by Judy Bridges
Brainstorm possible main points and note them—again in single words or short phrases—on the legs.
For the Winnebago project, you might have: Fun. Ease. Comfort. Safety. Service. Money.
Step 5. Brainstorm Supporting Points
On each leg (point/category) of the alligator, draw several lines to accommodate the facts and figures that make the case for that leg’s point. These lines should be at angles, attached to the legs. Your alligator will look like it has several legs, each with several feet or claws up and down the length of each leg.
The “claws” (supporting points) attached to the Winnebago leg labeled “Fun” are: travel. national parks. Arizona. grandkids (see Figure 19).
Figure 19. Alligator Outline: Supporting Points
The supporting points attached to the leg labeled “Comfort” are: seats. suspension. bed. shower. storage. A/C. heat. carpet.
Sift through your research, interviews, anecdotes, facts, and figures. Add as many points as you want. If the alligator is getting messy, you’re on the right track.
Step 6. Brainstorm Sub-points
When you come across miscellaneous bits of information that you want to keep track of, write them on short lines attached to appropriate supporting points (see Figure 20).
Figure 20. Alligator Outline: Sub-Points
On the point, “Fun,” we have the supporting point, grandkids, and on that the sub-point, Disneyland. Disneyland might turn out to be a throw-away, or it might be the perfect anecdote to illustrate a main point. You make that decision in the next steps.
Step 7. Sequence the Points
Number your points in the order you think you might want to cover them. Pick one you think might work well as a lead or “hook” and label it #1 (see Figure 21). Don’t worry if you are unsure—there’s a good chance that your first take-a-flyer guess is the right one. If not, that’s why you have an eraser.
My personal favorite is to start in the middle of a scene that illustrates my main point. For the essay about the elderly struggling to stay out of nursing homes, I selected a scene that illustrated one woman’s physical loss in a very poignant way. You might have chosen another place to begin.
My least favorite lead is a definition, the one that tells the reader what the dictionary says, just in case she didn’t know. Questions work. So do anecdotes. Quotation leads work, too, but can get tiresome because they’re done so often.
Sequence all the points so that when you begin writing, you know what comes next. Indecision can keep you going in circles and writing about the first point over and over again for several pages, but if you have a sequence of points and sub-points, you’ll automatically move from one to the next. If you decide on a full-circle piece, in which you end by referencing the beginning, your first and last numbers will be at the same point on the outline (see Figure 21).
Figure 21. Alligator Outline: Points Sequenced
Once you have numbered all of the points on your Alligator Outline, put a bold star next to the last one. You do this so it stays in the back of your mind while you’re writing. When you have your ending in mind, your instinct will take you there.
Tips for Using the Alligator Outline
Work with a pencil on paper, or a dry erase marker on a whiteboard— things you can change or erase. Some people use computers, but it’s hard to change your mind about lines that look so pretty. Better to be sloppy, make mistakes, slap it on the wall, and see what sticks.
Make each of your notes as short as possible. A sentence is too long. A phrase is almost too long. One word is best. “Safety” is enough to remind you to check accident statistics.
Make research notes. If you need to check facts or do added research related to points you expect to cover, circle or put a check mark near the point. Use color if that helps—a green check for library, blue for Internet, yellow for interview, purple for notes you stashed in the purple box.
If you need to do a lot of research, copy your alligator onto a sheet of paper that’s portable enough for you to carry around with you. When you get to the library and unfurl it, you will see your notations and be more efficient with your work.
Note sources near the points so you will have them for further research and to prepare a source list.
Highlight related anecdotes. If you have a mini-story that helps to substantiate a point, insert a key word that reminds you of the anecdote. For instance, near “Disneyland,” you might have the note “triplets,” which will remind you of the grandparents who took triplets to Disneyland and lived to tell about it.
Connect related thoughts with dotted lines.
To get a rough idea of how much space you can spend on each point, divide the number of words the publisher expects by the number of points you want to cover.
Cross out things that seem redundant or that you just can’t fit into the space allowed.
When you are ready to sort your collection of notes and interviews, write your main alligator points (1, 2, 3) on individual sheets of paper, tape the sheets to the wall or over a table, and go through your research, dealing it out into piles below the appropriate numbers. Print the notes you took on your computer (on used paper, of course), cut them so there’s only one point per piece of paper, and sort them into the piles. When it’s time to start writing on a particular point, you can pick up that pile and re-sort it according to your supporting points.
When it’s time to begin writing, take only one pile of material to your desk. This will keep you focused on one subject at a time. The rest of the stuff is there, waiting for you. You don’t need to worry about it now.
