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Writing an Outline?

Devora

Sage
I'm thinking of doing an outline for my stories in order to have more consistency and to better the storyline.

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

How do you organize your outline?
 

Jess A

Archmage
Best advice I can give is to leave room for change and improvisation.

I have a very loose outline, but I am now beginning to realise that I need to make a 'scene list'. I don't need to write every point in the scene, but I need to say 'this is the conflict' and then go about writing it with that loose idea in my head. I say this because when I have sat down to write, it has not really gone in the direction that I want it to go. But I like to have room to improvise, too.

I outlined the major concepts of the book, and I have most of book two outlined.

One thing that may help you is a time line. It can help with character ages as well. Finding out what age they will be at a certain point. You don't necessarily need to describe everybody's age, but for you as a writer, it can be helpful. A time line can tell you the basics of what is happening at what point, and it can limit plot holes and confusion in some cases. The time line may go back to the birth of your main character, or further back. I find this stuff invaluable. It may not work for everybody, and very little of it would ever get into the story, but it gives me a good reference point when I am writing or plotting and planning. How detailed you do it is up to you. I only really use years - unless it's to do with pregnancy/birth times, then I need to go into months.

An example might be (for a random medieval story):

Year 1000: Current King is born.
Year 1010: Main character is born.
Year 1011: War breaks out.
Year 1030: Character is 20 years of age. Character meets the love of his life, the woman who is to marry the King.
Year 1031: Woman marries King but he is evil (oh no).
Year 1031: Character goes on super cool quest to save the woman.
Year 1032: King has a child.
Year 1035: War ends with a peace treaty. Character is caught up in it somehow.

You probably won't be writing these as scenes. It's meant to be a guide so that you can fit in the relevant scenes and so that you know how old people are or where they fit in to the greater events of the world.

A scene list for me (I haven't written one before except for film so this may be a poor example) might be:

Years 1030-1031

Scene 1: Character meets the woman, and she doesn't like him. It's at a market place and there is a dragon involved.
Scene 2: He goes off to sulk and meets some sub-character. The sub-character is a slave he frees.
Scene 3: Woman goes home and is revealed to be a princess. She is told by her father that the King wishes to court her. She leaves later and thinks about the boy she met before. Drama.
Scene 4: The dragon later eats the entire village. Chaos.
Scene 5: Character and sub-character meet an old wizard who tells them they need to take a ring to a volcano and melt it.
 
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I'd say work from the general to the specific.

Start with big overarching goals or story arcs--what major things should happen in this novel and when should they occur relatively to each other is a good place to start.

Work your way in. Figure out how things fit together and where a move might suggest itself. Don't be afraid to use the "cut and paste" feature of Word or your wapuro of choice to rearrange things, but make sure you consider the consequences and benefits of a move and adjust accordingly.

If you have an idea for a specific scene write it immediately and file it away into your outline (OneNote is great at letting you have links and so forth almost seamlessly and I can only imagine that it will continue to improve, but you can link files in Word and other wapuros relatively easily as well).

(An example of this is that i have the final scene for my entire series written before I have the second book finished. In fact, I frequently write end scenes before the beginning ones. I generally write the scenes that interest me or call to me regardless of order and rely on my outlines and familiarity with the story to avoid continuity errors. My primary goal is for EVERY scene to eventually do this. If I can't write a transitional scene that calls to me, then there is something flawed or it better not be more than a handful of paragraphs. A lot of people have said that every sentence needs to hook the reader, but if that is true, then you DEFINITELY need every scene to hook them.)

At the specific end of the spectrum, if you have any extended scenes, it might be worthwhile to outline them as well whether you have them written or not. I especially do this with battles (and diagram the stages and actions of it out on paper), but I also will outline major political moments (senates and diplomacy and the like) as well as complicated scenes.

As a final note, don't be afraid to have extra information in your outlines as well. For instance, in my books, I regularly have characters use bona fide spells, and although occasionally they will have names given by the characters, there almost always is an actual name and a description of the spell in my head, so I write this out on the outline when it occurs. I also keep track of other information such as kills, status of equipment, new friends/enemies, new monsters, etc.
 
One thing that may help you is a time line. It can help with character ages as well. Finding out what age they will be at a certain point. You don't necessarily need to describe everybody's age, but for you as a writer, it can be helpful. A time line can tell you the basics of what is happening at what point, and it can limit plot holes and confusion in some cases. The time line may go back to the birth of your main character, or further back. I find this stuff invaluable. It may not work for everybody, and very little of it would ever get into the story, but it gives me a good reference point when I am writing or plotting and planning. How detailed you do it is up to you. I only really use years - unless it's to do with pregnancy/birth times, then I need to go into months.

