Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Amplifying Instructions on the EWW

Amplifying Instructions on Lesson 8 to the Exploratory Writing Workshop


To understand the outline you have to understand why and how you wrote vignettes 1-6. The first three provided an avenue into the beginning of your novel. The next three are an anchor for the three phases of the novel. Think of them as an implant the dentist will use, anchoring the bridges after all your teeth are extracted. No! this workshop is not about extractions, even if it felt like that at times.

The outline is the heart and soul of Operational Writing. For many aspiring writers learning how to do it is like groping around in the fog. After Lesson seven (7) you're ready to begin your outline. In school many of you were taught to write your outline before you began a longer and more complicated work, like a term paper or thesis. This approach was always totally impossible for me. "How can I write an outline," I lamented, "if I don't know what I'm going to be writing about?" Well, now you know what to write about and its time to don our operational Hat.

There is nothing sacred about starting out with a thirty chapter outline. It makes the math easy for the phases, ten, ten and ten. In phase 1 you've already sketched chapter 1,2 and 3. You also have vignettes 6, 16 and 26 anchored in each of the phases. This gives you a starting point for your outline. At each anchor point you can reach back into the unwritten chapters that proceed it and forward into the unwritten chapters extending into the next phase. This is a dicy part of the process and can be like sticking jelly to the wall. Still you have some idea now as to where to begin.

As you get the feel for doing it, it can become one of the most interesting aspects of writing a novel. You loose the hounds of your imagination and see where they head off to and start sniffing around. If you haven't already thought about the layers your novel will contain this is a good time.. If you're a "Pantzer," new to the idea of Operational Writing, this will be an exciting learning experience.

When you begin filling in the blank chapters in your outline the first thing that comes to mind is the basic thread of the story. This thread will be woven from beginning to end. By now you already have a general idea of what this will be. However, if you read many novels you'll note that there are often stories within the main story line that pop into the main thread and disappear as the main thread continues. These are called "Layers." They come and go teasing the reader, providing background, foreshadowing or a host of other insights for the reader. A layer can be about a major supporting character, or an event that is happening concurrently with the main story line and is limited only by the writer's imagination. As a learning vehicle in the Workshop we recommend four layers, however if you read Game of Thrones you will get an idea for the scope of what is possible.

So, you now have a general idea. You've identified four layers and have already plugged in sketches for six of the chapters. Chapter 1 you named Placid Waters, Chapter 2 Caught in the Current, Chapter 3 Unexpected Developments Chapter 6 The Yellow Brick Road, Chapter 16 OMG, Chapter 26. Awe. The reason for the canned names, which you will change when you write the first draft is to keep you focused on the process. Next you will focus on the primary layer of the novel or the main story line. A couple of chapters on either side of the anchor vignette is commonly devoted to moving along the thrust of the the main story line. For example, since the anchor of phase 1 is chapter 6, "Stupid." The name implies a crisis that the CC brings upon themselves as a result of their naivety or inexperience, Chapter 5 might be entitled " The Yellow Brick Road," which suggests events that led up to the first crisis and Chapter 8 might be titled "Anguish" suggesting that sorting out and dealing with the first crisis is a painful learning experience. As you can see the writer now has the Anchor named and sketched, and the chapter before and after named in a way that suggests the essence of what they'll contain. This leaves Chapter 4 to the left of the anchor yet to be named and Chapters 9-10 unnamed to the right. Normally Chapter 4 deals with the Life Changing Event and how the CC intends to deal with it, maybe some resolve girding, and perhaps a course of action to begin their new direction in life... This is part of the main story layer. So you title this one Chapter 4 " After Shock." As you look at this you think, hey! I really want to add a new layer and introduce it here. I have this enigmatic character named "Scaggy," and she is going to require some developmental space. Hmmm, how do I handle that? Duhhh, Do I make the chapter two parts.? I could but I really think Scraggy needs a chapter all her own. How do I deal with this?. Answer! Take one of the unnamed chapters at the end of Phase 1 and move it forward. So now you have an additional chapter lopped off the end and repositioned earlier in the phase. Instead of four empty chapters after the anchor vignette now there are only three. Hey! the chapters are starting to fill up. Now after a little switching and renumbering all you have remaining are Chapters 9 and 10. So what about chapter 9? Maybe here you decide to involve Scraggy more in the Action. So you name it Chapter 9 "Unexpected Friend." Here you bring Scraggy back and she touches down once more preparing to connect with the main thread of the story. By this time the obstacle has been faced and its time to bask in a feeling of accomplishment and transition into phase two, an even bigger obstacle. So you name Chapter 10, Kicking the Can...(down the road.)

Thus you now have Phase 1 roughed out conceptually, the chapters named as shown below.

Phase 1: Chapter sketches

Chapter 1: Placid Waters.
Chapter 2: Caught in the Current
Chapter 3: Game Changer
Chapter 4: After Shock
Chapter 5: Scraggy
Chapter 6: The Yellow Brick Road
Chapter 7: Stupid
Chapter 8: Anguish
Chapter 9: Unexpected Friend
Chapter 10: Kicking the Can.

Since many are scratching their heads as to the details of the Operational Writing Process I hope this helps.

percy bob