Research / Outlining Tips

[BL_Garver]

I've got a fairly overwhelming project in my head. I've gotten the basis of the world down, and a few kingdoms/societies, and the main characters.

Now I just need to nail them down to details. Normally I write sans outline, but this one is too big for that. I need to have a map, and a place I can go that has the set in stone info about characters/events/places/etc... to refresh my memory while I'm up to my eyeballs in it.

I'm looking for some techniques that helped you guys in the past for organizing all the info, and developing it further, and then building a plot from all the stuff.

I've tried to outline in different ways, but I think I've failed over and over because I didn't have all my ducks in a row to begin with. So I was formulating the story/plot while I was trying to structure the novel.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Brandon

[Tirjasdyn]

Ah you've hit my own problem.

I've used index cards (not portable), a three ring binder (a terror to update).

I've been using Keynote but the fact that it's not supported anymore scares me.


Recently I've installed a PBwiki on a domain name I own. I'm slowly transferring things to i from keynote and the scanning in the maps I have.

it works pretty well. I want something portable...stonenotes looked good but I'm afraid it will just fill up my usb key.

As for the actual plot: I do several outlines. The first is this:

http://www.sff.net/people/alicia/artout.htm

I like this....it gives me a starting point...though I tend not to make this the final say and change everything later...but like I said it gives me a start.

I use the outlining method from the book "First Draft in 30 Days". The title is misleading...it's a book on outlining. I do days 1-14. Basically I create the characters, Then plot out the story by setting. So start with Castle Brigeis...Chapters 1-5 happen here. I write a summery of the events, time of year and a list of main characters in this, then I put done TomTom City and put done the same info.

I use yWriter...so next I create a file with the number of chapters I designated by from the setting outline above. I then create the scenes for each chapter, writing a little blurb about each scene in the notes section for that scene based on what I said was going to happen in the setting outline. This more detailed. It gives the basis for the whole scene.

Once I do this for every scene in every chapter I'm ready to write. If things change as I write I make sure to update the scene notes. It works for me. I've two finished manuscripts in revision and one in active writing.

That's what I do...ymmv.

[Shadow_Ferret]

I don't outline, but I make electronic files, usually word or even excel, of information that's necessary, like a glossary, and bios of characters. I'll even create a crude map in Paint, just so I have an idea of where things are. All these are kept in the same folder as the WIP itself.

[Sassee]

Try the snowflake:

http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php

[WittyandorIronic]

I use a few products and they have worked very well for me. They all come from or are recommended by the same guy, and I think I actually found them lurking around here a Looooong time ago. I use Freemind (http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) for my main collection point, which is super convenient as you can hyperlink to web pages or other programs, and it's mind mapping is very intuitive (for me).
I use yWriter (http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html) for my actual chapter and scene outline, as well as my draft writing, and one of my favorite things is that it connects with yBook (http://www.spacejock.com/yBook.html) so if necessary I can see what my scene looks like in actual book format. It sometimes helps to determine if I am being too wordy, or not wordy enough.
All of it is FREE, which is another big bonus. Props to Simon Haynes, the 'y' product writer.
Hope that helps.
Feel free to message me if the hyperlinks don't work, or you would like to see some photos of what Freemind can do when used for a novel, not the technical garblyguke that their snapshots show.

[BL_Garver]

Oh man, FREE always helps. I was looking at a program called Power Structure that looked alright, but there was a fee to d/l the full version.

I will most certainly check out these resources. Thank you very much, and keep the pointers coming! I'm going to be scrambling to get my crap organized as well as possible before Nov 1st, because this is the story I'm working on for Nano.

Thanks again everyone for helping out the noob!

BLG

[callalily61]

Try the snowflake:

http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php

Yay! Another Snowflake user!

I love it. Do you own Randy's Fiction 101? His character charts and other elements are soooo helpful. I added a new minor character this week, and when I opened a blank character chart, the way the questions were worded let me fill in more than half of her personality, history, quirks, etc. etc in 5 minutes.

[BL_Garver]

Try the snowflake:

http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php


Wow, this sounds interesting. I will try it and see how it works for me!