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7 Steps to Creating a Flexible Outline for Any Story

Grab the author and the date of post By: Guest Column | January 12, 2016
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Mention the word outline in a room full of writers, and youre sure to ignite a firestorm of
passionate debate. Writers either love outlines, or they hate them. We either find them
liberating, or we cant stand how confining they are.
My experience has been that more often than not, those who swear they dislike outlines
are thinking of them in the wrong ways. Outlines are not meant to trap you into preset
ideas or sap your creativity before you start the first draft. Outlines are also definitely not
meant to be lifeless Roman-numeral lists.

This guest post is by K.M. Weiland. Weiland is the IPPY and NIEA Award-winning and
internationally published author of the Amazon bestsellers Outlining Your
Novel and Structuring Your Novel, as well as Jane Eyre: The Writers Digest Annotated
Classic, the western A Man Called Outlaw, the medieval epic Behold the Dawn, the
portal fantasy Dreamlander, and the historical/dieselpunk adventure Storming. When
shes not making things up, shes busy mentoring other authors on her award-winning
blog Helping Writers Become Authors. She makes her home in western Nebraska.
To imbue your writing with the full power of outlining, you need to approach the process
from a mindset of flexibility and discovery. When you do this, youll end up with a road
map to storytelling success. Road maps are there to show you the fastest and surest
way to reach your destination, but they certainly dont prevent you from finding exciting
off-road adventures and scenic drives along the way.
At their best, outlines can help you flesh out your most promising story ideas, avoid
dead-end plot twists and pursue proper structure. And the greatest part? They save you
time and prevent frustration. Sketching out your plot and characters in your first draft
can take months of trial and error. Figuring out those same elements in an outline
requires a fraction of the timeand then allows you to let loose and have fun in your
first draft.
Lets take a look at how to get the most out of the outlining process, beginning with the
shaping of your premise and working all the way through to a complete list of scenes.
(Note: Although this outlining method is one I use myself and highly recommend, keep
in mind that there is no right or wrong way to outline a story. The only requirement is
that you find the groove that works for you. If you start outlining and begin to feel the
technique isnt working for you, rather than denouncing outlines entirely, consider how
you might adjust the process to better suit your personality and creative style.)
[Learn important writing lessons from these first-time novelists.]

1. Craft your premise.

Your premise is the basic idea for your story. But its not enough to just have an idea.
Guy saves girl in an intergalactic setting is a premise, but its also far too vague to
offer much solid story guidance.
This is why your outline needs to begin with a tightly crafted premise sentence that can
answer the following questions:
Who is the protagonist?
What is the situation? What is the heros personal condition at the beginning? How
will that condition be changed, for better or worse, by the hero himself or by the
antagonistic force?
What is the protagonists objective? At the beginning, what does the hero want? What
moral (or immoral) choices will she have to make in her attempt to gain that objective?
Who is the opponent? Who or what stands in the way of the hero achieving his
objective?
What will be the disaster? What misfortune will befall the hero as the result of her
attempts to achieve her objective?
Whats the conflict? What conflict will result from the heros reaction to the disaster?
And what is the logical flow of cause and effect that will allow this conflict to continue
throughout the story?
Once youve answered these questions, combine them into one or two sentences:
Restless farm boy (situation) Luke Skywalker (protagonist) wants nothing more than to
leave home and become a starfighter pilot, so he can live up to his mysterious father
(objective). But when his aunt and uncle are murdered (disaster) after purchasing
renegade droids, Luke must free the droids beautiful owner and discover a way to stop
(conflict) the evil Empire (opponent) and its apocalyptic Death Star.

2. Roughly sketch scene ideas.

Armed with a solid premise, you can now begin sketching your ideas for this story. Write
a list of everything you already know about your story. Youll probably come to this step
with a handful of scenes already in mind. Even if you have no idea how these scenes
will play out in the story, go ahead and add them to the list. At this point, your primary
goal is to remember and record every idea youve had in relation to this story.
Once youve finished, take a moment to review your list. Whenever you encounter an
idea that raises questions, highlight it. If you dont know why your character is fighting a
duel in one scene, highlight it. If you dont know how two scenes will connect, highlight
them. If you cant picture the setting for one of the scenes, highlight that, too. By
pausing to identify possible plot holes now, youll be able to save yourself a ton of
rewriting later on.
Your next step is to address each of the highlighted portions, one by one. Write out your
ideas and let your thoughts flow without censoring yourself. Because this is the most
unstructured step of your outline, this will be your best opportunity to unleash your
creativity and plumb the depths of your storys potential. Ask yourself questions on the
page. Talk to yourself without worrying about punctuation or spelling.
Every time you think youve come up with a good idea, take a moment to ask yourself,
Will the reader expect this? If the answer is yes, write a list of alternatives your readers
wont expect.

