Outlining is like one of those words that starts to divide people. “I don’t like outlining!” “Without outlining you don’t know where you are going!” On and on. I get it. Some people like it, others don’t. In the end, there are different types of writers and we should respect everyone’s process.
Outlining is to draw, trace, or define the outer edge or shape into something. Sometimes people hear outlining and think of this complex code to create a book, when in fact it could be pretty much anything that compiles the information you need to guide you from point A to point B in your story. You can have bullets, scribbles, or you can actually have a complex detailed notebook where you know every single detail on everything going on in the story. Should you do a long outline or a small one? Ask yourself, what makes you work better.
At the moment I’m shifting my outline styles depending on the project. On Panda the Magic Dog I had bullet-type outlining and on top of it, I wrote the description and possible dialogues. Why everything was smooshed together? In the end I needed to convey as much information possible to the artist to then do the pictures more or less as I envisioned them. On Reign of Darkness, I have almost three notebooks for the world, characters, and other important things related to the story. Since ROD is a series of six books, I thought it needed this much attention.
Now that you have an idea of outlining, let’s read a better description of the word. An outline is a breakdown of the main and supporting ideas in your essay, report, or speech. Think of it as a map of your paper. Why should I write an outline? An outline can help you organize your ideas coherently. You can then write your assignment, using your outline to guide you. That information is from starkstate.edu
Sometimes as we have covered in past posts, is better to do your stories in little bitts, instead of tackling the whole thing at once. That’s one of the reasons many stories are divided into chapters. At the same time, you have some control while writing. You can actually see beforehand, the intensity of the story. How fast or slow the pace is. Because of these things you can actually do moves because you are seeing a bigger picture.
Remember that the outline is just a guide. Did you get writer’s block? Check your outline. If you want your writing to be easier, keep up with your outline. Since you have it at hand you can add or subtract things on it as you move forward. Another good thing about an outline is that you can see possible plotholes in the story and you can work on them so your manuscript is polished.
If you are till confuse on how to outline, try these things:
- Summary/ Synopsis of the book
• Specific and objectives
• Experimental approaches to be used
• Significance or what you want to convey in the story - Objectives
• Plot whole story
• Subplots
• Possible themes you want to mention - Background
• World
• Characters (profile)
• Symbolisms
• Overall knowledge
• Foreshadow or backstory - Writing
• Genre + Audience
• Style and pacing - References
• Photos
• Similar books, stories, characters
• Dialogues or quotes you don’t want to miss
• The SCENE! Possibly Climax or something you envisioned happening in the story.
• Feelings you want the reader to feel
Hope this helps you a lot. For more information or question, feel free to leave a comment down below. For now, keep writing mis amigos.