Earlier this week, Elana Johnson wrote a post asking for input on outlining and in response to it, I thought I would share with you all my own outlining style.

Warning:  the following post gives a detailed look at the workings of the gabi brain and these methods may not be suitable for all writers.

The truth is, I’m a visual thinker not a verbal one, which is probably a bit strange for a writer.  In a former life, I was a product designer and a lot of my design training tends to inform my approach to writing.

I’m also a native New Yorker, born and raised and still living in the city.  My love for this city also informs my writing, despite the fact that I have yet to write anything that’s actually set in NYC.

My visual approach to writing has merged with my New York mindset and lately, I have found myself outlining in the form of subway maps.  The basic idea is that subway lines represent story threads and the “stops” on the subway line represent individual scenes.  In some outlines, I have several threads that intersect and come full circle (like the BAX outline above).  In other situations, I might have two separate lines that run parallel but come together in some key points (like my very early outline of my WIP).

In addition, I also make charts to go with my subway outlines, in which I detail what happens at each of the “stops.”  In particular, these charts include the following information about each scene:

• Characters
• Important Events
• Setting
• Purpose (or “Why am I writing this scene anyway?”)

I realize that the subway lines might make sense to me, but to other readers (like my critique group or a workshop) they just look like lines and dots.  This is why I make the charts, to help translate the insanity that is my outline method.  This method might not work for all people, but for me, it helps to think of writing a piece as being sort of like a journey.  It also helps me to think of each scene as one dot in a long list of dots, because writing a dot is easy.  Whenever I start to feel doubts, I try to remind myself that it’s just a stupid dot and I can write one dot.  That way, dot by dot and scene by scene, I get myself to write the book.

The way I see it, there are three basic types of writing books.  You have books on craft, books of writing exercises and prompts, and books about the writing life.  A well-balanced writing library should probably represent all three types.  Yet, not all writing books are created equal and as someone with limited shelf-space at my disposal, I’ve had to pick and choose which writing books I add to my collection.  That’s when I came up with this list of The Essentials.  If I had to pick only one or two books in each category, these are the books I would choose.

Craft

 If you must own only one book on the craft of fiction, I would recommend Gotham Writers’ Workshop Writing Fiction.  This book gives you the basics on character, plot, dialogue and description.  There are many books on craft that are similar, but I’m partial to this one because each chapter is written by a different author.  This means that as a reader you gain a variety of perspectives and approaches to writing, rather than just one author’s view.

Similarly, if poetry is your preference, the book on craft that I would  recommend is Kim Addonizio’s Ordinary Genius which I reviewed previously on this site.  This book explains the craft of poetry without losing the beauty of it as well.  In addition, the writing is so fluid and engaging that we don’t even realize we’re learning about craft.  This is the sort of book you could read cover-to-cover, like a novel.

Writing Exercises

There are lots of great books with writing exercises and prompts, some of which I’ve already reviewed on this blog.  I find, though that if I were forced to choose only one, it would be The 3am Epiphany by Brian Kiteley.  While there are many other books that offer interesting exercises, this one is my favorite because the prompts not only get you writing, but they force you to consider elements of craft as well.  In fact, you could learn as much about craft from this book as you would from the craft books listed above.  There is also a sequel to this book called The 4am Breakthrough, but considering that there are 201 exercises in The 3am Epiphany, I suspect this book alone could keep a writer busy for a very long time.

Writing Life

This category was the most difficult one for me to limit my choices, but I have managed to trim down my selections to two books.  The first, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, is one of my favorite books ever.  This book gives a warm and honest view of the writing life as experienced by Lamott.   

 
Writing down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg is my other favorite in this category.  Though a little more didactic than Bird by Bird at times, this book guides writers through all aspects of their writing life.  Topics range from writing in restaurants to writing marathons to fighting tofu.

In the end, The Essentials may vary from one writer to another.  If I had to limit my writing library to five books, these would be the ones I would choose.  What books do you consider your Essentials?

Last week I started writing about this idea of a DIY MFA.  As I gear up for my super-secret, super-exciting fall surprise, I wanted to talk about who would be the perfect candidate for the DIY MFA.

Qualities Necessary for the DIY MFA

• Be a Self-Starter:  To follow a plan like this on your own, you need to be the sort of writer who can motivate yourself and keep yourself going.  While it’s great to ruminate and let the muses work their magic, a DIY MFA doesn’t do itself.  You need to be good at pushing yourself because no one will be there to do it for you.
• Honor Self-Imposed Deadlines:  Nothing imposes a healthy dose of fear in a writer like a deadline.  Problem is, you won’t have class deadlines to motivate you so you need to be good at scaring yourself into getting the work done.  Self-imposed deadlines are very easy to ignore because no one is there to tell you your work is overdue.  You need to come up with ways of giving your self-imposed deadlines enough weight that you get the work done.
• Reach Out:  Writers need support from other writers.  Conferences and readings are great places to meet other aspiring writers, so don’t be afraid to approach other writers and speak to people.  If you’re shy about meeting people in person, start with reaching out to other writers via blogs, twitter or online writing networks.

Think you’ve got what it takes to do a DIY MFA?  In the fall we’ll be doing DIY MFA extravaganza with weekly themes, a twitter chat and a daily plan to help you set up your very own DIY MFA.  Stay tuned for more about the DIY MFA and in the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts below or tweet your comments using the #diymfa hashtag.

Back in 2008, my writing space was a sore subject for me, mostly because I didn’t have one.  Every time I wanted to write, I had to clear off the dining table, lug my laptop over there, collect any papers or materials I needed, and then settle myself down to write.  OK, so maybe it took only a few minutes to do all of that, but all that extra effort seemed like an enormous obstacle.

That was when I decided to create a special writing space for myself.  I converted my drafting table into a workspace and decorated it with all the mascots and creative thing-a-ma-jigs I felt were necessary.

A tour?  So glad you asked.  Hop in!  For your safety, please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times and lower the safety bar.  Oh, and no flash photography please.

First stop, the desk.  As you can see, the laptop gets the place of honor in the center and to the left and right are all my mascots and totems that keep me company while I write.  The lamp itself doesn’t work as a lamp anymore but it makes for a great spot to hang things (I’m a big fan of leis and mardi gras beads).  Perched on the topmost spot we have my CTU hat that I wear when I’m doing revision.  I pretend I’m Jack Bauer shooting down all the stupid ideas and cliche phrases in my writing.

I’d like to turn your attention to the handy-dandy hangy-thing on the wall.  This is where I keep lots some of the writing exercises or materials that don’t fit in the ORACLE (my box of writing magic tricks).  I also keep index card notes on my characters or the plot arc of the story.  (These date back to before I started using Scrivener and had to use real index cards.)

Finally, we have the magnet/bulletin board.  Right now there isn’t much on it, just a few images that stay there regardless of which project I’m working on (the purveyor-of-wool picture and the don’t-forget-to-write postcard.)  At certain points in my creative process this board becomes much more cluttered.

There you have it, my special writing space.  Do you have a special writing space of your own?  Please do share.  I love to hear about writers’ processes and writing habits.