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3. Interview your characters.

In order to craft a cast of characters that can help your plot reach its utmost potential,
youll need to discover crucial details about them, not necessarily at the beginning of
their lives but at the beginning of the story.
To do this for your protagonist, work backward from the moment in which he will
become engaged in your plot (the disaster in your premise sentence). What events in
your protagonists life have led him to this moment? Did something in his past cause the
disaster? What events have shaped him to make him respond to the disaster in the way
he does? What unresolved issues from his past can further complicate the plots spiral
of events?
Once you have a basic idea of how your character will be invested in the main story,
you can start unearthing the nitty-gritty details of his life with a character interview. You
may choose to follow a preset list of questions (you can find a list of more than 100 such
questions in my book Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success), or you may
have better luck with a freehand interview in which you ask your protagonist a series
of questions and allow him to answer in his own words.
[Heres a great article on how to structure a killer novel ending.]

4. Explore your settings.

Whether your setting is your childhood neighborhood or the seventh moon of Barsoom,
youll want to enter your first draft with a firm idea of where your prominent scenes will
be taking place.
Dont choose a setting just because it sounds cool or because youre familiar with it.
Look for settings that will be inherent to your plot. Can you change your storys primary
locale without any significant alterations to the plot? If so, dig a little deeper to find a
setting better suited to your plot, theme and characters.
Based on the scenes youre already aware of, list the settings you think youll need. Can
you reduce this list by combining or eliminating settings? Nothing wrong with a
sprawling story locale, but extraneous settings should be eliminated just as assiduously
as unnecessary characters.

5. Write your complete outline.

Youre finally ready to outline your story in full. This is where you will begin plotting in
earnest. In Step 2, you solidified the big picture of your story by identifying the scenes
you were already aware of and figuring out how they might fit together. Now, you will
work through your story linearly, scene by scene, numbering each one as you go.
Unlike the sketches in Step 2, in which your primary focus was on brainstorming and
exploring possibilities, you will now be concentrating on molding your existing ideas into
a solid structure.
How comprehensive you want to be is up to you. You may choose to write a single
sentence for each scene (Dana meets Joe at the caf to discuss their impending

nuptials), or you may choose to flesh out more details (Joe is sitting by himself in a
booth when Dana arrives; Dana orders coffee and a muffin; they fight about the
invitation list). Either way, focus on identifying and strengthening the key components
of each scenes structure. Who will be your narrating character? What is his goal? What
obstacle will arise to obstruct that goal and create conflict? What will be the outcome,
and how will your character react to the resulting dilemma? What decision will he reach
that will fuel the next scenes goal?
Work to create a linear, well-structured plot with no gaps in the story (see the checklist
on the opposite page). If you can get this foundation right in your outline, youll later be
free to apply all your focus and imagination to the first draft and bring your story to life.
As you mentally work through each scene, watch for possible lapses of logic or blank
areas in how one event builds to another. Take the time to think through these potential
problems so they wont trip you up later. If you get stuck, try jumping ahead to the next
scene you know, and then working backward. For instance, if you know where you want
your characters to end up, but not how theyll get there, start at the ending point and
then see if you can figure out what has to happen in the preceding events to make it
plausible.
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6. Condense your outline.

Once youve finished your extended outline, you may want to condense the most
pertinent points into an abbreviated version. Doing so allows you to weed out
extraneous thoughts and summarize the entire outline into a scannable list for easier
reference. Because your full outline may contain a fair amount of rambling and thinking
out loud on the page, youre likely to end up with a lot of notes to review (I often have
nearly three notebooks of material). Rather than having to wade through the bulk of
your notes every time you sit down to work on your first draft, you can save yourself
time in the long run by doing a little organizing now.
You may choose to create your abbreviated outline in a Word document, write out your
scenes on index cards, or use a software program such as the free Scrivener alternative
yWriter.

7. Put your outline into action.

By now, youll be feeling prepared and eager to get going on your first draft. Each time
you sit down to work on your manuscript, begin by reviewing your outline. Read the
notes for your current scene and the scene to follow. Before you start writing, work
through any remaining potential problems in your head or on paper. If the time comes
(and it will come) when youre struck with a better idea than what you had planned in
your outline, dont hesitate to go off-road. These ventures into unknown territory can
result in some of the most surprising and intriguing parts of your story.
An outline will offer you invaluable structure and guidance as you write your first draft,
but never be afraid to explore new ideas as they occur. Remember, your outline is a
map showing you the route to your destination, but that doesnt mean it is the only
route.

