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Writing is hard. Those three words have become of a bit of mantra for me. It's the phrase I text to my friends and family when they ask, “How’s the writing going?” Usually accompanied by that gif from The Emperor’s New Groove of llama-Kuzco crying in the rain.
Yes, writing is hard. But it’s also a joy. For those of us privileged enough to have been seduced by writing—seduced, tormented, exhilarated, frustrated, and eaten alive—there is no greater pleasure. Plotted out, a writer’s life would look a lot like a novel, with highs and lows until finally you flatline because, unlike books, humans are squishy things that die.
But I’m not here to get all existential. I’m here to share my favorite technique for writing and revising novels. Writing is hard—but there are tips and tricks to help move things along. And this one has helped me a lot.
Even when I feel like a disgraced Incan emperor, crying in the rain in my pathetic llama state.
I call it the Wikipedia Method. For writers with a full draft under their belts or writers who haven’t written a word, this method is a lifesaver. It’s a combination of Matt Bell’s narrative outlining method (more on that later) and my obsession with Wikipedia plot summaries.
Let’s dive in.
Step One
If you’ve ever visited a novel’s Wikipedia page, you know that the first header under the introduction is labeled Plot. The plot section contains—you guessed it—a summary of the novel’s plot.
The first step of the Wikipedia Method is to look up the Wikipedia pages for books you admire and read their plot summaries. If you prefer sci-fi, then search for sci-fi books. If you like romances, search accordingly. The key here is to choose the Wikipedia pages for books you have read and remember well.
Here are some of my favorites:
· Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
· Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
· Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
· Atonement by Ian McEwan
· Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Some newer or lesser-known books might have a sparse plot section. (I was distraught to find that the Wikipedia page for Richard Powers’ Bewilderment lacked a full plot summary.) But a fleshed-out plot summary—like those featured in the examples above—are imperative for the Wikipedia Method to work.
Read the summaries. Reread them. Consider what each summary includes and what it leaves out.
Step Two
After reading some examples, your next task is to write a narrative outline in the style of Wikipedia’s plot summaries. No traditional outline form, no bullet points, and no multi-colored markers or fancy app: just paragraph after paragraph of Wiki-esque summary.
It is important to note that you can employ the Wikipedia method before or after writing a first draft. Whichever option you choose will depend on your writing process.
NaNoWriMo enthusiasts often categorize themselves into one of two writing categories: they are either a plotter or a pantser. In a nutshell, plotters plan ahead while pantser’s “fly by the seat of their pants.” Most writers are likely some combination of the two. Luckily, the Wikipedia Method is adaptable to any stage of writing.
If you haven’t written a first draft yet (i.e., maybe you’re a plotter), then your summary will serve as a condensed version of the novel you want to write. It will help you get an idea of the major plot points, character arcs, and “big picture” themes. Remember what you learned from step one and incorporate similar details into the summary, such as setting and brief character description.
Unlike step one, step two might take some time, especially for plotters writing their narrative outline before their novel. Allow your summary to run as many paragraphs or pages as you’d like. Keep working at it until it resembles a novel with a beginning, middle, and end.
If you already have a first draft (i.e., maybe you’re a pantser or a plotter ready to revise), then your summary will capture what you’ve already written and allow you to make sense of it. For this stage, keep your summary true to your first draft; there’ll be time to revise in step three.
Some people refer to the act of outlining an existing draft as reverse outlining, a useful revision method I first encountered during my MFA program at the University of South Carolina. The same professor who introduced me to reverse outlining also introduced me to Matt Bell’s Refuse to be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts, where I learned about narrative outlining.
Matt Bell defines narrative outlining as summarizing a novel written in the novel’s voice. From following his advice, I learned that writing in my novel’s voice (especially if it’s in the first person) didn’t work for me. Instead of writing a narrative outline mirroring my novel’s style, I prefer a more detached, distant summary—like the summary one might find on a novel’s Wikipedia page.
Hence, the Wikipedia Method.
Step Three
The final stage of the Wikipedia Method is to use your narrative outline to either write your first draft or revise your second. (Or third, or fourth…)
If you’re a plotter, congrats! You have a working narrative summary from which to build your novel.
For the rest of us, the real fun begins: it’s time to revise the outline in order to revise the novel. This is Matt Bell’s recommendation in Refuse to be Done and a major part of my revision strategy. Here’s what Bell has to say on revising his outline:
“Once my outline is complete, I revise it, not the novel, until the outline becomes a plan for the better book I want to write. This is one way of revising the action of the novel at a macro level, without having to deal with all the minutiae. Anyone who’s ever tried to reorganize a book manuscript by moving ten-page chunks of prose knows how daunting that quickly becomes.”
Writing is hard. Revising tens of thousands of words—sometimes hundreds of pages—is even harder. But revising an outline into a better, stronger outline? That’s a pretty manageable way to turn a first draft into a second draft.
As a writer, I’m all about generative first drafts. While I might start with a basic idea or elevator pitch, I prefer to discover my story through freewriting, a brainstorming and drafting technique that encourages creation over perfection. When I freewrite, I set a timer and keep the pen moving (or the keyboard clicking) until time’s up. The result is rarely pretty, but I trust in Anne Lamott’s famous “shitty first draft” process, block out my inner critic, and focus on finishing the first draft—no matter how rough.
Next comes revision, which for me means the Wikipedia Method. You could say I’m a pantser by nature and a plotter by choice.
I’m in the process of revising the narrative outline for my current novel-in-progress—and the Wikipedia method has been a huge help. A seven-page summary is far less daunting than an entire manuscript; I can completely alter the plot in a single sentence. It takes a lot of brainpower, but not a lot of muscle. Not yet. Reading Wikipedia summaries of historical fiction novels has also helped me revise my own; it’s forced me to nail down key details where I’ve been wishy washy and reluctant to make a decision. In Refuse to Be Done, Matt Bell shares that the revision process for his latest novel took three months to complete. I remember scoffing when I read that number.
Three months to revise a summary? No way. I thought I’d finish my revised narrative outline in a week.
But here I am. Three months later. Because writing is hard—but not impossible, thanks to great mentors, great writers, Matt Bell, and Wikipedia.
Remember, fellow llamas: the rain doesn’t last forever.
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