The importance – or not – of a story outline

When I began reading Ann Whitehead's latest book, The House Across the Road, I couldn't imagine how the story was going to end.

I could see Abbie's - Ann's young protagonist - life spiralling out of control, and I had no idea how she was going to pull herself out of this hole that was getting deeper and darker.

It got me thinking: Did the author herself know from the very beginning how the story was going to end? Did she have a plan for Abbie all along? Is it important to have an outline of your story before you embark on it?

Hoping to find some answers, I put these questions to Ann earlier this week.

When you start writing, do you outline your thoughts first?

I’m really all over the place. I tend to let things come to me. I tend to write quite a number of drafts because I often don’t write chapters in sequence.

I usually do the first chapter halfway through because I usually change my mind. I’ve often said that without a computer I would never be a published writer because you can’t do that sort of thing with handwriting. With the computer, you can sort of pick things up and put them where you want them.

So you don't know where the stories are going from the outset?

I’ve just started on a new book now. I really like the characters, but I have no idea whatsoever how it is going to end. I just hope I don’t get halfway through and realise it doesn’t have an ending!

Where did the idea for The House Across the Road start then? With the characters or the place?

It started with the people. The grandmother in the book is a rather familiar person to me. I won’t go into details. It actually started with her (the familiar person) and the things that happened between her and her daughters and daughter-in-law.

I decided to take it into a country town because Australia Street (Ann's previous book) was set in Sydney and I thought it would be nice to move away from there.

Your characters are very interesting and well-rounded. How do you develop them?

I think some of the characters start from people I know - some of their idiosyncrasies - and you build them up from there. Quite often I take bits and pieces of some my friends to put them into characters. I have a very dear friend who is bipolar and who openly admits that. So, parts of the depression (discussed in the book) I really got from her.

Emotional struggle and depression are the dominant themes running through this book. Ann opens the story with Abbie, a young girl left to navigate life unsupported when her emotionally-charged mother leaves one day and never returns.

When Abbie falls pregnant to Joe, the only son of the very devout and domineering Henrietta, she finds herself being manipulated at every turn.

Claire, who is Abbie and Joe’s child, is the only person in the family that they all truly love, but their love for her is not enough to bring the family together so that they might support one another.

The House Across The Road is Ann’s third adult novel. She also wrote the bestselling Australia Street, and Blackwattle Road under the name of Ann Charlton.

She has had six children’s books published, has written another four short stories in children’s books and has penned two plays that have been performed on stage.

With this list of publishing successes to her name, it's clear Ann has obviously found a writing formula that works for her.

So, what’s your preferred writing style? Are you a planner? Do you plot the plot from the start? Outline from go to woe? Or, do you mosey and meander along, taking your characters around bends, up valleys, over yonder and down again, only to give them a haircut, change their name from Paula to Paul and begin again?

The House Across the Road
by Ann Whitehead
Published by Penguin Australia
January 2010

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