Thanks for visiting The Writers Dig blog. For more great writing advice, click here.

Brian A. Klems is the editor of this blog, online editor of Writers Digest and
author of the popular gift book Oh Boy, Youre Having a Girl: A Dads Survival
Guide to Raising Daughters.
Follow Brian on Twitter: @BrianKlems
Sign up for Brians free Writers Digest eNewsletter: WD Newsletter
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4 thoughts on 7 Steps to Creating a Flexible Outline for Any

Story

AJ_ August 23, 2016 at 9:02 pm.comment-meta This outline is very helpful
and I did end up using this. But I dont really find outlines fun. I mean got bored
out of my MIND when i did this. I sat there for at least 2 hours just writing and by
that time i had got three bullets on the first step done. Is there a simpler
way?.comment-content Log in to Reply .reply #comment-##
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Peggyhack01 March 29, 2016 at 6:43 pm.comment-meta It never was

intentionally. I became a prostitute. It was alcohol driven. I was in a lovely and
beautiful relationship with Dan. A friend of mine had a celebrated birthday party
at the club. We all friends of the celebrant graced the occasion in grand style.

Drinks flowed all through the hall in excess. I then was made intoxicated by a so
called friend, jealous of my relationship. I was then made to have sex with a paid
guy (unconsciously), after which the tape was sent to my boyfriend. I was
dumbfounded when he showed me this video. Then he said to me IT IS OVER. I
pleaded my life out but it fell to deaf ears. He really meant it. This led to my
emotional traumatization street life, alcohol, drug, and I ended up in bed with
any guy that came my way I think I was a slot. One faithful day, I ran into Dan
at the mall, tried to say hello but he angrily rebuked me. I went home and could
not get my mind off him, then I decided to do all it was going to take to get him
back. Met a lot of councilors, relationship experts and advisers on the internet but
to no avail. Luckily for me, at the verge of giving up, I ran into a testimony of a
young man who got back his ex-girlfriend through the help of love spell.
Reluctantly, I copied out the email of the spell person and contacted him via his
email (kenedillitemples AT yahoo DOT com). Miraculously, at exactly 7 minutes
after the conclusion of the final rites, I got a call from Dan, begging me to come
back to him. I happily did And guess what HE PROPOSSED ALREADY.
Luckily for you all out there in need of other forms of spell, after my conversation
with the great Dr. Kene Dilli, I found out that he also casts spells for; WIN
COURT CASE, GET CURED OF ANY KIND OF STD, GET JOB PROMOTION,
GET BANK LOAN, TERMINATE DIVORCE PROCESS, GET EX- WIFE/
HUSBAND BACK, GET OUT OF JAIL, GET BUSINESS LINK, and so
on..comment-content Log in to Reply .reply #comment-##
#comment-##

mccart January 25, 2016 at 12:52 am.comment-meta Am here to testify

what this great spell caster done for me. i never believe in spell casting, until
when i was was tempted to try it. i and my husband have been having a lot of
problem living together, he will always not make me happy because he have
fallen in love with another lady outside our relationship, i tried my best to make
sure that my husband leave this woman but the more i talk to him the more he
makes me fell sad, so my marriage is now leading to divorce because he no
longer gives me attention. so with all this pain and agony, i decided to contact
this spell caster to see if things can work out between me and my husband again.
this spell caster who was a woman told me that my husband is really under a
great spell that he have been charm by some magic, so she told me that she was
going to make all things normal back. she did the spell on my husband and after
5 days my husband changed completely he even apologize with the way he
treated me that he was not him self, i really thank this woman her name is Dr
Aluta she have bring back my husband back to me i want you all to contact her
who are having any problem related to marriage issue and relationship problem
she will solve it for you. her email is traditionalspellhospital@gmail.com she is a

woman and she is great. wish you good time.

He cast spells for different purposes.comment-content Log in to Reply .reply
#comment-##
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J.S.Eiland January 13, 2016 at 4:52 pm.comment-meta I really enjoyed

this article. I have never used an outline before, primarily because I have never
really been taught how to use one effectively. I have written countless stories
without outlining first, some have been easy and successful, others difficult and
trying. However after reading this outline of an outline, haha, I am eager and
excited to complete a useful outline process on my next story. Thank
you..comment-content Log in to Reply .reply #comment-##
#comment-##
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