BE NOT AFRAID.
I'm Bram and this is Certain Fathoms, my weekly update on what I’m working on, what’s next, what's available, and and whatever else is in my head at the moment. Welcome back to the faithful. If this is our first encounter, take a moment to subscribe. It really helps keep this whole thing going, and I’d love to have you join me.
When it comes to writing a book the outline is the skeleton that holds everything together. Without it, chapters sag, pacing wobbles, and the work drifts into chaos. But when it’s done well the outline doesn’t just hold the work upright, it gives it a spine strong enough to move and fight.
your construction smells of corruption
The first step is acknowledging the mess. Every project begins with a half-rotted structure. There's bits of notes, flashes of inspiration, fragments of research. It looks like a foundation, but really it’s just the debris of creativity. To be blunt, my early construction is a jumble of chaos. It’s compromised of half-baked ideas, impulses I’ve scribbled at 3am, and the urge to chase every shiny tangent.
That’s where the outline starts: confronting the mess, admitting it’s unstable, and deciding which pieces deserve to survive. This is the point where I’ll gather all the scattered materials (Obsidian notes, scraps in notebooks, dog-eared books) and dump them into one place. It isn’t pretty, but it’s necessary.
Don’t edit too soon. At this stage, you’re not building, you’re scavenging. Dump everything in. If it feels weird and broken, that’s fine. It’s fuel for what comes next.
i manipulate to recreate
Once the rubble is in place, the work becomes transformative. Outlining isn’t about inventing from nothing...it’s about manipulation. I take the mess and begin to bend it, trim it, and nudge it into shape. The fragments start becoming chapters, and the wild ideas become headings that can be organized.
This is where I impose order. I ask myself: what’s the spine of this book? Where are the pressure points? How does the reader move through the journey? It’s not about perfect answers, it’s about creating enough structure that the draft will have direction. This part feels like sculpting: manipulating the clay of chaos into a recognizable shape and texture.
Don’t be afraid to move things around mercilessly. Cut, drag, reorder, repeat. Obsidian is great for this, since bullets and indents let you experiment without losing anything. Remember: the outline is flexible scaffolding, not stone. You can always go back and change it. In fact, if you don’t there’s probably an issue.
this air to ground saga
Here, the outline starts to feel like a map. The work is no longer abstract scaffolding but a saga stretched across chapters, with air strikes (big ideas) and ground assaults (details and scenes) supporting each other. The outline becomes a tactical document, showing me where the battles of the book will take place.
By this point, I often find myself getting down to the paragraph level. When a section is especially important, I’ll drop in bullets for sub-ideas, potential transitions, or even snippets of phrasing. I don’t see this as premature writing. The outline is telling me where the energy and conflict of the book lies, and I’m making sure the reader’s journey has rhythm.
Think of your outline as both a map and a battle plan. You want to see the sweep of the campaign and the placement of the troops. If a section looks thin or bloated at this stage, it almost certainly will be in the draft and it's better to rebalance now than mid-march.
gotta launder my karma
Finally, the cleansing. After all the manipulation and tactical planning, the outline needs to be scrubbed clean. At this stage, I refine the language, trim redundancies, and make sure the outline actually looks like a book. It should read like a document of intent, a full draft-in-skeleton that shows where everything is headed.
This is where I re-examine my goals: does the arc still fit? Does the outline honor the themes I want to hit? Most importantly, does it feel like a book that deserves to exist? This phase means taking responsibility for what I’m creating. I refuse to hide behind the excuse of “it’s just an outline.”
Treat the outline as though someone else might read it. If it looks like a complete book-in-miniature, then you’ve done the work. Even if no one ever sees it but you, the seriousness you give the outline will bleed into the final draft.
what's playing
This week's title is by Lo Fidelity All Stars and Pigeonhead:
what's available
Changeling: The Dreaming ~ Gimme Shelter Players Guide, Gimme Shelter Players Kit
Vampire: The Masquerade ~ Vampire: The Jazz Age
what's next
If you’ve got questions, thoughts, or conspiracy theories about what I’m doing, hit reply and tell me. If you know someone who’d be into this, send them my way.
See you next Sunday.
Cheers,
Bram
This calls to mind the way Agatha Christie wrote. She would write the A,B,C, and D sections and purposely rearrange them, then write interstitial material to make it work. I am actually quite fascinated at humans' ability to imagine something from nothing. Mentation equals creation. Cheers and many happy returns, old boy!