Writing an Outline?

[Aosto]

Outlining lets you build a stronger story where all of those scenes are directed towards building to the ending. I think it's far more contrived to write yourself into "nowhere," decide that the book needs to end, and then force things to come together in a way they were never building towards.

An outline can be three sentences. It can be fifteen pages. It should be flexible. But I think, the more complex your story, the more you need to outline for it to work. Not every story needs to be all that complex. But Song of Ice and Fire? Harry Potter? Lord of the Rings? All of those required an outline. Absolutely.

I disagree with this. I've watched interviews with Martin and he expressed that his writing was mostly discovery writing. Jk Rowling may have done world building but also expressed that she just wrote.

 

[BWFoster78]

I mostly do discovery writing.

I tend to outline what I wrote, not what I'm going to write. Makes it easy to go back and make sure I'm keeping everything consistent.

 

[Devor]

I disagree with this. I've watched interviews with Martin and he expressed that his writing was mostly discovery writing. Jk Rowling may have done world building but also expressed that she just wrote.

George Martin said he doesn't do a strict chapter by chapter outline, but I wasn't really suggesting that he needed to do something chapter by chapter. There's been a lot of people advocating complete, directionless freeform, and that's mostly what I meant to be responding to. Rowling and Martin know a lot about where their books are going before they start writing.

 

[Aosto]

I think we have to look at the syntax in that the OP is using outline. Nearly all stories will start with an idea, if we go off that being classified as an outline then I would say everyone outlines. I think the question presented is along the lines of a strict outline, scene for scene and chapter for chapter. Either or,everyone is their own artist . Try it both ways and see what you prefer I say.

 

[Devor]

I think we have to look at the syntax in that the OP is using outline. Nearly all stories will start with an idea, if we go off that being classified as an outline then I would say everyone outlines. I think the question presented is along the lines of a strict outline, scene for scene and chapter for chapter. Either or,everyone is their own artist . Try it both ways and see what you prefer I say.

I would say that an outline does have to be at least some sort of loose image of events late in the book to be called as much. Once you have that image, the middle can kind of pace itself out as you work.

 

[Jabrosky]

I definitely need a clear idea of where my story will go in order to finish it, but I don't always have to write the plot down on paper or a Word file in outline form. In fact I've completed several short stories with all the outlining done in my head. Sometimes I start a story knowing only where the first scene will take me, but once I finish that, the rest of the story unfolds in my head. This is especially true if I set up the main conflict early on.

 

[FatCat]

I say whatever floats your boat, if an outline works for you, great! If not, well that's alright to. Just be aware of what does and does not work with you. I think some people may jump to either side and plant their flag and proclaim themselves as a outliner or a discovery writer, when in actuality they may find themselves somewhere in the middle. I'm more of a discovery writer myself, but that has led me into problems when I was working on my 'epiclyawesometrilogygame-changer'. I'm still doing non-outlined short stories, but when I embark on another novel I'm going to try some loose outlining and see if it helps.

 

[Penpilot]

Any advice and pointers you can give on approaching and creating an outline?

How do you organize your outline?

First I use Dan Wells' 7 point plot structure plan bare bones stuff. Here's a youtube link. He explains it better than I could. Dan Wells on Story Structure, part 1 of 5 - YouTube

Second, a few metrics. A 100k novel will have between 40-50 scenes. If you do the math, fifty 2000 word scenes equals 100k words. If you use the typical 3 act structure, that means act one should have 10ish scenes, act two 20ish, and act three 10ish.

Third know what type of scenes should go in each act. Here's how I think about it each act. I break act 2 into two parts. These are very generalized concepts, but do fit pretty much all stories.

Act 1 - this is your set up. You introduce the before world that exists for the character before the story takes off into act 2. There's the infamous inciting incident that must take place. You want to introduce themes here too. And lastly the character must make a conscious choice to proceed into act 2.

Act 2 pt 1- This is to me the most fun part of the story. In a road movie it's were the characters hit the road and meet interesting people and do the most interesting things. In Star Wars it's when Luke enters the cantina, meets Han Solo, learns how to use the force, and fights Tie fighters. It's where the book blurb gets paid off.

Mid Point - a very important spot. Something big happens here. It's either a big set back or a false victory.

Act 2 pt 2 - If the heroes suffer a big set back at the mid-point, this is where they dust them selves off, get back on the horse and make a plan on how to defeat their protagonist. If the hero achieves a false victory, this is where the bad guys regroup and kick the heroes off their pedestal forcing them to dust off and re-plan.

Act 3 - The heroes at this point should have all the tools and information they need for victory. They make plans on how to achieve victory and those plans got to crap and they have to think on the fly using all that they've learned in order to win.

Hope this helps.