Author Topic: How do you outline?  (Read 2407 times)

Dark_Prophecy

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How do you outline?
« on: January 04, 2010, 01:33:59 PM »
I'm not asking what an outline is, I'm asking how each of you does it when you're working on a story or novel.

For me, I break it all down, Dwight V. Swain style, into scenes and sequels. I start at the beginning of my story and make sure that I've got scenes and sequels from beginning to end. If I can have a character with a goal, a conflict, a disaster, a character's reaction to that disaster, a dilemma and a decision, then I feel confident I can write that scene and sequel, and I move on to the next. It takes some time, but it works for me.

I'm super interested in seeing how everyone else outlines their stuff though, so please reply.
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traven

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Re: How do you outline?
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2010, 12:55:15 AM »
I've tried outlining in the past but it really doesn't work for me. Eventually, I found that I'm a discovery writer and that my first draft is going to be a mish-mash of suckage that will need to be heavily revised later.

The closest I ever get to outlining is in a 'brief overview' style. I'll try to write the story as if I was telling a friend what was going to happen in as few words as possible. Usually this is two pages worth or less, and it is not set in stone. Whenever I find myself stuck I look at those two pages and decide what to do next. Sometimes I get an idea and other times I simply write a later chapter with the knowledge that I will come back and fill in the holes at a later date.

ryos

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Re: How do you outline?
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2010, 09:55:55 AM »
I have outline writer's block. I can outline essays and blog posts, but never fiction. I think a big part of that is that the scenes that I write motivate and inspire the scenes I write in the future. I guess that makes me a discovery writer.

Before I heard the term "discovery writer", I thought I did pretty good outlines. Except, well, they were just all in my head. I build up a mental picture of the world, an understanding of the characters, and key events from the beginning, middle, and end; then, I just start writing. I'd say my conception of the plot is vaguest at the beginning; I need to have the world and characters nailed down pretty tight before I start writing, and the plot grows out of that (and, recursively, out of itself).

If I ever start writing novels, I'll need to write more of this stuff down because it's not all going to fit in my head, and it'll need to stay consistent (stuff held in wetware tends to evolve without my noticing). But as long as I'm still just doing shorties, I can keep refusing to use any sort of formal outline.
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little wilson

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Re: How do you outline?
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2010, 06:49:13 AM »
I start with basic ideas--and use a whole slew of documents to do it, all for different purposes. It's actually kind of crazy looking at the folder for my current project...So many docs. Anyway, after I have the characters and world meshed out enough and a basic idea of the story, I'll generally start a chapter-by-chapter outline, just so I know exactly where it's going and how fast. Then I move to the actual writing.

Or at least, this is how it would be if I would actually write the outline instead of just adding more and more to the background material, and, in turn, to the story in my head....
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Shivertongue

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Re: How do you outline?
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2010, 03:56:53 AM »
I outline by hand. I've found, for some reason, doing it on the computer doesn't work for me. I get outline block unless I use pencil and paper. All other information is done of the computer - character synops, world-related stuff, etc - but never the outline.

As for how I outline, I generally come up with an overall outline for the story, and then do chapter outlines as I reach the chapter. This will usually cause my overall outline to change, as new stuff is added in from the meat of the chapters that have been written, but overall not much. Sometimes I'll do outlines for a few chapters in advance, but they don't usually survive long.

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Renoard

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Re: How do you outline?
« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2010, 07:42:16 AM »
This might be an older thread but I think the topic is important enough to refresh.

I outline by "telling" my story in summary format like a freshman doing a D- (bottom 60 percentile) book report (for a book that doesn't yet exist of course).  By doing a quick very light survey of the plot I can usually get the story down without getting side-tracked or bogged down on detail.  Next I break it into a Cliff notes style plot summary outline adding detail.  I come back and break it down oneline plot points and then insert scene and "chapter" breaks.  It takes more passes but I end up with an outline framework that naturally encourages my my "storyteller" instincts to follow a coherent path.

When I try to "discover" the story as I'm writing, I find that it tends to wander off dragging the leash behind it and, far too often, paragraph 20 leads naturally into paragraph three forming a temporal loop. :)
« Last Edit: April 22, 2010, 07:44:28 AM by Renoard »
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