Outline on a Clothesline by Gail Sattler

Do you outline your novel completely before writing? Today, Gail Sattler has a method she's developed for making sure all those scenes are in the right order. -- Sandy

Gail: I've been asked to post on outlining a novel, a subject that is dear to my heart. I have a workshop class called "Outline on a Clothseline" that I'd like to share with you.

Yes, this works exactly how you think it works. One evening, watching one of my favorite shows, Castle, they had a quick view of Richard Castle doing pretty much the same thing, with a clothseline strung across his apartment, and recipe cards hanging from clothsepins. 

I may not use an actual clothseline, but it's close. 

In order to write a novel tight, you have to know where you're going, and where you've been, as you move from scene to scene. For an outliner, the condensed version of this is to take a package of recipe cards and make notes of your story, writing a scene, or a POV section from a scene, onto a card, important plot points, important plot turns, and major conflicts. For me, this works best as I'm either reading or making my synopsis. I have the whole novel outlined, and I know exactly what happens and how it ends, including the black moment, including knowing my closing line, before I write the first sentence.  

Once all the scenes are written on cards, knowing the order is important, but at this point, not critical, this is where you hang them. First hang your opening, hang your closing scene. Pick what feels like the middle of the story, and hang it in the middle. 

Then comes the fun part. Hang your scenes in approximate order, and this is where you organize them. First, by importance of what happens and what follows. Then when everything is done, look at your scenes. Make sure you don't have similar scenes side by side. For example, don't have two fast action scenes together. 

There should be a contemplative moment or a personal scene with character growth between. Don't have two high conflict scenes together. This is where you separate them on your clothseline.

Once you have a good mix of action and contemplative moments, of conflict and tender scenes, scenes where it looks like the protagonist is sure to fail and moments where they get what they want, even for just a few minutes, then you're ready. Take your cards down, in order, as you write them. Or if you don't actually have them hanging on a clothesline, number them and put them in a pile and use the cards as your outline as you write your novel.

Happy Writing!

If you're a total pantser, you probably broke out in hives reading this, but maybe you're one who outlines first. Share your process with us. Do you use the index cards? How do you decide the order and keep them straight? Are they like puzzle pieces on the floor? 

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Gail Sattler an author of over 40 books, lives in Vancouver BC with her husband, three sons, two dogs, and a lizard named Bub, who is quite cuddly for a reptile. When she's not writing, Gail plays electric bass in a community jazz band and acoustic bass for a local string orchestra. When she's not writing or making music, Gail likes to sit back with a hot coffee and read a book written by someone else.

Author Interview: Gail Sattler

Hey everyone, we have a fun interview today with Gail Sattler. Have you ever considered writing a novella? Gail's here to share some tips you'll find helpful. Read on! ~ Annette

Gail, your new anthology releases this month. You wrote all four novellas. Tell us more. Do the stories in the compilation relate to each other?

Yes. The first story is a modern-day retelling of the tale of Cinderella, except Cinderella is named Cindy, and her Prince is Luke Princeton, who owns and operations Like A Prince Car Rentals with his partner and best friend. Instead of being a scullery maid, this contemporary Cindy owns and operates her father’s brake and muffler shop. This Cinderella doesn't wear glass slippers—at work she wears ANSI approved steel-toed safety boots—so at the ball, she loses something else.

The second story is about her first stepsister, Annie, who has reformed and is working on healing her relationship with Cindy. She’s trying her best to make her past wrongs right, but things become complicated when she starts working for Cindy's husband and his partner, Brent. While she’s trying to make things right, everything seems to be going wrong.

The third story is about Cindy’s second stepsister, Zella, who has also reformed. Zella’s mother, Cindy’s stepmother, has not changed her ways, making Zella very uncomfortable. In Zella’s efforts to get away and run her own life, she meets a man who could be her Mr. Right, except he has a secret. And not telling her when the time was right makes him very wrong.

The fourth story is about Cindy’s godmother. Since fairies aren’t real, the Fairy Godmother becomes Farrah the godmother. Farrah is stable and happy, but she is also lonely. For most of her life she’s kept busy, not giving herself opportunity to meet another man to love. When she’s finally ready, time seems to have passed her by. When she meets the man who could be her Mr. Right, she can’t let the same thing happen to him, but he has other ideas.

