Since I’m drawing near the end of the outlining phase of my new WIP, I should probably explain my fairly simple three part process.
- Concept summary.
- This tends to be written in a notebook, and is a written exploration of the general flow of the novel. The concept summary for my current work is three pages of a Moleskine notebook. The focus is more on dramatic conflict and character evolution than on detailed plot points.
- This stage also includes various notes on sources of conflict and tension, a sort of mission statement, and reference books that I’d like to keep handy.
- Chapter Outline.
- Each chapter is described in a few lines with emphasis on major plot points that need to occur in that chapter. In this project, I decided on a set number of chapters and worked within that constraint. In another work, the exploration of chapter creation might dictate the number of chapters.
- Scene Outline.
- The chapters are then broken down into a number of scenes. The level of detail is increased, but each scene is still described in only a sentence or two. The focus is still on the major elements that contribute to the overall dramatic structure.
When everything has been laid out, I can sit down each day and tackle a scene or two. I’ve found that this level of outlining gives me a basic structure to work from without dictating exactly where the story needs to go. There is breathing room between the gaps in the outline that gives me a freedom to explore characters and storyline as the work progresses. My novel writing software of choice is Scrivener, and it allows me to create virtual folders for each chapter. Contained within these chapters are the scene files. Each of these items is just an outline note that represents an actual text file. By simply clicking and dragging in the outline view, an entire chapter or scene can be moved forwards or backwards in the narrative.
I’ve found that this process helps me focus on the writing, and removes any real possibility of writer’s block. I don’t always outline an entire project, but I do find that it helps to always have the next few days worth of scenes ready to go so I can sit down and focus on the writing rather than wondering what happens next. As long as I don’t catch up to the end of my outline, I’ve never had a problem meeting my daily word count goals.

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