Wait! Stop! I see you over there, Pantser, heading for the exit button once you saw the title. But this is important for you. In fact, I bet you’re already outlining and you don’t even know it. You come along too, Plotter. Maybe you’ll learn something new.
A Word on Creativity
Before we dive into writing an outline, let me give you one thought on why they’re helpful. Have you ever pulled out a blank page because you really, really wanted to write something? What happened? I’m betting you smiled at the page for thirty seconds, full of hope and excitement. But when no words immediately came to your mind, and all the potential of that blank page overwhelmed you, you probably set down your pen or closed your laptop. Am I right?
That’s because creativity thrives under limitations. If you give your brain endless potential, it won’t know where to start, but put up a few lines to color within and the muse will come running. Don’t believe me? Pull out that blank page again. Write a scene that includes the words: vines, pack, brother, and tremble. Are ideas stirring in your brain now? I thought so.
This is why outlines can help foster creativity. They establish parameters for your brain to work within and shut out the overwhelm of the blank page.
Did I convince you that outlines are great? Hopefully, yes. If not, that’s ok. I’m not done yet. Maybe you tried outlining before and decided it’s not your thing, or maybe you’re intimidated by having to bullet out everything that happens in your story. That’s understandable. But what if I told you outlines don’t have to work that way?
Outlining As a Spectrum
We tend to think of outlining as a binary state: either we have a multi-page, scene by scene description of the plot or we don’t. But that’s not true. Outlining is a spectrum as wide and diverse as there are writers to do it.
You’re probably familiar with outlines that look like this:
Act I
Opening Image
Begin with Kia fighting a group of petty thieves and dispatching them easily. Show her internal thoughts and her bitterness. Something on the thieves’ clothing triggers a memory of her childhood, so we get a hint at the past she left behind, but she shoves the thought away.
She returns whatever was stolen to the villagers and they shower her in gratitude, almost reverently.
Theme Stated
Kia returns to town for supplies and is told a strange man is looking for her by the barkeep. He mentions this strange man is running from something to which Kia replies that everyone is running from something. The barkeep then states the theme “your past you carry with you. There is no outrunning it” or something like that.
Setup
Kia sees the strange man is actually someone from her past. She avoids him and returns home to her quiet, lonely life. But show that the barkeep was right. She’s dwelling on the appearance of this man from her past and it’s bothering her, but she determines to not see him and keeps running from her childhood.
Look familiar? I bet it does. But, guess what? It’s not the only way to write an outline. Have you ever seen one that looks like this:
Kia was falsely accused of a crime as a youth and betrayed by the system that she believed in. She ran away from home and made a life for herself as a kind of vigilante in the wilderness.
One day Ren, an old friend from her childhood, shows up asking for her help to return home and fix the system that ruined her life. It takes some convincing,but she goes with him.
After many adventures and even a little romance, Kia and Ren succeed in rooting out the corruption at home and Ren can now run things how they always should have been done, bringing Kia peace that she finally faced her past.
How’s that for an outline? Only a brief idea of a beginning, middle, and end. A bit different, right? But, it still counts! Anything that helps give you direction when drafting is an outline, even if it only exists in your head. And any outline can help you write an amazing book. Every aspect can be customized to better fit your process—length, level of detail, structure, even at what point you outline.
How to Outline
You still here, Pantser? Good. You too, Plotter? Excellent, because now is the fun part—the meaty bit. How to outline, my tips and tricks for any writer:
Explore common plot structures. Study as many ways to break down a plot as you can find, like Save the Cat! Writes A Novel’s beat sheet or Dan Wells’ seven point plot structure. Look up how your favorite authors dissect plot and see which method makes the most sense to you. When outlining, you do not need to follow every point in these structures but they can help you see the shape of your character’s journey or spark some ideas if you’re stuck.
Start simple and build. If you’re still feeling overwhelmed by outlining, start small. Maybe just bullet out the key points in your hero’s arc or the events you know need to happen. Stop there if you need to, or go back and build in more depth or add in side plots. You don’t need to have it all figured out from the start.
Shape plot around character. This is what I’ve found to be the most essential to any outline. Stories resonate with us because they take a character on an inner journey. Sure, they might get into a few fights and see some cool places along the way, but it’s the emotional arc that touches us. So, if you’re starting an outline, remember that the plot should be designed to take your character from their starting emotional state to a transformed emotional state. Get to know your character a little more first, if you need to. Then start your outline with their beginning and ending point and begin figuring out what makes them change along the way.
