So what if I DON'T outline?

When I was little, I decided there were two kinds of people: Chocolate Chip Cookie lovers and Oatmeal Raisin Cookie lovers. Just so you know, I'm firmly in the first group. I find the idea of fruit (dried or not) in cookies to be a little too nutritious (not to mention repulsive and squooshy).

And, since I started writing, I've learned there are two kinds of writers: The Outliners and the Non-Outliners. Most of the Outliners I know are extremely good at what they do - they take a week or so to write a rough outline and then they write the book. But I have met people who spend months - if not years - crafting the perfect, ironclad plot for their novel. They've done research, they've done character sketches, they've written languages for the novel.

The only thing they haven't written? The novel.

I think you can see what camp I belong to - definitely the Non-Outliners. It's my favorite thing in the world to sit down to a blank Microsoft Word document and type Chapter One and just go from there. It's fun, it's exciting, it keeps me interested in the book.

But, like Betsy mentioned on Wednesday, writing professionally, or wanting to write professionally, means - gulp - writing a proposal.

As much as I'm a fan of proposals in life (a sappy sense of romance is a definite perk from that Chocolate Chip Cookie club), a proposal in writing should carry a big sign that says "Hi, I'm Here To Ruin The Non-Outliner's Momentum, Excitement and Life As She Knows It."

Okay, maybe it's not quite that bad. :)

So, let's say you are a non-outliner like me. How do you write a proposal and still wake up excited to write the next morning? How do you continue to press on when you already know exactly how the story is going to end?

The answer? You just do it, to borrow a slogan from a sneaker company. You have to try to focus on the little details. Yes, you already know the ending. BUT, maybe you don't know the main character's favorite breakfast cereal, or their morning routine or something that might throw one of those fabulous little shoelace plots into the story (you know, one that weaves through the whole book but has really nothing to do with the main plot).

Editors are concerned with knowing the gist of the book. So, give them the gist - but save the details for the thrill of discovery. Maybe you have to have a scene where your character gets their wallet stolen in a seafood joint and that fateful theft starts him on a journey to rediscovering his hometown. The whys, whos, and wheres of that are still totally up to you! He/She could be at Red Lobster and the waiter steals the wallet to pay for his sick child's medical bills OR he/she could be at the cafe in SeaWorld and it's stolen by a man who thought he was stealing from his ex-wife's new mob boss boyfriend.

The joy is definitely in the details.

So, don't be afraid to go after that proposal. Chase it down and scratch out that picket sign so it now reads, "Hi, I'm Here To Challenge Your Writing Style." And then wake up the next morning with a renewed sense of yes, I can do this.

After all, us Non-Outliners are nothing if not used to change. :)