Tessa Emily Hall ~ Christ is Write: Outlines

The past two weeks, I shared tips on how to brainstorm and "plan" your story. (Yes, planning is different than plotting!) This week, I will be discussing how to plot and outline your story.

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To be honest, this is probably the most difficult step in preparing to write--at least for me it is. Although I don't plan every single scene of my book before begin writing, I do like to have a general guideline to follow. And even if you are a panster, I recommend that you do the same.
➙ Creating a Plot Guideline
I have found that, when I take the time to create a plot guideline before writing my first draft, I end up saving myself a lot of stress (and writer's blocks!).
First, your protagonist must have a desire. Your readers don't want to read about your protagonist's uninteresting day-to-day life. They need something to root for. And the conflict that you weave into your novel should be stemmed from your protagonist's desire.
I'll be honest with you: I used to skip over this part. My "story starter" never began with a goal--and because of that, I completely forgot to establish a goal within those first three chapters.
This is what I did in the first draft of Purple Moon, and it resulted in a character-driven novel that lacked a well-developed plot. (I had two professionals in the industry tell me that my plot was underdeveloped.)
So what did I do? I went back to the very beginning and gave my protagonist an obvious desire. I then had to weave in plot threads that stemmed from Selena trying to reach her goal, but never quite making it.
This is why it is crucial that you establish this before you begin to write.

In Brandilyn Collin's book Getting Into Character, she gives a great general plot guideline to create while preparing to write: 1) Begin with a desire. 2) Weave in four obstacles that will prevent your protagonist from reaching this desire. 3) Then, create a denial, which is when the character realizes that reaching their desire is impossible. 4) If natural to the flow of your story, create a devastation. This is usually when your protagonist has hit rock bottom and is even worse off than they were to begin with. 5) End with your protagonist either reaching their goal in a different way than they had hoped, or realizing that it wasn't what they wanted after all.

"[Desires] set the course for conflict, dialogue, and choices within a scene." ~Brandilyn Collins

➙ Creating an Outline
Once you have created your plot guideline, you can then create an outline for your novel. This can be as brief or as detailed as you'd like.
I prefer to create a "broad" outline, which contains the major events of the story. I do this in the form of a timeline so I can keep track of when each scene takes place.
To begin, I write down Ch. 1 through Ch. 30 on a document. Although none of my books end up finishing with 30 chapters, I like to plan it this way at the beginning so I can have the same general story structure for all of my novels. This helps to plot and gives me an idea as to when certain events should take place. (It isn't until the last couple of drafts that I arrange my chapters so it is more natural to the flow of the story.)
How I outline: (For the big-picture outliners)
CHAPTER ONE
Fri, March 21: Sally hangs out with her best friends at the park Sat, March 22: Sally finds out that her family is moving to another state in only one week

CHAPTER TWO
Sat, March 22: Sally breaks the news to her best friend Sun, March 23: Mon, March 24: Sally's final week at her school. Has an argument with her mom at home about the move.
CHAPTER THREE
Tues, March 25: Sally packs for the move Wed, March 26: Thurs, March 27: Fri, March 28: Sally's friends throw her a surprise goodbye party Sat, March 29: Her family's moving day. Sally then finds out the truth behind why they're having to move so quickly--and when she finds out, she refuses to leave.
(Don't worry, this outline is a demonstration only. =) )
As you can see, I left a lot of room for developing the story's details (pansting) as I write. The dates that do not have a scene should be written anyway (as shown above) so you do not confuse yourself. (It is also a good idea to leave the dates in case you want to add or rearrange your scenes.)
Also, I recommend you find a calendar that corresponds with your dates. This will especially come in handy if you ever get confused and for some reason lose track of the dates (which I have done a few times). For example--since the above timeline fits this year's calendar, I would Google "March 2014 calendar" and save the image I find (below).

Is it necessary to know the dates? Definitely. Otherwise, you might get in trouble later on. Also, if your story contains certain holidays, you will need to plan ahead so that it falls on the correct date. Creating a timeline not only prevents confusion, but it serves as a great visual guideline as well.
Again, this outline is recommend for those who want to plan the "big picture" of the novel rather than the details. This method gives you plenty of freedom to rearrange the outline as you write your story.
Other ways to outline: (For the detailed outliners)
If you prefer to outline every detail before writing, I recommend the Microsoft Word outline feature. I tried this for a while and found it very helpful. (However, if you use this method, I recommend keeping another document for the timeline of your novel.) Click here for instructions on how to use this feature. You could also use apps, such as:

Outline Pro $9.99
Outliner for iPad $4.99
ThinkBook $3.99
Simple Outliner $2.99
Tree $14.99
Notability $2.99
iOutline for iPad $0.99
Simple Outliner Free
Outline Free
OmniOutliner $49.99

No, not every writer needs to outline. However, if you are a panster, you should at least create a plot guideline so your story's focus will remain clear, and to prevent losing your way as you write.

✎ Are you a big-picture or detailed outliner? How do you create your outlines?

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