Why writing a screenplay without an outline is probably for the best
What I’ve learned from two top screenwriting teachers about process
You’ve taken your initial idea and turned it into the broad strokes of a possible story. Now what?
If you read my first post in this series, I teased that, after you developed a tentative idea of your broad story, main plot engine, stakes, how the main character transforms, how the plot serves the story, and central dramatic argument, you would next figure out these elements:
Character introductions (how you introduce your characters)
What the climax involves broadly
The genre and tone
A hazy plan for the sequences in the story
The broad strokes of the ending
But I’m going to depart from that outlined plan. Yes, you can think about these things and come up with your hazy idea of them. Or you can just start writing at this stage; if you did the work of my first post, you already have more than enough direction to get started. And diving into the writing is likely to be more efficient and effective for reasons I’ll elaborate on below.
Moreover, there may be times when you simply can’t see even a hazy version of the climax or ending until you begin the creative process. After all, the climax and ending are often paying off very specific elements that you establish in the beginning and middle, and until you create those elements, it’s too hard to see the ending in any real sense.
What you almost certainly shouldn’t do in the beginning stages is create an outline of events. That may sound like crazy talk to you because outlining is something many people push, but it’s not the approach that two top screenwriting teachers, Jacob Krueger and Corey Mandell, recommend. They advise trying different processes and seeing what works for you. And they both express skepticism that outlining serves most writers.
Below I’ll cover:
Why outlining gives you a false sense of security
Why outlining often won’t work and what to do instead (presenting a brilliant metaphor from Jacob Krueger)
Why getting regular, reliable feedback is the most important factor in your success
Outlining isn’t the answer
Wouldn’t it be great if going from your idea to your finished screenplay was a neat, linear path? You create the outline, you follow the outline, you sell the screenplay, you achieve wild success, and everything is wonderful. What a beautiful lie that is.
Here’s what actually happens. You create the outline, you start implementing it, and you realize it’s not quite working, and you have to modify it. Or you implement it just as you planned, and the screenplay doesn’t work.
I recently took a webinar with screenwriting teacher Corey Mandell in which he talked about a variety of processes writers can use to create their work, and here’s what he said about outlining:
“For most writers, the outline approach is either actually not very good, or it gives them a pretty good script, but not an extraordinary script, and they will tend to use other options.”
In that webinar, Corey listed at least seven other processes writers can use. I won’t list them all here because I don’t want it to seem as though I’m giving away his insights (even though, of course, ideas are not legally protectable). But I mention this to point out that there are more than just the two options most people think there are: namely, outlining or completely winging it.
Here’s what Jacob Krueger says about outlining in an article on his site:
“When you’re writing, eventually what’s going to happen to you is your characters are going to do something you didn’t plan. You’re going to think, ‘this is the scene where she finally tells him how low she thinks he is,’ and instead she kisses him and you’re left wondering, ‘What just happened? This wasn’t what I planned.’
“And that moment is the moment where you make or break it as a writer. Because if you listen to your characters at that moment, you’re going to end up with something awesome. And if you listen to your outline at that moment, you’re building a house of cards. Outlining is incredibly valuable. But it’s only valuable once you know your characters. And the only way you get to know your characters is by writing them.”
Can outlining work for some people? Of course. But based on the insights of these two great teachers, who have worked with thousands of writers, and my own experience, I don’t think it’s the best approach.
Build great pieces instead
So, if you’re not outlining and if you’re not simply writing your story from start to end and winging it all the way, what can you do?
In Corey’s webinar on process, which I recommend if he offers it again, he says that writers should write shorts using different processes and test the outputs from those different processes to see which one produces the best work. In that way, a writer can find the best process for them. You can check out an overview of Corey’s thoughts on process here as well for free.
I think that’s a great recommendation from Corey, but if you want one such process to try, check out this podcast episode from Jacob Krueger, which is perhaps the single best take on structure I’ve come across:
In this podcast episode, Jacob nails down the challenge of putting together a full story:
“Screenwriting structure is like putting together a puzzle. But it’s like putting together a puzzle where you have to make the pieces and where you don’t know exactly what the final image is going to look like. That means you need some different skills in order to succeed.”
So, what are the skills he recommends you develop? For one, he says you need to learn to build beautiful puzzle pieces.
You should definitely watch the entire episode, which is only 18 minutes long, but here’s the gist of the process of creating a beautiful piece:
“If you are able to build scenes where your character pops into a world with a want, feels a need, demonstrates their ‘how,’ and navigates an obstacle by making a choice they haven’t made before, you have actually built a puzzle piece. That is one piece of your script that is a fundamental building block of screenwriting structure that we call a scene.”
By creating that one scene, it’s going to spark ideas for other scenes. And so by writing, you gain momentum to keep going. As Jacob explains it, “Each choice your character makes leads to more puzzle pieces, leads to a better sense of where the corners are, leads to a better sense of what the movements are.”
Jacob goes on to say something that is very similar to what Corey says about how there isn’t only one way to go about your process:
“We are looking at the pieces and finding what we believe are corners, and gently building an outline for ourselves at the same time we write. We are writing scenes, and we are outlining at the same time.
“This is not the only way to outline. There are other ways to outline that I cover in my classes. This is not the only way to think about structure. But this is a way of thinking about structure that is particularly helpful.”
How to most effectively implement this process advice
Okay, now that you are armed with these insights from these two great teachers, how do you implement their advice most effectively?
First, you have to actually do the work, of course, of writing scenes (or testing different processes like Corey suggests), but even more important than that is getting feedback on your work. Otherwise, you’re left with only your own theory that what you created is working.
That’s why I recently joined this workshop with Jacob Krueger Studio. It will give me the chance to regularly get feedback on my work from both a mentor and peers.
I recommend the same for you as well, and I’m even thinking of creating an affordable program that helps more screenwriters and fiction writers get regular feedback on their work. Let me know in the comments if that would interest you.