The Perils of Pre-Writing?
Many, many years ago, an English teacher tried to tell me that I had to write my story before I wrote my story. What’s more, she wanted me to apply this concept to research papers, essays and just about any bit of writing I was ever going to do. Clearly, I thought, she’s insane. Who writes their story before they write their story? It was such a waste of time to me because, back then, the time it took me to write an outline was usually longer than the time it took me to just write whatever I needed (or wanted) to write.
I have few talents, but one talent I definitely have is the ability to churn out a 20 page research paper in one night without an outline. Some would say I’m lying, but trust me – this ability is the only reason I graduated from high school and made my way through various writing intensive college classes. To say my “plunge right in’ technique (or lack thereof) is lazy is an understatement. It’s beyond lazy, it’s actually dangerous. It took me an embarrassingly long time and several “learn the hard way” lessons to drill into my head that pre-writing is NOT a waste of time.
The first time I ever tried to write anything longer than 20 pages, I choked… interestingly enough, right AT the 20 page mark. I put that project to the side and went on to another project. Again, I would hit right around the 20 page mark and completely stall out. This went on for a long time – at least 5 years – before someone directed me to a book (I don’t remember the someone and I don’t remember the book, which is unfortunate because I owe them a debt of gratitude) where the author laid out that if you skip the pre-writing, you are screwing yourself over.
In that author’s diatribe on the importance of pre-writing, I heard echoes of my poor English teacher from years before pleading with me to turn in an outline BEFORE I wrote my paper at least once before the end of the year. Seeing the plethora of half-started projects lying dormant on my hard drive, I decided that I had nothing to lose: I started an outline.
What I ended up discovering was that while I had huge bits of plot to un-cover, I had no idea how I was supposed to get from point A to point B. All I had was a loose collection of scenes and no real way to turn them into a cohesive story. Pre-writing helped me work out plot problems before I had invested hours of writing that would have to be scrapped due to the changes that would have to be made to fix the problem. It gave me a road map – if I know I have to go from A to B, I can make sure I’m heading in the direction of B while I’m writing A.
The original point of this post was: “Is there such a thing as TOO MUCH pre-writing?”
When I look over my notes, research and outlines (yes, there are multiple outlines), part of me does think that I’m stalling or finding an excuse to not actually get to the writing because I already know that I am uncomfortable writing this particular story. I feel even more anxious when I realize that I’m not even actually DONE with the prewriting. I have the large “Meta Outline” that covers the entire 3-part story done, and most of the “Act 1 Outline” … there are still 2 other outlines to complete, and each will probably clock in at around 10k words each (if I go the same route with them that I am going with Act 1).
For me, over 50k words of just prewriting seems like I’m over-doing it. Prior outlines for other projects were basically 2-3 pages of bullet points. Most of the points were not more than a few words here and there to spark my memory or to get me on the right track. There are even some single word points. I suppose that’s the major difference between those projects and this one: in contemporary fiction set in today’s world, it’s not really necessary to waste a lot of time on things like explaining how the universe works, or inventing words for things that don’t currently exist.
But after a discussion with a friend via Twitter, I’m beginning to realize that my “focusing so hard on the pre-writing as an excuse to not do any actual writing” fear was just that: fear. In fact, it could be said that it was me reverting back to my old habit of jumping straight into the writing without a game plan.
Of course this project has a lot of pre-writing. I’m inventing a universe! I’m inventing an entire institution with a long history and a large set of rules, customs, and regulations. I’m inventing characters that have been around for centuries who are interacting with and/or teaching characters that were born just a matter of decades ago. There are bits of world history and religious concepts to research, incorporate or invent. And, on top of all of that, it’s a 3 part series. Three whole novels based on these characters in this universe. I don’t need a road map – I need a freakin’ atlas.
If this was my regular, run of the mill, contemporary fiction novel, 50k words of just pre-writing would be excessive (to say the very least). However, in this case, I think my fears of procrastination are unfounded. If anything, I was probably getting a little cavalier about how much prep I had actually done. I can probably get away with starting Act 1 now, but I really would be better off outlining all three before I start just to make sure that if issues come up in Act 2 or 3, I can make changes to Act 1 with minimal fuss.
PS: Thank you, Brad for that dose of reality, I needed it. I was freaking myself out.
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