To Use the Alligator Outline for a Non-writing Project
Every month I get at least one call from a student who has used the alligator in a new and interesting way: to repair a motorcycle, to reorganize a bank division, to remodel a house, to plan a new career. It’s as handy for organizing projects as it is for planning writing assignments.
To use the Alligator Outline to plan a project of any type:
Write the goal at the head of the alligator, where you would normally put the audience.
Write the various parts of the project on the alligator legs and claws.
Number the parts of the project in an order you can follow to get things done.
Sample Alligator Outlines
Figure 22 shows university student Katie Lance creating an Alligator Outline to organize her senior paper.
Figure 22. Alligator Outline: Katie Lance Organizes Her Senior Paper
Figure 23 shows the Alligator Outline I used to organize facts and family stories to write a eulogy for my husband’s grandmother.
Figure 23. Alligator Outline: Eulogy
Figure 24 shows the finished eulogy as shared at Grandma Schroeder’s memorial service.
Figure 24. Eulogy for Grandma Schroeder (written from an Alligator Outline)
CHAPTER NINE
CRITIQUES
AND WRITERS’ GROUPS
I never found out the moon didn’t come up in the west until I was a writer and Herschel Brickell, the literary critic, told me after I misplaced it in a story. He said valuable words to me about my new profession: “Always be sure you get the moon in the right part of the sky.”
—Eudora Welty, novelist, short story writer
The great critic is an artist as well. He tells us what he thinks is good, he tells us why he thinks so, and he performs both functions in such a way that we are excited by his manner while convinced by his argument.
—Winton Dean, critic
You mustn’t fall into the trap of assuming that because nobody likes what you have done it is very good. Sometimes people don’t like what you’ve done because it is terrible.
—Edward Albee, playwright
This chapter is about making your good writing better. It’s about taking your manuscript and going public, showing it to people, asking for critiques and opinions, acknowledging that this version is as good as you’ve got “so far.”
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One of the joys of my life is being able to attend a writers’ group that feeds my soul and sees my mistakes. Every page of this manuscript was critiqued at least eight times. The first read was mine. Second, my husband. Third, my critique group. Fourth, a hand-picked group of insightful writing friends. Fifth, a cycle of editor-publisher-editor-publisher (this went on for a while), and then me and my husband, again. Every time it was read, it was improved, usually quite a bit. The majority of the changes were made in response to comments made by my critique group, the finest group of writing friends a girl could have. Most of them attended one or another of my writing classes so they knew what I was talking about and whether or not I got the point across. If I did, they were happy for me. If I did not, they knew how to help. That’s what you want from your writer’s group.
The longer you write, the more you appreciate the value of critique. In the beginning, it’s all about inspiration. Words fall out of the sky and all you have to do is write them down. Each piece of writing is perfect. Later, after you paper the bathroom walls with rejection slips, you take a cold, hard look at the pages and start to wonder.
Let’s say that for the past year, you’ve been hunched over a desk, working on your magnum opus. The Muse visits from time to time and lights a candle, but doesn’t stay nearly long enough. You like some of what you’ve written; other things, well, no matter what you thought at first and what your best friend says, you know they could be better. Maybe it’s time to swallow the pencil and look for a critique group.
Why Join a Critique Group?
You join a group because as wonderful as best friends are, they are not enough. You need a team of readers who are serious about the craft and have your interests at heart. The members help you see the wobbly point of view, the shift in character, the wrong label on a bottle of wine. They also point out the good things: the brilliant phrase, the perfect dialogue, the evil character you wrote so well you made the reader’s skin crawl.
A good writers’ group helps you stay on task. Members let you get away with not writing once in a while, like when you break your wrist or drop your computer in the lake, but if you show up too often with nothing, they will start looking at you funny. This is good peer pressure, the kind that kicks you in the butt on Friday so you have something to take in with you on Tuesday. Your Tuesday pages may be warm from the printer, but you will have them.
Another benefit of a group is that other writers are full of good advice. What you learned in school or even in a recent workshop is often old news. The industry shifts quickly, and staying on top of it is a full-time job few writers want or can handle. In a group, one person will be savvy about this, another about that, and collectively you make sense of the puzzle. Writers in healthy groups are happy to share what they know.
And best of all, a writers' group is a good place to make lasting friends. Not long ago, a member of my group injured her knee so badly that she needed to use crutches. Her basement flooded, she went down the stairs on the crutches, and, you guessed it, catapulted down the last several steps. Broken shoulder. Surgery. A lengthy recuperation. Her siblings were there to help, also neighbors and her friends from our writing group. They not only visited, brought food, taxied her to doctors' appointments, emailed, and called, they kept her writing light burning as well. They awaited the next of her stories and cheered her on. She, like others who love to write, has something to give the world, and her fellow writers didn’t let her forget it. They would have printed and submitted her work if that’s what she’d needed.
