TECH: Outlining Your Novel (part 9)

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Original Posting Dec. 5, 2016

I'll bet you thought I forgot about this! Outlining Your Novel by K. M. Weiland.

Chapter 9 is titled "The Extended Outline: Creating a Story." So now we're going to get into it! Just in case you lost track, so far we've talked about...

Chapter one was about should you outline?
Chapter 2 was about before you begin.
Chapter 3 delved into crafting a premise.
Chapter 4 was connecting the dots in general sketches.
Chapter 5 taught us about key story factors and general sketches.
Chapter 6 was Character Sketches, part one, about backstory.
Chapter 7 was the second part of the character sketches, about character interviews.
Chapter 8 was about settings.
Now we're about to do Chapter 9 on extended outlines.
Chapter ten takes on the abbreviated outline, aka roadmap.
And then we'll hit the conclusion, in chapter eleven, that talks about using the outline.

Whew! Lots of stuff. Okay...

K says that this is mapping out, in as much detail as possible, every road stop in your story. She suggests that this may take several months, but it's also very highly creative. She provides an example of how she does part of her extended outline, which she writes in her notebook. Dated and numbered, these are very much brainstorming, thinking pieces, where she considers different options and ideas. I would call these scene sketches, trying to work out the plot, but with lots of room for later work.

But before you dive into that, exploring the options and having all that fun, K suggest you should think about:

1. What kind of story are you writing? What about tone, pace? She suggests a simple approach. Think about what would you most like to read. Now write that! Look at the books, movies, or whatever that you enjoy. What elements do you really like?

2. Who is your audience? Age, gender, ethnicity, beliefs. Of course, one of the easy methods is to pick out a person, and write for them.

3. What point-of-view will you use? First, third, and of course there are the variations of third, limited and so forth. Some things to think about include how many POV's are you going to use? Who has the most at stake? Who has the most interesting voice? You may want to try playing with voice and tense.

4. Structure your story. Basically, K talks about three parts, beginning, middle, ending.
Beginning: introduce the main character, show the normal world, maybe a characteristic moment? Don't forget the action! Why should the reader care and empathize? What is the main characters desire/goal? Make sure the inciting incident changes the main character's life forever. Oh, let the main character react to the inciting incident.
In the middle: build that spiral of events that are outside the main character's control. Push the goal further out of reach. Let the main character set new goals. Finally, give the new character a decision that shifts them from reaction to attack.
Ending: let the main character achieve a new understanding of themselves and what they are trying to do. Stretch the main character's resolve, make it hard for them. The last-minute recovery is practically required here. Make the main character a hero. Give them a unique response. You may want to show the defeat of the opponent. Let the main character reach their goals. And make sure you have a memorable ending.

5. Consider the three fundamental elements. K says that's relationships, action, and humor. You want to include some of each, with a good balance for your book.

6. You might want to try framing. Often there is a starting and ending that are bookends, with the story in between.

7. The domino effect! Make every scene matter. They should follow each other like dominoes falling.

8. Try reverse outlining! The easiest way to layout dominoes falling is to start at the end. Then work your way backwards.

Finally, with all of that in your mind, scene by scene, bit by bit, lay it all out. There is your extended outline.

And, contrary to rumors, you still have room to maneuver. Yes, you now have a good understanding of the main points in each scene, how your plot is going to work out, but there's still a lot of detail to describe the background, the action, the dialogue, and all the other parts. With the overview in mind, it's a lot easier to do that.

So, outline! We'll write soon!
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