How to Outline a Novel the Master Guide (With Template!)

How to Outline a Novel the Master Guide (With Template!) How to Outline a Novel: an Author's Guide (with Template) Are your eyes tired of staring at a blank Word document? Are you sick of crashing and burning every time you try and start a novel? Well, we have the not-so-secret key to success right here: it involves learning how to outline a novel.Book outlines have saved the neck of many a bestselling writer - but the process behind them is mysterious at best. In this post, we pull back the curtain and show you (step-by-step) how to create a story outline. If you’re looking for some additional inspiration, skip to the appropriate section below to download a book outline template.The argument for outliningDon’t let the naysayers fool you: a story outline is the closest thing to a â€Å"get out of jail free† card in the long game of novel-writing.Time invested in a story outline is foresight gained for your novel. Imagine you’re a rock climber looking up at a tall cliff, for instance. You could just leap onto the rock and see what happens. You might reach the top this way - but there’s a bigger chance that you’ll fall face-first or hit a dead-end along the way. Or: you could stay on the ground a little longer to read the route. This would enable you to climb faster, more fluidly, and with greater confidence in the near future.What is Plot? An Author's Guide to Storytelling Read post Identify the right novel outlineLike we mentioned, there’s no one-size-fit-all for a novel outline. Think of it as a way of organizing your room - everyone tidies up differently.So if you’ve had trouble outlining in the past, you may be dealing with a classic case of square peg meets round hole. Trust that there’s a story outline for every writer: it’s just a question of finding the right one to fit your mindset, personality, and writing style. Here we list a few ways that you can plan a work.ðŸâ€" ºÃ¯ ¸  Mind Map A visual approach to outlining that shows the spatial relationships between your plot points, characters, themes, conflicts, chapters - you name it.📄 Synopsis A holistic story outline that gives a brief overview of the story’s plot, characters, conflicts, and themes in a two- to three-page paper.âš « The Beat Sheet Documents the beats of the story in shorthand. Each individual ‘beat’ gets a bullet (or a number). Examples of beat sheets are here and here.💀 The Skeleton Constructs the spine of the novel, or the key plot points. Imagine a roadmap with only big-name destinations marked in red - the road to get there is up to you.👠¥ Characters First A character-led novel outline. Prioritizes character development, character arcs, and character beats over planning of the plot.âž ¡Ã¯ ¸  Scenes and Sequences Details all the scenes and sequences - in other words, the large set pieces of the novel.When you have an idea of the novel outline that you want to produce, it's time to arm yourself with the right tools to execute it.What kind of writer are you?Let’s head to the armory, where your choice of outlining software will probably depend on your style of writing. We’ve suggested some for you below - though old-fashioned pen and paper work perfectly fine, too.The Gardener In George R. R. Martin’s own words: â€Å"Gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed, and water it. They kind of know what seed it is. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don't know how many branches it's going to have. They find out as it grows.†Since this kind of writer engages in organic world-building and character-building, a traditional novel outline probably won’t be a natural fit for them - though a mind map might be useful.🔠¨Ã‚  Tools to consider if you’re a Gardener: Coggle, SimplenoteThe Architect Architects need to plan everything before they can get going. This kind of writer will know how many rooms are going into the house, where the sink’s going to be, and what kind of wallpaper they’re going to use.🔠¨Ã‚  Tools to consider if you’re an Architect: Scrivener, WorkflowyThe Designer Designers are somewhere in-between: they have a pencil sketch in place and like to have a good idea of what the painting will look like. However, they might not yet know what precise colors they’re going to use. They’ll figure that out as they work.Though they might not rely on a strictly detailed novel outline, they may want to sketch out a skeleton of plot points.🔠¨Ã‚  Tools to consider if you’re a Designer: Scrivener, yWriterThe Knitter Knitters sit down and write scenes as they pop into their head. They’ll then go back and â€Å"knit† the sequences together later. Since they might randomly have Scenes 2, 10, 11, and 27 down on paper, it becomes a question of â€Å"filling in the blanks.†To them, a novel outline will be helpful as long as it gives them freedom to move scenes around. (Think notecards or a corkboard.)