Throwdown Showdown: Oscar the Outliner

Day two, peeps! And it's time for Oscar, our outliner/plotter, to take a stand and tell us why he thinks outlining is the only way to go.

Well, Hello. *deep, throaty laugh*

I'm Oscar, the know all and end all of outlines. You see, I've been outlining since I was a youngin'. Don't laugh. I'm serious. When I was two, I did an outline (in crayon, of course) of how to build the perfect stuffed animal. My design is still used to this day. Oh, and in case your wondering, I'm an engineer, therefore I know the proper way to build things.

Writing is simple really, like a math equation. It has a formula. EVERY genre has formula. And it is this formula that you must develop your story from.

I'll make a list for why you must have an outline for writing. Lists are good.

1. Outlines are the very foundation of your story. Would you build a house without a foundation? I didn't think so.

2. They are easy.

3. They help you keep track of characters/problems/faults/crimes/romances/peoples/places/things/issues/you name it.

4. They lead you from one scene the next. You'll never get stuck! (Which keeps writer's block at bay). If you know how the story is going to go, how can you get stuck?

5.. The foundation (outline) provides the beginning of the framework for you to build that story. Your framework (which is also part of your outline) is what makes the story hold up.

6. Now, once you've got those basics, then you go deeper, adding angles, curves, depth, power. You really dive into the bones of the story and the characters, knowing that with each additional thing you outline, you are making your story stronger.

7. In the end, you already know your story, your characters, how the road will look during the journey, all the splits in the road the characters will take. You know everything. There will be no surprises. There will be no mistakes because you already accounted for all of them and fixed all those nasty plot holes.

Now you just need to fill in between the lines and put that outline in novel form. Bam! Just like that. And you'll have your masterpiece straight from your formula, to your idea, to your outline, to your book.

So easy. So controlled. So perfect. You should never, ever do without an outline.

* * *

Uh, well...thanks Oscar! You really make a great case here! Check back on Friday and I will declare a winner. Who will it be? The panster...or the plotter?

~JD