I especially agree about the time line. In my main series, I have extensive time lines. I have a "broad" timeline that goes back 30 billion years and lists major events (cataclysms, extinctions, superwars, big bangs, risings of gods, etc) and then each story's location is placed on it.

Then my series inside the series have their own timelines detailing what is going on throughout the series (both known and unknown).

(By "series inside the series", I mean to say that my current main WIP is a multiverse on the order of Star Wars, WoW, Dragonlance, etc. There is a "main series" inside this multiverse, and then there are side series, prequel series, world forming series, etc.)
 

Butterfly

Auror
I usually work from two outlines.

A brief basic overview of the whole story. The main events, twists, locations.

And more detailed outlines for each chapter, usually three chapters at a time, so I can connect all the necessary points of emotions, events, characters, and keep them consistent from one to the other. Helps to keep track of where I am and where I am going.

I also keep a note file, of things to go back and change as events unfold, a calendar of sorts, set to the story just to link everything together in its right place, and a spreadsheet of work done, and to do.
 

srcroft

Minstrel
I've been yelled at by free form authors about this, but most real and traditionally published authors agree:
Create a Theme / Concept
Create an outline
Create Scene / Chapter outline that reflects your plot point sand how you will get there
Write 1 sentence to describe your chapter.
Turn that into 1 paragraph
Then 1 page
Use that 1 page as your guide for your chapter details

Obviously this will help you cut things, simplify, or make more complex.

There are a few authors that are probably borderline idiot-savants that can just spit out words that are brilliant. Look at my signature -- concepts are easy, story telling is a gift, and writing is a craft.
The key is craft! Crafts take practice and expertise and hard work--just like anything. So your instinct to organize is right.

They can yell all they want, but as someone working on phd classes in lit/creative writing, I will say that it i their fear of putting in hard work and effort that makes them lash out at the idea of hard work. They want to believe that they gift of storytelling is enough and they stand out. Craft craft craft, become a wordsmith.
 

Jess A

Archmage
I especially agree about the time line. In my main series, I have extensive time lines. I have a "broad" timeline that goes back 30 billion years and lists major events (cataclysms, extinctions, superwars, big bangs, risings of gods, etc) and then each story's location is placed on it.

Then my series inside the series have their own timelines detailing what is going on throughout the series (both known and unknown).

(By "series inside the series", I mean to say that my current main WIP is a multiverse on the order of Star Wars, WoW, Dragonlance, etc. There is a "main series" inside this multiverse, and then there are side series, prequel series, world forming series, etc.)

I can see why you need an extensive time line. A lot of series are successful in using a universe to create various stories. I quite enjoy them.
 

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
Crafts take practice and expertise and hard work--just like anything.

I couldn't agree more.

but most real and traditionally published authors agree:

I have two disagreements here:

1. The implication (or at least leaving the statement open for inferrence) that "real" and "published" are linked.
2. The word "most." It is my understanding that there are a good number of "real" authors who do not follow the steps you described.

So your instinct to organize is right.

If he thinks he needs more organization, I think he probably does need the outline. It can be quite helpful.

I will say that it i their fear of putting in hard work and effort that makes them lash out at the idea of hard work.

I didn't completely follow your thinking here. What I think you said is: Outlining is hard work. Fear of hard work makes the anti-outlining crowd lash out at those who advocate outlining.

If I misinterpreted, my apologies. If I didn't (in general essence at least), I'd like to offer a contrary viewpoint.

(At the risk of sounding like Steerpike) The creative process is unique to the individual. It's hard to impose one methodology on everyone. For myself, I doubt that I'll follow the same methodology for more than one book until I've written a dozen.

I'm not saying that outlining doesn't have its advantages. It definitely does. It's organized and efficient. It helps you keep track of all the little details. It focuses the writer on the all important story and character arcs.

Stephen King, in his very well-written and informative book, On Writing, says that whether you outline or follow another method is up to the individual. There is no one right way to write. I tend to agree with him.

I like the following concept:

Think of a genre, a character, and a significant situation. Start writing. See what happens. The need to know what comes next drives your writing. A lot of storytelling is intuitive. Let your creative juices flow.

The second draft is where you bear down and make sure that your arcs make sense. Of course, this is less efficient than outlining. You have great potential to have to throw away a lot of material. The upside is that you can produce some really good stuff this way.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I certainly don't think outline is a necessity. I don't outline any of my short stories. For longer works, I use a very barebones, skeletal outline. In many cases a point on the outline might be a single word, just to remind me what that particular portion is meant to cover, and then I just write, many times without having a complete idea of where the scene is going.

The important thing is to do what works best for you. The degree to which writing needs to be organized ahead of time will vary from author to author.
 

