Nimue
Auror
Both a specific and a general question, I suppose. How do you guys write outlines, and how does one write a proper outline, anyway?
I’ve known for a long time that I’m a plotter--pantsing gives me an utter mess, fulminating with subplots, and the monster’s appearance by the cold light of day stops me writing in my tracks--but I’ve never really written a thorough, scene-by-scene outline. Vague plot structure notation and pages and pages of stream-of-consciousness maunderings, yes. Mostly holding everything in my head like someone serving soup from a sieve, yes. I’m looking for better organizational tools. At this point I’ve gone through a brief outline, maybe a sentence per scene or chapter chunk, and it’s already untangled my chronology, simplified character roles, and given me a clearer image of the story as a whole.
Any advice for the next step of outlining at the scene level? I’ve been listening to Writing Excuses and reading a few writer blogs, so I have a vague idea of noting motivation, conflict, outcome, etc. But it would be nice to have more resources at hand, and to hear if there are ways of approaching this that have worked well for you.
I’ve known for a long time that I’m a plotter--pantsing gives me an utter mess, fulminating with subplots, and the monster’s appearance by the cold light of day stops me writing in my tracks--but I’ve never really written a thorough, scene-by-scene outline. Vague plot structure notation and pages and pages of stream-of-consciousness maunderings, yes. Mostly holding everything in my head like someone serving soup from a sieve, yes. I’m looking for better organizational tools. At this point I’ve gone through a brief outline, maybe a sentence per scene or chapter chunk, and it’s already untangled my chronology, simplified character roles, and given me a clearer image of the story as a whole.
Any advice for the next step of outlining at the scene level? I’ve been listening to Writing Excuses and reading a few writer blogs, so I have a vague idea of noting motivation, conflict, outcome, etc. But it would be nice to have more resources at hand, and to hear if there are ways of approaching this that have worked well for you.