Should readers read them in order?

Yes. Each story moves on in time from the previous story, so the reader needs to read them in order.

How does one plot for a compilation?

For this, it was easy, I used an existing classic story and picked out the four main women and gave them each their own story. I’ve written other series before, and done pretty much the same thing, and that is to continue on the same lines with a key secondary character from the previous story.

If someone’s used to writing full-length novels, what advice do you have for them for plotting and/or writing a novella?

Novellas are harder to write than most people think. The reader expects and needs a full and interesting story, but that story must be told in less than half the words. Usually there isn’t room for a subplot. My best advice for someone writing a novella is to very carefully consider which scenes are necessary to the plot, and which aren’t, and keep down the description and backstory. The delete button is your friend. I go over word count on every novella I do, then have to cut what isn’t absolutely necessary. Make your plot go from A to B with no detours.

What are some key ways to make a novella compilation proposal stand out?

Have a theme and promote it. Have something unique that is shared by all four stories. Also, the biggest attraction for novellas is that they are a fast read in a fast-paced society. Keep every scene interesting, and be prepared to end it and move on in order to have room for all the scenes you need to make a full story in a short amount of words.

What is the hardest thing about writing a novella?

Keeping it short when you have a whole story to tell. That means keeping descriptions short but not too blunt, and telling the story fast without feeling like you’re rushing or leaving out important details in order to get a whole story into 20,000 words, or whatever the word count is.

What’s the easiest?

Sticking to the basics with description, with plot, and characterization. In longer novels you have to know more, and show more, about the characters and setting. In a novella, you can’t because you don’t have room to expound on those things. I’m not saying you don’t have to know your character or setting as well, because you actually have to know those things better. By knowing your characters better before you start writing, you make the writing easier.

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Gail Sattler lives in Vancouver BC with her husband, 3 sons, 2 dogs, and a lizard named Bub who is quite cuddly for a reptile when he isn't eating her houseplants. When Gail isn't writing she plays piano for the worship team at her Mennonite Brethren church, or electric bass for a local jazz band, and in the new year she's going to try out a community orchestra with her acoustic double bass. When Gail is writing, she writes tales of love, always faithful to the happily-ever-after ending readers of romance have come to know and love.

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Seattle Cinderella:

Cinderella lives—except her name is Cindy and she resides in Seattle.

Cindy is forced to run her late father’s muffler shop. Will her step-sisters’ shenanigans and Luke Princeton’s charms only make her life even more unbearable?

Cindy’s step-sister Annie has reformed her ways. But how will she prove it to the man she loves?

Step-sister Zella is writing her own love story. But is she using a poison pen?

Cindy’s godmother, Farrah, has caught the attentions of a younger man. Does she have the courage to love again?

How far will God go to give these each of these women a happy-ever-after ending?

Rewriting a Fairy Tale for the Christian Market by Gail Sattler

Happy New Year, writers! Ever tried to adapt a fairy tale into a modern-day story, or tried to rework it for a Christian audience? Gail Sattler has a new release coming in March entitled Seattle Cinderella, and she's here to share her tips on reworking those timeless stories for the inspirational market. Enjoy! ~ Annette

Rewriting a Fairy Tale for the Christian Market

by Gail Sattler

To rewrite a fairy tale for the Christian market can be a challenge because most fairy tales use magic or spells to make the story happen, and taking that out will drastically change the story. But in order to be true to the fairy tale, that story must be adhered to, or it’s not the same story. Sometimes it can be a simple substitution, but the reader must find a parallel telling of the original story or they will be disappointed. The writer has to come as close as possible without adding magic, to make the story happen in a realistic way. Since I’ve just rewritten Cinderella – Seattle Cinderella (www.seattlecinderella.com) is coming out in March 2012 – I’ll use that for my example.

It’s almost an oxymoron to use the phrase “suspension of belief” when rewriting a fairy tale. For the Christina market, the writer must take something unrealistic from the fairy tale, and make it believable and realistic. But because people know and love the original fairy tale, that which was the suspension of disbelief is what is considered true and real. Then the Christian writer must take something unrealistic and change it to being realistic, which becomes the suspension of belief. I hope that made sense.

The key to rewriting a fairy tale is to stick as closely to the plot as you can, keeping the same key story points as a primary focus.

It was an easy substitution to change the horse and carriage to an orange taxi-cab when she escaped from the ball at midnight. The harder part was that the reader expects her to flee at midnight, which is a key plot point. The trick was to make a realistic reason for her to flee at midnight. As well, in a contemporary setting, the prince is bigger and stronger, and faster, than our heroine. Why doesn’t he catch her? All these details must be worked in realistically, knowing that the realistic element is the suspension of disbelief.

Likewise with other plot points. Whatever the reason they happened in the fairy tale, parallel plot points must be made to follow with the original story that fit into a contemporary setting.

Once you have figured out how to make the reader accept the parallel, the rest is just story.

~~~~~

Gail Sattler lives in Vancouver BC with her husband, 3 sons, 2 dogs, and a lizard named Bub who is quite cuddly for a reptile when he isn't eating her houseplants. When Gail isn't writing she plays piano for the worship team at her Mennonite Brethren church, or electric bass for a local jazz band, and in the new year she's going to try out a community orchestra with her acoustic double bass. When Gail is writing, she writes tales of love, always faithful to the happily-ever-after ending readers of romance have come to know and love. Learn more about Gail and her writing at her website. Watch for her anthology, Seattle Cinderella, coming in March, 2012 from Barbour Publishing.

The Writing Life by Gail Sattler

This Writer's Journey Wednesday, we welcome friend and author, Gail Sattler, to Seriously Write.

Things I Have Learned

About the Writing Life

Before I started writing this post, I had to stop and think, what exactly is “the writing life”? At the last writer’s conference I attended, between the writers and guests, everyone somehow got unconsciously classified into two groups – the Writers, and the Normals. Uh, Normals? Face it. Writers are different, and it only makes sense that we have a very different and separate “writing life.”

In this writing life, I have learned five things.

1. Writing is a solitary profession. Even though we write about people, we can’t be around people when we write. The best thing I ever taught my children to do (once they were old enough) was to shut the door to my writing room when they hear those special words… “Mommy’s on a deadline”. The door can only be opened if it involves blood, or the police. Fortunately, neither have happened. Therefore I’ve always met my deadlines. Or at least most of them.

2. Writers must pick their priorities. There are only 24 hours in a day, and nothing is going to change that. Writing takes time. A lot of time. Therefore, writers must choose what is really important, and what is not, in order to make that writing time happen. Some things simply must be put aside, and writers must learn to delegate. For example, children over the age of 13, regardless of gender, are perfectly capable of doing their own laundry. I do not have to cook every meal, it can be a shared duty, and whoever didn’t cook, can do dishes. I figure I am also teaching my children how to become good spouses when that day comes.

3. There are things only writers understand, such as the correct way to slit your wrists if you really want to commit suicide. Writers discuss things like this at great length. In public. Fortunately none of us were put under surveillance for psychiatric examination. That we know of.

4. Knowing the details of how things happen is important. Depending on what you write, it can be vital to know how to properly burn down a house and leave no traces. So in order to get the right information, writers must ask the right people. So even though some of us, myself included, are now on lists of possible arsonists, that’s okay. It’s all in the name of research.

5. Take notes. Sometimes the best ideas come in the worst places. A writer must always be prepared to take notes, so when that writing time that we have so carefully worked toward happens, we haven’t forgotten what was surely the best idea in the world. Notes can be on paper, but they can also be made on iPhones, PDA’s, and other portable electronic devices. On the back of grocery bills. Receipts. Envelopes. Toilet paper works, too, but it’s harder to write on. Please do not ask me how I know this. If you see someone with a half-eaten burger beside them with ketchup dribbling down their chin frantically scribbling on the clean part of a napkin, that person is probably a writer.

Hey. Writers gotta eat. But more than that, writers gotta write.





Gail Sattler is a multipublished author who lives in Vancouver, BC, where you don’t have to shovel rain, with her husband, 3 sons, 2 dogs, and a lazy lizard named Draco, who is quite cuddly for a reptile. When she’s not writing Gail plays bass for her worship team and a local jazz band. Gail’s next book, The Narrow Path, is coming out in May 2010. Check it out at http://www.gailsattler.com/.