🔠¨Ã‚  Tools to consider if you’re a Knitter: Trello, yWriterNow that you’re equipped, we can ask the million-dollar question: how do you outline a novel? Are you a Gardener or an Architect when you write? Double-check in this post How to outline a novel in 3 steps To make it easy for yourself, you can break the entire outlining process down into three stages:Step 1: Setting the stageStep 2: Organizing scenesStarting scenesBuilding scenesStep 3: Troubleshooting your story outlineIf you’ve already made progress with your story, don’t hesitate to hop to whichever step you need. How to create a book outline (and more tips) in three easy steps Step 1: Setting the stageWithout groundwork, your scenes (and story) will collapse in on itself. That’s why you first need to set the stage for your novel outline. Pick and structure your story outline based on what you think is key to your storytelling. If you’re writing a story with a huge cast of characters, you may want to include a column that tells you where each character is in every scene. If you’re juggling a lot of subplots and character arcs, use your novel outline to trace that.To give you some inspiration, we created a few different novel outline templates. Feel free to download them for your use and alter them however you need!Book Outline Template #1: A basic story outline that includes all of the common variables.Book Outline Template #2: A plot-oriented story outline that tracks each scene’s relationship with your plots and subplots  (inspired by J.K. Rowling's novel outline).Book Outline Template #3: A simple scene list.Step 3: Troubleshooting your story outlineDon’t worry if your story isn’t perfect yet. That’s one of the magical things about story outlines: it’s designed to let you spot your blind spots ahead of time.To troubleshoot your novel outline, first step back so that you can view your story through fresh eyes. Then bring out your highlighter - and be ready to be as ruthless as a cranky teacher wielding a red pen. Highlight wherever:An idea is left hanging in a sceneTwo scenes need a bridgeA scene is redundant or gratuitousA wild plot hole appearsIf you find yourself struggling while you plan your book, that might indicate an underlying weakness in your story that you’ll want to address. To give you an idea of what we mean, we’ve listed a couple of common symptoms (and potential treatments) below.Your story doesn’t really go anywhere. 💠¡ The problem here may be a weak premise. Consider going back and perfecting it to a T. What’s the story question that will compel readers to flip the pages? (For instance: Is Katniss going to survive the Hunger Games?)Your pacing is uneven throughout the novel outline. 💠¡ Mapping your story directly onto the structure of a story arc is one way to fix awkward scene placement and order. Here’s a free 10-part course on the 3-Act Story Structure if you’d like to learn more about it.You don’t know what should come next. 💠¡ Try to return to your characters to drive the plot. What would they do next if this happened? Where would that then take the story? If this is a persistent problem, it’ll probably be worth it to re-visit the character development phase and hone your understanding of your characters. Here's a free course on character development if you'd like to dive into it.Examples of story outlinesYou didn’t think that you’re the only writer out there who’s outlining, did you? Many bestselling authors depend on story outlines to organize their thoughts and map out their books. Whether it’s J.K. Rowling or Joseph Heller, what’s interesting is how they chose to plan their stories. To see even more examples of book outlines, check out this post over at Flavorwire. Check out J.K. Rowling's book outline for Order of the Phoenix - and more This story outline that James Salters created for Light Years sketches the sequences of the book, with choice character notes and dialogue inserted at random.TEMPLATE:  How to create a novel outline Get a free book outline template! "How to create a story outline in three steps" As a parting gift, here are the three book outline templates again. Feel free to change any particular book outline template to match your needs  - and if you have any suggestions or updates for them, please do feel free to drop us your thoughts in the comments. We hope that they're useful.Book Outline Template #1: A basic story outline that includes all of the common variables.Book Outline Template #2: A plot-oriented story outline that tracks each scene’s relationship with your plots and subplots (inspired by J.K. Rowling's novel outline).Book Outline Template #3: A simple scene list.What kind of writer are you? Are you a Gardener or an Architect? If the former, what process do you use when you're outlining? Let us know in the comments.