Outlining

[MatthewCEarls]

It's my first post here on Mythic Scribes, but I've been following the updates on the boards for about a month now. I'm excited to start a new online professional relationship with the writers here on this forum and can't wait to have constructive criticism thrown at me.

My first question is more than likely a "whatever works best for you" type of answer, but I'm always curious to see what others are doing and what works best for them. It never hurts to hear what people that have finished novels or are working on novels have going for them.

So, how do you go about outlining your novel? What format do you use? Is it more "notes" than actual outlining? How detailed do you get with each and every section of the outline (foreshadowing for x will go in chapter two)? Or do you even outline at all?

I'm about to start outlining my novel and after reading a few books and several internet articles on the concept, I'm interested to see what you guys think.

Look forward to hearing from you!

 

[TWErvin2]

Welcome to active participation on the forums, Mathew C Earls!

As indicated in your post, what works for one may not work for another, but I'll give you a bit of what's worked for me.

I usually start with an idea. I create a file online for a short story, but usually, for a novel, I get a spiral notebook and jot ideas down. Then I just write down the major events...how to get from the beginning of the story to the end. I'll put in notes and ideas, maybe a word or two about a scene or dialogue. Just enough to remind me of what I was thinking about.

It's kind of like a road map for a vacation trip. You start at a certain spot, and you know where you're going, and the route with interesting places to visit along the way. However, just like a vacation, how long your spend in a spot along the way, detours, additional stops, etc...they happen--so your outline isn't written in stone.

Having that prepared gives me something to write towards, a direction or event to get to. It helps me keep on track, moving the plot forward. It reduced the need for major revisions and edits once the first draft is finished, becuase I have fewer plot lines that went no where and fewer plot holes that need to be filled, fixed or removed.

Good luck as you move forward!

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

I personally find that my stories develop best when I do a lot of exploratory prose, to see how the characters reveal themselves. Then I go back and work out a story structure that makes sense given those characters. It's sort of a coevolutionary process.

Along the way, though, I do a great deal of story structure planning and character development, so it's not completely ad hoc.

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

I think the real answer is what type of story do you want to tell. If you want a deep intricate story then you probably want to figure out more about your world and people. For a story that is more about the characters, you can have less depth of the world and more depth of the character...or both.

Outlining is like a plan of how to go from beginning to end, and that is rather limited from my view.

I do a lot of notes on the world, character, and things going on in the time frame of the story. I like a story that has depth, but very much a character story. But this is only one idea of how to do it, and there are plenty more that are different.

You are right, it really comes down to what you are looking to achieve as to what you need to do before hand.