Hey you outliners! What's your method?

Petropunk said:

Then I draw some cats.

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You do this, too?

I do scene-by-scene blurbs in Microsoft Word with a target word count for each scene. After writing what's going to happen in each scene, I make a few bullet points like: "Character Development---SoandSo is going to reveal their love of money, fueled by growing up poor. This will become an important detail later because their greed is their fatal flaw" etc. etc."

So yeah, I know what I'm going to do in each scene. I used to just do generic one or two sentence main plots and go from there, but I found that my projects were never as concrete and hard-hitting as I wanted them to be. So I've started with this!

I'm a big time plotter too. Here's how it goes for me. I have an idea, I jot it down. I have another idea, I jot it down. Eventually, when I have several slips of paper, I condense them to one page. One page becomes two, etc. and soon the story starts to gel. That's when I sit down and write a chapter by chapter outline. As I write the first draft (and subsequent drafts), I often make changes. My outline is a guide and my characters often refuse to stick to it.

Okay, well, I officially use the snowflake method. After reading a little about it on here I decided to try it out and man, I love it.

I begin by writing a summary paragraph which usually includes the beginning, key scenes, and the ending (if I know it yet). I'll expand that paragraph into a 1-2 page outline and then write the first few chapters of the book, mostly to get a feel for the narration and voice. Once I've done that, I'll usually write a much longer outline (about ten pages) to use for the rest of the book.

Once I've finished the outline and then finished writing my novel, I'll go back to the outline and compare it to the finished work. I tend to stray a little bit from the outline.

I am about to start writing my next novel, and some of these techniques seem helpful. I'll have to give some of them a try and see if anything works better for me than what I've been doing.

I have tried to outline for years, but the only time I did it was when i wrote for TV. Otherwise i start writing. I'm going to look t the Snowflake method.

I've only just recently found a way of outlining that I really enjoy. In the past, I would jot down chapters and scenes and what needed to happen in those scenes in order for the work to progress.

Now, I just start by writing the dialogue for scenes. If it's a scene without dialogue that I have a clear image for, I'll go ahead and start to write it. Most of what I do, though, is entirely conversation based.

When I outline I try to keep it at the bare minimum. The more details I include, the less imaginative I become during the drafting stages, if that makes any sense.

I use the Snowflake Method, and the software that is made for it. It's really good. It's helped condense some ideas and create some totally new ones just by the way it forces me to examine story/characters/etc.

Now I just have to stop being lazy and finish the outline so I can actually start writing ...

cmtruesd said:

As a serious outliner, I'm curious to hear how fellow outliners do it! I've tried several methods, but I found the best thing that worked for my outline was plotting through note cards and creating a detailed beat sheet of every scene I need to write. Also, figuring out the major plot points was one of my first steps.

What about you??

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I just make lists.

Major plot points, that's all for me. I need to see the skeleton, the crystal structure of the plot. I learned that I should avoid going into details too much, it makes me less excited later.

I usually write something like a short synopsis (in free form, just a page or so), and then a plan, which is basically a list of important events and plot twists, with explanations behind plot mysteries.

Right now, I'm actually testing out the idea of using Excel as an outlining tool (as suggested upthread) and finding it useful. A single Excel cell can hold up to 32 thousand characters (characters as in letters, dashes, etc. as opposed to the characters in a novel)) and it's handy since I have my maps and design sheets already stored in an Excel workbook so the outline is right there in another worksheet I can refer to with a single click).

I'm laying things out across the top of the page with Chapter No., Date, Key Events, Event Description, Characters, Secondary Events, Event Description, Characters, etc. I've set a target word count for each chapter and have a running total if estimated words at the base of the chapter column. I can run a chart of actual daily production if I want to using Excel's charting features, rearrange chapters by cutting & pasting, etc.

I've also gotten CloudOn for my iPad so I can use Excel with the iPad virtually anywhere I am.

It might prove more useful than index cards in the long run.

> A single Excel cell can hold up to 32 thousand characters

... but it won't show more than 1000 characters. At best. If you don't do a few tricks like use text boxes or change fonts, you are stuck with 256 characters or so per cell.

If you don't have too many columns, you can use Word tables instead and set the paper in landscape. No character or word limits. Formatting your way. Link references to other Word files. (Word has formulas, useful for calculating totals in tables)

-cb

I use the rubberband method. I don't know if it's been brought up before(I'm sure it has) but it's how I've written most of my novels. I'll plot out the main points and scenes that are pivotal. I then design character arcs, sub plots and their connection to each sub plot. I focus on scene time and designate which character is a protagonist, major character, supporting character, minor character, and the random one liner.

When it comes to writing the plot, I try to avoid plot holes and in doing so the rubberband works. I might rearrange the scene or change some of the dialogue but the beginning and end of each chapter should relatively be the same.

Does it always work? No. Sometimes logic and plot holes appear and I'll rewrite an entire section. I prefer not to rewrite plot because I spend a large amount of time preparing it in advance.