Ankari

Hero Breaker
Moderator
I use Scrivener which allows for story-boarding. I write out a paragraph of what I want each chapter to reveal, then go from there. I will say that the outline/storyboard has made the story better. I, as well as my alpha/beta readers have noticed a strong improvement.
 

Aosto

Sage
I've been entertaining the idea of writing an outline. However, when I sit and dedicate a block of time to it I find myself empty. It seems the creative juices aren't flowing unless i'm actively putting my thoughts in prose. I have a general idea of where my story is going, but I like to be strung along. It's as if I'm the reader creating the story as I go. If a scene does not entertain me, then I re-write it.
Yes, as a discovery writer, there are times I get stuck. I just walk away for a few day and come back.
As for keeping track of information, I do take note of this as I go. Locations, names, ages, genealogies, this all gets written down as it's created in the story.
 
Look at my signature -- concepts are easy, story telling is a gift, and writing is a craft.
The key is craft! Crafts take practice and expertise and hard work--just like anything. So your instinct to organize is right.
I'm not saying I disagree with anything you've said, but I don't think you get to quote yourself :p

I've been entertaining the idea of writing an outline. However, when I sit and dedicate a block of time to it I find myself empty. It seems the creative juices aren't flowing unless i'm actively putting my thoughts in prose. I have a general idea of where my story is going, but I like to be strung along. It's as if I'm the reader creating the story as I go. If a scene does not entertain me, then I re-write it.
Yes, as a discovery writer, there are times I get stuck. I just walk away for a few day and come back.
As for keeping track of information, I do take note of this as I go. Locations, names, ages, genealogies, this all gets written down as it's created in the story.
I'm a discovery writer also! But I outline out the wazoo. This is what keeps my discoveries in check. And this is why I also sometimes rush ahead and write scenes over a decade down the storyline. After figuring out what is going to happen later, I don't ask myself, "How can I make this happen?" but rather, "How can this happen?" the connotation is different even if the denotation is the same. On the one hand, an author asking how they can make this happen will probably have some contrivances; they run the risk of their plot being self-serving and having too many author "a-ha" moments as mentioned earlier. On the other, the author figures out a living, breathing world and sees what seems logical and makes sense and follows the world's natural path to the desired outcome, with some surprises (for the reader and the author) along the way.

At least, that's how I see it :)
 

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
they run the risk of their plot being self-serving and having too many author "a-ha" moments as mentioned earlier. On the other, the author figures out a living, breathing world and sees what seems logical and makes sense and follows the world's natural path to the desired outcome, with some surprises (for the reader and the author) along the way.

I'm afraid that I don't agree 100%, or, actually, do agree with what you said but have a quibble with what you said versus my perceived reality (should I add more qualifications, or do you think those suffice?).

If you follow the natural outcome, I agree that you don't risk the ah-ha moments. However, I think that outlining does not eliminate that particular danger. If I'm outlining, I can still think of an killer ending and then have to figure out how to get there. Additionally, I can follow a natural outcome as a result of discovery when each scene leads me logically into the next scene.
 
I'm afraid that I don't agree 100%, or, actually, do agree with what you said but have a quibble with what you said versus my perceived reality (should I add more qualifications, or do you think those suffice?).

If you follow the natural outcome, I agree that you don't risk the ah-ha moments. However, I think that outlining does not eliminate that particular danger. If I'm outlining, I can still think of an killer ending and then have to figure out how to get there. Additionally, I can follow a natural outcome as a result of discovery when each scene leads me logically into the next scene.

No no no, I think it needs more qualifications ;)

...but I think that I agree with you.

So I think that outlining increases the chance of forcing contrived scenes on the reader, but one way you can avoid this is by asking "how can this happen" as opposed to "how can I force this to be what happens". Where I have changed the previous word "make" to the new boldfaced "force".
 

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
Here's an interesting question to turn it around on you:

You've got a great plot and figure out the perfect ending. To get there, however, you have to fudge it the tiniest little bit. Say you have to have your character behave in an inconsistent manner.

Is it worth it to save your awesome ending?
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
So I think that outlining increases the chance of forcing contrived scenes on the reader....

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.
 
Here's an interesting question to turn it around on you:

You've got a great plot and figure out the perfect ending. To get there, however, you have to fudge it the tiniest little bit. Say you have to have your character behave in an inconsistent manner.

Is it worth it to save your awesome ending?

Not to me. But save it by imagining something that works.

Or imagine a better ending that works.
 
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.

I don't really define that as being either of the two choices (outline or freeform). That seems like freeform with radical imposition of author's will for no reason. But yes, if that is a third choice, then outline is better than that. I agree.
 
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