Outlining

Any tips on how to outline? Just make a list of things that happen? I really feel like I do need to outline, but I really never did it before and have no idea how to do it...

I don't really like making outlines since they make me feel..."trapped" into a set mold, but when I do, I usually follow this formula.

Character X runs up the ramp and sees Character Y with his band of criminals. X swears revenge for what Y did to his hometown, but Y merely shakes his head in confusion, professing that he is unsure of the exact date and time he committed those atrocities.

Pretty much I just write out a sequence of events, perhaps with some quotes or even a whole conversation between characters if I feel the dialogue is good enough and I want to remember it for that scene. I hope that helps.

Thats what I do. I keep it open so i can add in scenes or change things. If i define it to the last detail I'd just get bored of my idea.

But many writers plan differently, so look up many styles and try them out (some start writing, some edit as they go, some do the "snowflake method" and some outline everything).

edited 4th Nov '14 10:45:01 AM by electronic-tragedy

As a caveat, I primarily operate in screenplay format. So take that as you will.

Some folks can write by the seat of their pants, some folks can't. Personally, I've learned that I work best having an outline from start to finish. If you feel that you need to outline, you very well may be right.

For starters, try doing this: order all of your scenes as bullet points. Then under each bullet point, you can add notes, sequence of events, snippets of dialogue, specific shots — whatever you want. As sparse or as detailed as you think necessary; if all you need are bullet points, go with that. And if, at any point, you get stuck — unsure of how to progress from one point in your story to another — just leave a gap in your outline. Come back and bridge the gap later.

I think it depends on your story. For some stories the outline may help because the story itself is long. For others not really.

One of the most recent ones I wrote was short and didn't need an outline—I just literally wrote out a whole ton of dialogue and train-of-thought sequences and built my story around those. My current story is a longer work, so I had to write one. I started by doing a long three-page summary (not the best idea I've had) and then transformed it into a table of sorts, a row for each chapter, with one column containing the events and the other containing possible changes I wanted to make to the chapter while writing it.

On the occasions I've used/had outlines, they've come to me like the random scenes and dialogues come - sporadically and often incomplete but enough to get the job done.

For example, for my current Wi P I haven't got a start-to-finish outline for the whole story but, amid the random snatches of dialogue, events, scenes and ideas for how characters relate to one another I've got a few mini-outlines for sections of the story - one of which just gets all the characters together: A is lost, encounters B, they are heading back to town together and find C and then D, all meet E, D leaves and they pick up F...

Another of which was for the sequence of events that A went through on discovering he was lost.

I may end up with other outlines covering other parts of the story and to help connect some of the scenes/events/interactions or it might just wind up with a lot of seat-of-the-pants stuff for the rest of the book - never can tell with my ideas.

Sometimes all I have is an over-arching idea of the whole story such as "A's mum is hurt and needs [something] so A solves the problem by doing [whatever]" and I just use that as a vague outline: introduce A and his/her mum, introduce the calamity and the need for [something] then have A decide what to do and have him/her do it... "The End".

My outlines are usually just a dump of everything I've thought of so far for the story, in approximate chronological order. I find they're useful for a) finding out where the holes in your story are so you can focus on filling them (not necessarily plot holes, just places where I've gone "and then one thing led to another and then next scene" without filling anything in) and b) finding places where continuity can be strengthened (sometimes I'll be looking for a good place to add some foreshadowing and it helps to have the entire story laid out in order for that; other times I'll just notice that one event could mirror or reference another one and just throw it in).

Besides, they're both easier to do than actually writing the thing and make writing the thing itself easier.

Outlines are extremely helpful for keeping track of your ideas and not writing yourself into a corner. Because nobody is going to read them other than yourself, you don't need to make them fancy or even use proper grammar or punctuation for that matter. Write things out as a logical progression of ideas and see what works. Again, don't bother with formality; just sketch out the gist of what happens.

It's helpful to practice using stories with which you're already familiar. If you can write a few short paragraphs detailing some personal experience as a narrative, then you've technically written an outline. Just don't overthink it. Outlines save a great deal of work and frustration.

I think of myself as an outlining master. An outline is a map of the story, not the actual landscape – as long as you have it, you can take a side-route and go back to where you were if you don't like that direction. I treat every important thing as a character.

The setting is introduced. The hero is introduced. The mystery is introduced. The villain's minion is introduced (usually as the hero's ally). The romance is introduced. The villain is introduced. The hero's ally is introduced (usually as the villain's minion). The secret is introduced. The weapon is introduced. The setting is explored. The hero is explored. The mystery is explored. The villain's minion is explored (his true nature may be revealed at this point or later on). The romance is explored. The villain is explored. The hero's ally is explored (his true nature may be revealed at this point or later on). The secret is explored. The weapon is explored. The mystery may or may not be solved. The villain's minion may or may not be defeated. The villain may or may not be defeated. The hero's ally may or may not be lost. The secret may or may not be revealed. The weapon may or may not be lost. The hero may or may not be rewarded.

I can move things around or take things out altogether, but the introductions always go before the explorations. I can “explore further” and even “explore further still” to make the story longer. The characters don't HAVE to be people – my villain could be the hero's fear and the villain's minion could be failure. If I don't have a romance or mystery tale in mind, I can take out those sections of the map. It seems formulaic at first, but it's based on standard plot structure and I'm free to shape it to my needs. It makes the whole process run smoother for me (without an outline, I will go headlong into a horrible erotic sideshow with terrible plot and horrible characters).

edited 1st Dec '14 6:22:29 PM by nekomoon14

I'm still learning how to outline (although I'm hell on wheels at character bios), so take whatever I say with a grain of salt.

When I outline, I'm either detailed or vague; I'm detailed about the parts of the story I've got really clear in my head and vague on the parts that I don't. To the point of putting "and then some stuff happens" in an outline, just because that's the best descriptor of the story in my head...at that point in the process. Don't be afraid to be vague early on.

When I sit down to write the first draft of the story, I do not hold myself to the outline I wrote. I just view it as a very, very rough "zero draft" that was really just me puking ideas into my computer. I'll refer to it while I'm writing the first draft but if I have to deviate from it, well then deviation will occur. If I think of something better (and my early notes often provoke this), I'll use it. I believe that's called "editing".

Remember people; it's never "final" until it is in print. Anything and everything can always change until you've sent a book off for publication. I've made huge changes at literally the last minute to stories just because I had a better idea.

Think of an outline as a pre-rough draft; its some notes you can use or discard as is best for the story, as you progress in creation. At least, that's how I do it.