Outlining a Story When the Original was Player Driven
Outlining has always been my key to writing any story. Usually, what would happen was I would get a general idea for a story, maybe a few characters, I’d write those things down in some kind of brainstorming web or diagram that we were taught in the 90s, and then get to work listing out the events I wanted to happen throughout the book. Maybe I’d even write an entire scene spawned by a single song’s inspiration (there is an entire book series that I started writing because I was reading Dresden while listening to Darude’s Sandstorm).
The thing is, with those stories, I’m completely in control of everything that needs to happen. I can create the highs and lows, the pacing, the story development, and even character relationships. With this series, however, I have very limited control. You may say to yourself “You’re the DM and the author! You have complete control!” If you’re thinking this, firstly, you’ve obviously never been a DM before, and secondly, stories are delicate ecosystems. Changing one little detail early on can have devastating effects on the story later. It’s a lot like laying tile, if something is a bit off on one side of the room, it's going to be really off by the end. Considering book two has only recently dropped this past week, there are almost 10 more written, and about 15 more currently planned… that’s a lot of messy tiles.
So writing these books becomes a delicate balancing act, like juggling chainsaws, you need to know where everything is otherwise something you don’t want to cut is going to have to be cut. There are three things that these outlines need to help me avoid, and thankfully, I have good friends with keen eyes to help me avoid them:
1. Plot holes: These are inevitable when it comes to small details, like the color of one character’s hair (which was thankfully caught before I had it wrong in the first published book, but it was really just wrong in a draft, so I didn’t need to fix it in each successive title going forward). Here, outlining helps me avoid having to summon the Great Wizard Retcon from the top of the mountain to give me a hand at fixing things, though with minor things I’m sure I’m in good company (The door was blue, damn the boy! - If you get this reference, we can be friends). So I can’t just outline the books themselves, just having the story beats doesn’t help me in the long run. I need to also have a character outline.
The way I do this is I try to find the first time I introduce a character, copy and paste that description into a separate document, and keep it as a file to support accuracy. Now, as the series progresses, characters will look a bit different as they develop, so the key part here is to make sure that I go back and update these from time to time… This is where the system usually falls apart and I need to search through the different books for descriptions. This is where Control-F really comes in handy.
2. Story Integrity: Unlike the plot holes, which you fine readers are more likely to notice than I myself would, being on the outside looking in, the integrity of the story I’m writing is a bit different. See, this is something you may never notice yourselves, in fact I doubt you ever could, unless the recordings of our sessions were to ever leak. My main goal is that I am part story teller but more of a story guide. My players are the ones telling the story, and to take what they’ve done in my game and to change it would be an offense to what they’ve produced through their choices and actions. I need to keep the integrity of what they’ve created while I create this version of it. The same mentality Henry Cavill has when it comes to the Witcher and Warhammer, essentially.
This is not to say that what you see is exactly what happened in the game. I’ve written before about how there are moments that are omitted (usually due to them being silliness that was meant to blow off steam or us just joking around at the table) and even changed completely. However, I rarely take it upon myself to change the choices the players made outside of making them flow better, adding context for readers that would only be clear at the table, or at player request. Sometimes, we as players make decisions we’re not proud of and want to retcon, or at least reframe. I, as a storyteller, am willing to change optics of events to avoid player discomfort, but I’m not willing to change things so drastically that the fallout of the action changes completely. This is something that my players understand and accept, so while I’m willing to tone down an action, the results will remain what they were.
3. Control: This is something that is a major flaw of mine. I’m a bit of a control freak. I think I know the best way to do things, or if I don’t, I need someone to tell me the best way to do something so I do it right. Because of this, I need to have a firm control over the story world that I’m working in. I need to know what’s going to happen, when, and who’s going to be narrating it. Originally, I started by rotating the narrator of the chapters like Animorph book titles: first this character, then this one, then this one, and repeat, like a batting line up. Problem is, I soon found that such a plan would put characters narrating events that they weren’t even present for, and I needed to change. The outline gives me confidence and control over how the story is presented.
Before I begin a new book, I’ll sit down with the printed copies of Nicole’s notes (this works so much better on paper, digital is just not the same). I’ll look at where the last book left off, and begin to locate major events that happened across the next five to ten sessions (usually ends up falling in the 5-7 range, but I do look ahead) trying to see where the best stopping point for this particular book will be. Then, I read through the sessions and section them off into what feel like relatively reasonable chapter chunks. Once the chunks are identified, I go in and label who would be the best person to narrate this particular part of the story. Sometimes this is easy: Luis is alone here, he’s the narrator. Sometimes it's a lot harder: Morgan would be best here, but she’d also be best for the next chapter… I don’t want the same characters back to back and both would make too long a chapter… who could fill in for one or the other?
All in all, your English teacher in high school was right: Outlines are the key to your writing success. And no, I’m not just saying that because I used to be one. Keeping the outline of characters, concepts, and events will keep the story on track, give you better control, avoid plot holes, and ensure that its integrity remains solid. When you’re writing a story while managing four or five other people who are invested in the story itself on such a deep level, keeping those things in order is definitely necessary.
