If you’re anything like me, the word “outline” makes you groan. Why would you want to plan out your whole story before you even start writing it? What’s the fun in that? Aren’t we supposed to let our characters and plot develop naturally?
Why you need an outline
Without a roadmap, your story can end up in the ditch. I’ve found that having a basic outline doesn’t limit the natural growth of the story, but simply makes it easier for you as the writer to know where you’re going when you sit down to work on your novel.
If you write a few pages a day, you can look ahead to what’s coming next and get that scene working in your mind. The next day, after expanding that tiny synopsis into a real scene in your imagination, the words will flow easily.
With that in mind, here are some practical rules to help you plan out your story.
Rule #1: Brainstorm.
Give yourself a deadline. You need an idea by the end of the week, something to spark the story. This could be a line of dialogue, an interesting character, a cool setting, a plot point, you name it. Write down everything that comes to mind. Throw ideas at the wall until one of them sticks.
Rule #2: Outline.
Take it from me—I’ve started writing a lot of books armed with only my idea from Rule #1. How many of those have I actually finished? And how many were actually good?
You might hate it, but you’ve got to do some math. Want to write a 50k-word book with 1,667-word chapters? That’s 30 chapters you need to plan. Get your hands on some notecards and write down a 1-2 sentence synopsis or a few bullet points for each chapter. It doesn’t have to be pretty or poetic—it just has to give you a general idea of what’s going to happen.
Rule #3: Organize.
By writing out your whole story, play-by-play, on the notecards, you should start to see a recognizable plot structure taking form. You can use the Three-Act Plot Structure to lay out your scenes into three lists: Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. (Duh.)
The last scene in Act 1 should include a big turning point, or inciting event, that launches the story into Act 2. This event is the point of no return for your characters, and they should choose to continue forward anyway.
Then, the last scene in Act 2 should be a catalyst that launches the story into Act 3, which has the highest stakes and most action.
You can also use Christopher Booker’s “Meta-Plot” to organize your whole story into five categories: Anticipation, Dream, Frustration, Nightmare, and Resolution.
Rule #4: Keep it Handy.
There’s no point in creating a map if you leave it in the trunk. Keep your outline easily accessible as you write, and refer to it often to strengthen your plot points. You can tape those notecards on the wall next to your desk, copy them into a notebook, or create a document on your computer that’s always open when you’re writing.
Whatever you decide, remember not to nail yourself into the outline. If you need an event to happen earlier or later than you had originally planned, update your plan.
Writing is a process, and I hope this one works for you. In Part 2 of this series, I’ll lay out some practical rules for creating great characters. In the meantime, you can check out some of my other Writing Rules Project posts, like this one about my own adventures in outlining!
But for now, I want to hear from you. How do you plan your stories? Share your experience in the comments below.
I would usually make basic character portfolios and include what their roles were in the story. If I thought of a major event in terms of plot, I would map out how that would effect each character. I tended to be much more interested in how the story affected my characters than keeping track of where the story went…which, as you can guess, didn’t pan out well for me. You’ve given some good tips and reasons why an outline should be the way to go!
Thank you Kamryn this is very useful!