Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 6 Issue 2 | Page 20

OUTLINES
MATT PALLAMARY

MATT PALLAMARY
AUTHOR, INSTRUCTOR

The very word brings fear and loathing to the hearts of the uninitiated because of
the negative conditioning forced on us by the academic establishment. Many
professionals swear against outlines, and insist on “winging it” without one, but
chances are they either have the ability to organize the information in their minds, or
they use what has been called a “cluster outline”, which is essentially a mass of ideas
circled and connected by lines.
Regardless of the philosophy,
outlines are useful organizational
tools that give coherence,
structure, and focus to your work,
providing a skeleton and a map
that are essential for a tight, well
constructed story.
An outline provides an
organized structure of your
thoughts that follow a set of rules
that define it as a story. If you do
not follow the rules, it will not be a
story.

LISTEN TO MATT on Blog Talk Radio

A word about rules—there are none.
Regardless of the philosophy, outlines are useful organizational tools that give
coherence, structure, and focus to your work, providing a skeleton and a map that are
essential for a tight, well constructed story.
A word about rules—there are none.
In the beginning it seems like all you hear about are rules. Point of view, tense,
scene setting, characterization, description, show don’t tell, etc., yet in essence, there
are no hard and fast rules. What there is, is technique, innovation, and above all
structure. Once you learn what are considered “rules”, you can transform rules into
tools and the more you utilize them, the more liberating they become. There is not
one single story telling problem that cannot be solved by being creative in your use of
proven fiction writing techniques.
The whole breadth, texture, and interweaving of the tapestry that ties a story
together makes it like a giant puzzle, except you get to craft your own pieces. This is
the part -- the big picture, where an outline can be invaluable.

MARCH - APRIL 2016

PAGE 10

WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE