John Grisham on How He Outlines His Chapters While Writing

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[@reeds1905]

Did you expect this sort of writing strategy from John Grisham? Let us know in the comments!

[@val_nightlily]

Yes. His thrillers are complex enough that I can see how they would take a lot of advance planning.

[@5Gburn]

Yes. Mysteries, thrillers, and romance lend themselves very well to plotting.

[@jflsdknf]

Good tips. My writing improved dramatically once I started outlining. When you actually know where you're going the words flow so much easier.

[@Gil5876]

True. I write my outline for the entire book, then make notes before I write each chapter.

[@t0dd000]

I feel seen. I took my brilliant idea and 130,000 words later my story is lost at sea. I am retroactively outlining it to get it back on track.

[@jeannestark6293]

I totally understand about putting together a plot because a lot of times a lot of lawyers they have to know what they’re gonna do before they get in a court so I understand the translation of that from Royal life Court to riding life

[@hugosaurus]

If anyone's advice is worth following it's John Grisham, the guy gets out so many novels you'd think he's got a grudge against trees. Absolute GOAT

[@generalbradley6421]

Lmao

[@andyontheinternet5777]

I might try this with my next book. My first book was 100% pantsing. My 2nd had a basic 3 page outline. Next time, I'll try a detailed out.

[@thedisabledwelshman9266]

one of my favourite authors.

[@aaronaragon7838]

He writes the same book over and over.

[@derekdelacruz9206]

Great advice. Make a lot of sense. Outlining is essential for a well planned book. One of my favorite writers.

[@Musicienne-DAB1995]

Excellent: I've hard of John Grisham since I was a kid, and I never got round to reading his books! Thanks for this It now reminds me to get his works.

[@dragonchr15]

If you want my unsolicited advice, start with The Firm. I know A Time to Kill is regarded as his best work, but I enjoyed The Firm a lot more. A lot of the racial stuff in the ATtK might be too much for some people, but it is a great book and these two should be the first two you read.

[@TheRonnieaj]

@@dragonchr15 And he wrote ATTK first. But because it’s so “racial,” they started his movies with The Firm, and only went back to ATTK when he was already popular. That’s why it’s movie four but book one.

[@user-cz5lj2vx1f]

Have read mny (but, not all) of Grisham's novels. Highly recommend: THE STREET LAWYER, THE CHAMBER, THE RECKONING & THE PELICAN BRIEF

[@mhill88ify]

The Partner is, just wow...still remember loving that book to this day. Start there if you want to jump on a great one.

[@spacegerrit9499]

Like him

[@endouceurendouceur318]

Interesting

[@NoName-jq7tj]

This is an interesting short video I’m actual in the middle of reading a book about plotting your book which fundamentally is about planing your book prior to writing it. In the past I’ve started a book. I’ve started the writing process without any prior planning & the results are absolutely dismal because you don’t finish the manuscript so hence today I have a number of manuscripts dormant in their various stages of completion simply because I was unaware of why you should plot & plan the actually process. My approach was to simply allow the creative process to take over without planning. This was complete fallacy.

[@m.f.8752]

Surely there’s a messy draft before the outline. Otherwise, where’s the knowledge come from of what’s going to happen in each chapter?

[@mhill88ify]

You can outline plot points without a messy draft. The plot points help create the messy draft, if I'm understanding his workflow correctly.

[@queenmysaelsheikhofsudan]

The content page is best outline if you are writing non fiction. 😊

[@jasonkowens6820]

Please send this to RR Martin already

[@jnbfilm56]

Can this guy be even more american?

[@gnosis555]

Stephen King should do this.

[@nuckygulliver9607]

I think King's success shows he was right not to do this. Different styles suit different approaches. You never know where the King novel is going yo go but with Grisham sometimes you can guess and the while thing becomes cookie cutter. This guy's one if the best at this though so you'll see it more in the lesser writers with the same approach. Old King novels (he's lost it now) would surprise the reader because they also surprised the writer

[@BlacKnightRising]

I'm more 'seat-of-the-pants style writing, outlines take too much time quite frankly Grisham just admitted that indirectly, I have a note-book where I mark-off what I'm doing but to write an outline? just use that time to finish the chapters and the book in record time instead of taking months more to do so

[@MrsCrazyrange]

And how many books have you published?

[@BlacKnightRising]

@@MrsCrazyrange 5 actually with a main novel coming up, and YOU? Hmmmmmm

[@user-su2wb9gs2y]

@@BlacKnightRising damn bro, you didn’t have to do him that dirty😂

[@BlacKnightRising]

@@user-su2wb9gs2y what'd I say that was so 'dirty' merely asking a question is all

[@user-su2wb9gs2y]

@@BlacKnightRising no, I’m saying you had a good comeback bro😂. Im using slang meaning that you had a stellar response basically lol

[@danielnichols5632]

Hair transplant

[@southlondon86]

Suits him well though.

[@muhlenstedt]

insignificant matter

[@davidcopson5800]

Is that necessary to become a good writer? What if you already have good hair?

[@khaledwriter7464]

Outlines are for bad writers.