Writing Process – Plot Outline
You have this idea for a book and you want to get going on it. That’s great, but before you type even a single word you need to create a plot outline. Nothing fancy, just a few sentences or bullet points detailing what will happen in each chapter.
This will ensure each chapter is meaningful by progressing the plot or revealing something about the characters. There is nothing I hate more than reading a chapter or watching a scene in a movie where at the end of it all nothing really changed (I’m looking at you Peter Jackson, director of The Hobbit, and that scene with the mountains fighting).
Having a plot outline will do much more than just save you from pointless chapters. It will also flesh out gaps in your storylines, and believe me there will be many. When this happens I will usually write the start and end point of the gap and then brain storm what could happen to resolve it. Nothing is too dumb or outlandish at this point, you will evaluate the merits later.
For example. I had the conundrum of my main character Hastelloy alive today telling his therapist about time he spent in ancient Egypt building the pyramid. Was he immortal, was he an alien with an extremely long life span, is he just plain crazy? Sometimes a solution presents new gaps like if he was an alien, how does he pass himself off as human on earth. It is truly an exercise in unfiltered stream of consciousness.
In the end I went with Hastelloy being an alien with a piece of technology that allowed him to transfer his life force into a new body. Solves the long time span required and how he can look human. It also gave lots of unique character and cultural issues to dive into as the story progressed about the ethics of altering form, assisted suicide, etc. It was outlandish and crazy, but it was also interesting and worked. I never would have put it all together had I not taken the time to draw the plot out and throw every solution I could think of at it. Take the time and create your plot outline. Hours spent here will save you weeks and months down the road.
Next up: Characters
This will ensure each chapter is meaningful by progressing the plot or revealing something about the characters. There is nothing I hate more than reading a chapter or watching a scene in a movie where at the end of it all nothing really changed (I’m looking at you Peter Jackson, director of The Hobbit, and that scene with the mountains fighting).
Having a plot outline will do much more than just save you from pointless chapters. It will also flesh out gaps in your storylines, and believe me there will be many. When this happens I will usually write the start and end point of the gap and then brain storm what could happen to resolve it. Nothing is too dumb or outlandish at this point, you will evaluate the merits later.
For example. I had the conundrum of my main character Hastelloy alive today telling his therapist about time he spent in ancient Egypt building the pyramid. Was he immortal, was he an alien with an extremely long life span, is he just plain crazy? Sometimes a solution presents new gaps like if he was an alien, how does he pass himself off as human on earth. It is truly an exercise in unfiltered stream of consciousness.
In the end I went with Hastelloy being an alien with a piece of technology that allowed him to transfer his life force into a new body. Solves the long time span required and how he can look human. It also gave lots of unique character and cultural issues to dive into as the story progressed about the ethics of altering form, assisted suicide, etc. It was outlandish and crazy, but it was also interesting and worked. I never would have put it all together had I not taken the time to draw the plot out and throw every solution I could think of at it. Take the time and create your plot outline. Hours spent here will save you weeks and months down the road.
Next up: Characters
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