridomingo.com/ , on Twitter @loridomingo22 , or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/LoriADomingo