How to Find the Right Writers’ Group
Groups are as varied as the writers who join them, and finding the right one can take some time. Coffee shop flyers, online listings, and writers’ publications all contain information about local groups. You might have to visit several. When you’re shopping, ask yourself these questions:
Does the Structure Work for You?
There are four general structures for writers’ groups: 1) college style, 2) living room/café, 3) studio/writing center, and 4) online.
College-style groups are modeled after graduate school writing classes. A leader sets meeting times and keeps the group on task. Copies of manuscripts are distributed to members to read and critique in advance of the meeting. This approach is especially helpful to novelists who would like to have longer segments of their work critiqued at one time. It works well if all of the members of the group do the prereads and written critiques, and if they attend all of the meetings. If members are less dedicated, it can be extremely frustrating.
Living room or café groups tend to be more casual. They meet in members’ living rooms or coffee shops or free space at a bookstore or library. One person may lead the group or members may pass the baton. The level of task orientation varies from serious to social and often changes over time. Members may or may not bring copies of work they wish to have critiqued. Membership is generally free, but a personal invitation may be required.
Studio groups meet at writing centers that offer a variety of workshops. I admit to a bias in favor of these groups because they are generally led by experienced writers who also teach, and they tend to be task-oriented. Members bring copies of their manuscript pages to feedback sessions and read their work aloud. The smaller the group, the more pages you can bring. Connection with the center gives you the opportunity to develop your craft and start building a network of writing friends. A fee helps cover expenses.
Online groups are growing in popularity. They range from casual chats to highly structured university programs. Advantages include easy access, reasonable (if any) fees, and the ability to gather a group from a wide geographical area. The lack of face time is an advantage for some and a disadvantage for others.
Is the Group Task Oriented or Primarily Social?
Both types have their place, but if you are looking for serious feedback, a task-oriented group is best. This is a group that’s dedicated to helping members develop as writers. Rather than friendly chat about life and books, meetings revolve around manuscript reading and feedback. Guidelines ensure fairness and respect for individual members. The basic rule of a task-oriented group is to help each writer accomplish his or her goals.
Does the Group Welcome Your Type of Writing?
Some groups welcome a variety of writers working on a variety of projects. Writers bring in everything from poetry to novels to articles to stage plays, and feedback reflects the varied experience of the members. If you have a strong leader who is also a generalist, you will learn a lot from him and the others in the group. Other groups are genre specific. Members write for particular markets such as children, young adults, literary or mainstream fiction, nonfiction, romance, horror, fantasy, poetry, or plays. Leaders of these groups are likely to know a fair amount about how to write for and get published in your chosen field. If you are passionate about a specific genre, a group like this might be right for you.
Does the Group Serve the Members or the Organizer?
You’d think all writers’ groups exist to serve the members. Most do, but now and then you come across one that exists primarily to serve the organizer, to give that person another feather in his hat. All you have to do to protect yourself from this is to be alert to the possibility. Look at the website and newsletters. Do you see news of members’ successes or mostly news about the organizer and just a few of the members? The best groups are made up of good cheerleaders. They not only critique, they encourage fellow writers.
Does the Group Have a Good Leader?
It’s the leader’s job to keep the group on task. She should see to it that everyone is treated fairly and reasonably encouraged. If a writer gets out of line (this happens, but rarely), it’s the leader’s job to deal with that person. This leaves everyone else in the group free to focus on the writing.
The ideal leader is passionate about writing and committed to helping you. Passion acts like a magnet. A person who has long loved writing will have learned a lot about it as s/h
e read, wrote, screwed it up, got it right, broke the pencil, and tried again. This person may or may not be extremely well published—it’s the passion, the study, the urge to help people learn, that makes a good teacher.
The leader needs to be strong enough to keep the group on an even keel. She controls timing and moderates the feedback and the interaction among members so that you can be at ease. She also finds ways to challenge you (politely) when needed.
To see if a leader is committed to helping others, watch to see if she is truly delighted when a writer in the group makes a breakthrough—fixes a tough lead, brings a character to life, gets an agent for that first novel. If she is delighted, you are in the right place. On the other hand, if she deflects the conversation to her own successes or shows the teeniest bit of jealousy, even jokingly, bail out as soon as possible and find another group. You need a person who will help you, one you can trust to have your interests at heart.
Do You Feel Welcome?
I recently led a writers’ retreat at which most of the participants were returnees and knew one another. One of the few new people said, “I feel like there’s a clique.” Writer Barbara Malcolm looked at her and said, “There is, and you are part of it.” That’s how you should feel—as if there is a clique and you are part of it. This might take two or three visits, but it shouldn’t take a year.