To create a story arc outline, you'll need to be clear on a few basics of your plot. These include the inciting incident, the crisis, the climax, and the resolution. If you have these four things, you can create a basic outline and start writing that novel. The outline should have the following structure:
- Inciting Incident
- Rising Action
- Crisis
- Climax
- Resolution
The Inciting Incident
Every plot needs to start somewhere. I'm not referring to the first chapter (though your inciting incident may occur at the very beginning of your story). I'm referring to the moment in your story that sets everything in motion. That one thing that leads to the rest of the novel. When I wrote Arianna's Tale this incident happens in Chapter Three. With Dragon's Tempest it was in Chapter One. Thief's Heartache placed this incident in Chapter Two. So the incident does have to be near the beginning of your novel, but it doesn't necessarily have to be the first thing that happens. Decide what this incident is in your particular story and write it down.
Rising Action
Now you're on the road heading toward your crisis. But things can't just plod along. You need action of some kind that leads up to your final climax. You don't need to know every little detail right now, but you should have some idea of what might happen. Maybe you know that a certain character is going to die or that your protagonist is going to encounter a certain obstacle. Now is the time to write those things down. Number each incident and try to put them in order, but be prepared to reorder them as you nail things down. Don't worry about how many numbers you have. You can refine your action incidents later.
The Crisis
Most novels have a central problem. Maybe it's a relationship (if you're writing a romance). Maybe it's a big bad wizard out to destroy the world (if you're writing a fantasy). Maybe it's the serial killer slaughtering women in New York (if you're writing a thriller/crime novel). But there is something there. If there isn't, you should probably rethink your novel. Know what the crisis is early on and write it down. You can always change up later, but at least you'll have something to start with.
The Climax
Your novel has to come to an end at some point. The crisis has to eventually get resolved in some way. The relationship has to either stabilize or end. The big bad wizard has to either succeed or fail. The serial killer is either caught, killed, or perhaps even kills the protagonist. But it has to end. So plan out how everything is going to end and you're almost finished creating an outline for your novel.
The Resolution
In most cases, the climax doesn't actually resolve the story. Look back at your inciting incident and evaluate it carefully. Did the climax actually wrap up the story? Probably not. Now is the time to finish wrapping up the story. Dragon's Tempest, my second novel, pits a nineteen-year-old boy against a nasty and deformed creature. Boy wins. Yay! But since the inciting incident (what out the boy in the position of having to fight the creature) was actually the problems the boy was having with his own father, I had to wrap up that little nugget. I had to put the boy in a room with his father before I could call the story finished. You'll have to do a similar thing, so go over your plot and make sure you're not leaving anything out.
If you've filled in all these areas, you have a basic outline to work from. Start writing that novel.You'll be able to fill in the blanks as you go, but if you don't get started, you'll never finish. So take the excuses out of writing and put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).