Think of plot points as a causal chain. This contributes to great pacing and also helps with the brainstorming process. Most writers learn about the inciting incident that sends our hero on their journey, but plot is really a long string of events and reactions to those events. Methods like “scene/sequel” and “yes but, no and” can help you string your plot together.
Don’t fill in a hole just to fill it. I’ve made this mistake too many times and it always comes back to bite me in revisions. If you’re not sure how to link two events in your outline and a little brainstorming or talking it through with critique partners isn’t helping, leave it alone. Maybe as you write an idea will come to you and, if it doesn’t, you can decide in revisions the best way to fill that hole. In my experience, forcing an idea into a gap only sends my characters in the wrong direction and creates words for me to delete later.
Remember to feel inspired by your outline. If at any point, you feel like you’re drowning then stop. Losing that spark of discovery usually indicates you’ve added too many details to your outline and will have a harder time drafting. I once over planned a project. I had an 18,000-word outline. (I know. It’s ridiculous.) And, guess what? I’ve tried and failed twice to write that book. You only need enough details to help give you direction while you’re drafting. Make sure that your outline inspires you to put words down on the page and doesn’t make you feel like you’ve already written the book sans prose.
At first glance, you might think all of these tips only work for long, detailed outlines but you’re wrong! An outline with three points can still be shaped around character; an outline that’s less than a page long can still keep you inspired to write your story. Take these ideas and adapt them to your process.
Pantsers! You still here? Good, because this next section is the part I think you’ll like best.
When to Outline
Outlining comes before drafting, right? Wrong! Or rather, not necessarily. Many writers plan at least a little before they draft, but you don’t have to. Here are a few times that outlining can help:
Before drafting. Again, this is probably the most popular option but not a necessity. Though, for me, some planning upfront really saves me a headache while I’m writing and gives me some scenes to be excited about.
While drafting. I bet this thought hadn’t occurred to you before and I think, Pantser, you’ll find it to your liking. So many times while writing the first draft we get stuck or feel like the plot has flattened out. These are the perfect times to dust off your outlining skills and find a way forward. Maybe you took a wrong turn a couple chapters back or you just need to see the bigger picture for a second to decide where they should go next.
After drafting. Not all outlines need to be from scratch. Creating an outline of your completed draft is a great way to get a mental picture of what you wrote and decide how to make it better. It can help call attention to plot holes or opportunities to beef up the character arcs. And just like that, you have a revision plan!
In between revisions. Rinsing and repeating the previous step for each draft can be very helpful in guiding your edits. But another way to incorporate outlining into your revisions is to use a plot structure, like three act, and see how your current draft compares. Can you find each of the plot points in your draft? Are you missing anything crucial to the plot or your character’s development?
Final Words
So, now you understand the spectrum of outlining, what things to include in your plan, and when an outline can come in handy. My job here is almost done. I only have two more thoughts to leave you with:
In the immortal words of Pirates of the Caribbean's Captain Barbossa, “they’re more like guidelines”. If you’re feeling trapped by your outline, then it’s time to give yourself more freedom. Don’t be afraid to scrap an outline completely or deviate from what you’ve written if the story is pulling you in a different direction. There are no rules!
Experiment, experiment, experiment! Try a few different ways of outlining, see what you like, and keep tweaking until it’s just right for you. Even if you think you have a good system, switch it up for a project and see what happens. If you hate it, you can always go back.
I used to think I was a hardcore outliner. Everything else I wrote in life (even this very blog), I always, always, always started with a bulleted outline and slowly built out each point until I had a finished product. So, when it came to novels, I thought I’d do the same. I outlined like crazy! I had sub-paragraphs for each chapter with even more notes in bullets below. But I’ve found, through my own experimenting, that I’m actually more of a Pantser. I need general direction for major events, or at most a sentence per chapter, and that’s it. More shuts down my creativity, but less provides just enough limitations to make it thrive.
So put on your lab coat and run some tests! Yes, I mean you, Pantser. And you, Plotter. Who knows, you might even switch titles.
Happy outlining, friends!
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About the Author
Megan Wald is a YA fantasy author pursuing traditional publication of her work. She believes that writing is a skill that anyone can develop, and she is in the process of launching a website with free resources and articles to do just that. Follow along on her Instagram @meganwaldwrites for updates.
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