I'll sometimes make a general outline, but I don't like to get too detailed. It's fun to let the story take on a life of its own. Most of my outlining occurs in my mind. I have a goal for characters in mind. The adventure comes in how they reach that goal.

What I do is a write a list of events that will happen. I'll then break it down into chapters - sometimes adding extra bits - and jot down the characters for each chapter.

I'm very basic for outlining but it works for me as it gives me a bit of freedom to go off on tangents.

Um, did I mention that I was "experimenting", cbenoi?

Seriously, there's a lot of potential in using Excel as an outlining tool, a few drawbacks, and a whole lot of power.

First I think about characters. I make out trait list and research names on baby naming sites. I keep it as short as I can. Sometimes I draw them.

Then I brainstorm and make mind maps. I'll make a quick summary and pick out the bits I like. I write down scenes in bullet points that I want to happen. Nothing too complex, just stuff like "A and B have a fight over X".

Then I take the scenes I like and dump the ones I don't, rearrange the order and try to think of better ways to connect them.

My mind always goes the shortest/easiest/most contrived way from point A to B so I like to give this a bit of time.

Then I draw a map if I need to. Geography is an interest so this helps me keep my bearings but is more for fun than anything.

Then I make a checklist for each chapter and start writing. I don't have every conversation written or plot point planned out. I don't worry too much about how the stuff I have planned out happens so long as it happens where it needs to.

I also end up changing quite a bit as I go. I don't know if anyone else does this but sometimes a good idea for the start pops up near the end.

By the end of it all I usually end up with about 20 handwritten pages, a map and a few drawings of character designs.

Charts and snowflakes and whatnot don't to it for me. My process is a couple pages of synopsis in some cases. In others, it's a chapter-by-chapter summary. Getting the ideas down on paper in story form so I can see immediately how it flows, then translate it to chapters rather than paragraphs.

I wanted to add that now that I'm getting into the wrap-up stage of this revision, I'm doing a post-draft outline. It's bullet pointed, scene by scene, numbered. I'm trying it out as a revision tool. Do any of you serious outliners outline after you finish a draft or do you find that you don't need to?

Why was Snowflake Dude's name blurred, does he grep himself?

> Um, did I mention that I was "experimenting", cbenoi?

Sure. Just stating the software's limits before you start losing time and patience over it.

> Seriously, there's a lot of potential in using Excel as
> an outlining tool, a few drawbacks, and a whole lot
> of power.

I won't debate this. Many do this. With great success.

It's just that using Excel to outline a novel is - for me anyway - akin to hammering a screw in a 2x4 using a hacksaw.

-cb

Heh! No offense taken (and none given I hope). I've been using Excel since the early 90s. I can make that be-otch walk, talk, and beg for mercy when I want to (I've used it since 1995 to run a pbem space opera wargame with massive maps, complex survey rules, R&D, etc).

I'm just experimenting right now, but it's working for this WIP (and I had to use it for a very complex spreadsheet for my novel Hatchings). It might not work for the next obe (doubtful, even - Gated needs a street map).

When I was younger (age 5-6 when I first started writing) I just opened up a blank Microsoft Word document and started typing out work without bothering with outlines at all, or collected a fresh sheet of paper and scribbled with some highlighters!
The only novel I finished back then (but that was age 9-10) without outlines was a short 128 paged one, handwritten (how did I ever manage this) in a blue notebook. It had tons of storylines and plot holes and god knows what.

Some stories (and years) later, I decided I needed to fill those plot holes or someone would fall in them, so I planned on some paper. I wrote all the names and descriptions of the characters, but the story still went no where. I had no idea of the plot.

Then, I wrote a whole outline of the book I'm waiting for a rejection letter for (because I have a feeling I included every cliche and skipped the edit stage O_O). It turned out okayish.

After that I planned on my iPad, but the story was so dry and Hunger Games influenced I laughed at myself the next few days before leaving it to rot in some forgotten folder.

Now, I'm writing another novel and I'm proud to say it's going really, really well (and part of that is because I joined AW and no longer have only my mum to critique things)! I got out a notebook (an exact copy of the one younger me wrote the 128 paged story in) and just planned my heart out. I planned the main character so much, he probably lays in bed every night, wondering what else I know about him.

I used coloring pencils, felt tips, stickers, EVERYTHING. Now, using a plan doesn't seem like a chore for me.

However, I can never outline a whole book. My characters always take it some place else or laugh at my choice of scenery. So now I just dig in without an outline. It keeps me guessing and interested, because I don't have the whole story ruined for me due to knowing every single detail.

So there's my loooong explanation on how I outline. *cracks knuckles*

I can't really say I outline very deeply, but I do outline. My process is to start Scrivener and fill out a few cards that will get me a frame of a story.



I then gradually refine each card with scenes and stuff, working toward the highlighs indicated by each card. In the end I may end up with 60-70 scenes in all, roughly shared among these initial cards. These initial cards are folders, and I just spread out the rest into these folder-cards.

Then I start writing, and as I write, I change things as i go.