NaNoWriMo, Part Seven: Outline
Sorry it's late, guys! I'm actually on vacation right now, so I haven't had steady access to things. But here it is now, and I hope to be able to get the next one out on time. :)
Now that we've gotten most of the concept stuff out of the way, it's time to write your outline. An outline is important to have if you're going to be writing quickly. For those of you with jobs and families, you'll likely have to cram your writing into whatever spare time you can find, which might not be very much. This means that any time you spend trying to figure out what's supposed to happen next is probably going to be taking away from the time you could spend actually writing it.
This is one of the reasons why an outline is an important tool. An outline tells you what happens next so you don't have to think about it as much. It keeps your plot points in order and organized, and takes some of the guesswork out of your writing. This will help you to write faster and keep up with your word count goals each day.
Step One
Be prepared. Get your plot graph, you're going to need it. You'll probably want character bios and profiles, too. A good portion of your hard work should have been completed when you worked on your plot graph earlier in the series, but you still have some work that needs to be done. You're also going to need paper and pen or pencil (or computer, if you're doing it digitally).
Step Two
Decide what form your outline is going to take. For me, I use a list of the things that need to happen and the order they need to happen in. I don't typically organize this by chapter, but that can be done. You can organize it like a graph, you can use a timeline, whatever is going to work best for you. Just make sure you have the tools you'll need, and your outline will give you all the information you need to write the story.
Step Three
Write out the basics. For this part, it might be easier if you do it on a computer, because that will let you move things around easier than if you used a notebook. Take your major plot points (points from your main plot) and write them out in whatever format you've decided to use. For example, if I need one character to leave her home, I would write that down. It doesn't need to have any detail yet, you're just taking down the skeleton of the story here.
Step Four
Add in subplots. You've got the basic part of your plot down, the main parts that you need for it to make sense. Now you can add in the subplots you have. Go through your outline and put in the different pieces you need for each subplot (tip: do it one subplot at a time). Again, just a line or two so you know what happens when; don't worry about detail for this step.
Step Five
Once you have your story skeleton, you can add detail. If, for example, you want to connect something in the first chapter/act/scene to something later, like a knife your character recognizes, this would be the time to note where he/she sees the knife the first time. All of this is still stuff that's necessary for plot, or for story. So you wouldn't add something that's not going to do anything for the story, even if you really, really want to.
Step Five
Revise. This is the time where you go through and make sure everything works properly together. So far, your main plot and subplots have been kept mostly separate. This step will allow you to tie them together better. If, for example, your character goes through something emotional (the death of a loved one, a break-up, etc.) that's going to affect how they act later. They might, for instance, be depressed through one of your main plot points. This is the step where you make sure that they'll still do what they need to do for the plot, or to tweak the plot so it's consistent with how they're feeling.
Now that we've gotten most of the concept stuff out of the way, it's time to write your outline. An outline is important to have if you're going to be writing quickly. For those of you with jobs and families, you'll likely have to cram your writing into whatever spare time you can find, which might not be very much. This means that any time you spend trying to figure out what's supposed to happen next is probably going to be taking away from the time you could spend actually writing it.
This is one of the reasons why an outline is an important tool. An outline tells you what happens next so you don't have to think about it as much. It keeps your plot points in order and organized, and takes some of the guesswork out of your writing. This will help you to write faster and keep up with your word count goals each day.
Step One
Be prepared. Get your plot graph, you're going to need it. You'll probably want character bios and profiles, too. A good portion of your hard work should have been completed when you worked on your plot graph earlier in the series, but you still have some work that needs to be done. You're also going to need paper and pen or pencil (or computer, if you're doing it digitally).
Step Two
Decide what form your outline is going to take. For me, I use a list of the things that need to happen and the order they need to happen in. I don't typically organize this by chapter, but that can be done. You can organize it like a graph, you can use a timeline, whatever is going to work best for you. Just make sure you have the tools you'll need, and your outline will give you all the information you need to write the story.
Step Three
Write out the basics. For this part, it might be easier if you do it on a computer, because that will let you move things around easier than if you used a notebook. Take your major plot points (points from your main plot) and write them out in whatever format you've decided to use. For example, if I need one character to leave her home, I would write that down. It doesn't need to have any detail yet, you're just taking down the skeleton of the story here.
Step Four
Add in subplots. You've got the basic part of your plot down, the main parts that you need for it to make sense. Now you can add in the subplots you have. Go through your outline and put in the different pieces you need for each subplot (tip: do it one subplot at a time). Again, just a line or two so you know what happens when; don't worry about detail for this step.
Step Five
Once you have your story skeleton, you can add detail. If, for example, you want to connect something in the first chapter/act/scene to something later, like a knife your character recognizes, this would be the time to note where he/she sees the knife the first time. All of this is still stuff that's necessary for plot, or for story. So you wouldn't add something that's not going to do anything for the story, even if you really, really want to.
Step Five
Revise. This is the time where you go through and make sure everything works properly together. So far, your main plot and subplots have been kept mostly separate. This step will allow you to tie them together better. If, for example, your character goes through something emotional (the death of a loved one, a break-up, etc.) that's going to affect how they act later. They might, for instance, be depressed through one of your main plot points. This is the step where you make sure that they'll still do what they need to do for the plot, or to tweak the plot so it's consistent with how they're feeling.
No comments have been added yet.
