Outlines are important to most writers. They form a road map and become a guide for the author. You can use an outline to stay on track while still exploring the depths of creativity. And, most often, this outline takes the form of a story arc outline. But what if you know exactly how many chapters you were going to have? I knew I'd have forty chapters, plus a prologue and an epilogue, when writing Dragon's Tempest and Thief's Heartache. I'd already established that the first book in The Imperial Series that the books would all have forty chapters. So a chapter-by-chapter outline would be the best decision for any book in this series.
To create a chapter-by-chapter outline, you'll have to have a general idea of what your story will be. Then you'll have to get specific. List your chapters and leave plenty of space to add details. Once you've decided how many chapters you're going to have, start filling in the details.
List each chapter's plot point, making sure you have an inciting incident within the first few chapters. Ensure you have enough chapters to successfully weave your way through the rising action and into your crisis, climax, and resolution. Remember that your crisis, climax, and resolution can either happen in a single chapter or over several. The choice is yours and should fit the particular book.
Now look back at each chapter and tweak them. Treat each chapter like a mini-novel. They should have a beginning and end and something (rising action) need to happen in between. Don't let any chapters exist simply because you told yourself you'd have forty chapters (or twenty, or whatever number you came up with). Don't be afraid to merge chapters or even cut whole sections during the outlining process.
A chapter-by-chapter outline is only a guide. It's not set in stone. Make sure you allow your outline to stay fluid. Never lock yourself in simply for the sake of your outline.
I've been getting a lot of e-mails lately, and one of the most common questions I've received revolves around creating an outline. I know I talk about outlines and their value, but I don't actually tell you how exactly you should create that outline. Every writer is different, so every outline will be unique, but there are two basic types of outlines -- the story arc outline and the chapter-by-chapter outline. If you're not sure about chapters, start with the story arc and see where it takes you.
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
Within each of these is room for great variety and you don't necessarily have to fill in the outline in the order I've indicated. In fact, many writers start with the resolution and work backwards, or even jump around until they've fleshed out the plot of the story. But for expediency's sake, I'll address each point in order.
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).
I've read some really boring books lately. And they weren't boring because I didn't like the subject matter. They were boring because the entire novel just plodded along. Nothing happened. At all. There was no tension. No drama. And every book needs a little drama.
What is Drama?
Before you can add drama into your novel, you have to understand what drama actually is. Drama involves at least one of the following elements: tension, emotion, excitement, or an unexpected series of events. These can take many forms, but essentially, drama is conflict. Emotional conflict, physical conflict, whatever. But your novel needs something dramatic. Without drama, you're not writing a novel, you're writing a narrative. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if you're hoping for a novel, you need to find the drama.
This drama could be a large scale war, but this is certainly not your only option. Perhaps your character is driven by some internal conflict. This too can be drama if done right. The point is to get your readers engaged and caring about the characters, and you can do this by using the drama of your story to its fullest. But be careful not to go overboard.
Adding Drama to Your Novel
Drama is great. It creates conflict and adds sizzle to your novel. But you have to find the right balance. Too much drama and your novel suddenly reads like one of those old B-movies. Too little and it's just plain boring. How do you find this balance? Well, everyone is different, but I like to take a look at my work with a critical eye.
A first draft is just that -- your first attempt at the work. It won't be perfect, but it's a place to start examining the drama in your novel. Read through what you have and try to be a reader, not a writer. Where does the drama slow down or even stop? When does the tension fade away? Find these areas an inject drama into them. Yes, I know, there are quieter parts to any novel. But I'm not talking about those. I'm talking about the parts that really start to bore you. If you're bored with your own story ... let's just say it's not a good sign.
There are a couple of ways to introduce tension and drama into your story. The first is traditional and seen in almost every novel. Simply throw more obstacles into your protagonist's path. This creates frustration, which leads to tension, which is one form of drama. If each obstacle is more difficult to overcome than the last, you have rising tension. Just don't let your readers down with your climax.
The second way to create drama takes a little more skill. It involves shifting your point of view. Don't confuse this with head-hopping. Head hopping involves jumping from one perspective to another without cause and it drives readers nutty. Shifting the point of view can be done in short stints with great effect. The easiest and least invasive way to do this is using what's sometimes called an 'Interlude'. Sometimes this is used as the title of a chapter that's written from someone else's point of view.
A great way to use this tool is to slip into the mind of the antagonist. What is the bad guy thinking? What is he plotting? What does he have planned for the protagonist? Revealing these thoughts to the reader when the protagonist is still unaware can really introduce a level of tension to your novel. But do this sparingly or you'll spoil the entire story.
Pruning Back the Tension
You're writing a novel, not a soap-opera. What's the difference? Well, in a soap-opera, everything goes wrong. Think of a sudden plunge downward without ever coming back up. The obstacles never end and the good guys never get ahead. Even small victories are not really victories as they only lead to another conflict. And all conflicts are never ending.
Novels aren't like that. Think of a roller coaster with plenty of ups and downs. There has to be some kind of balance to the whole thing. Eventually, the good guys have to get ahead, at least once in a while. If you find yourself with endless conflict that's getting a bit ridiculous, trim it back. Let the good guys experience a little victory here and there. Not big victories, but enough to keep them inspired. They need to stay motivated. Think about it for a minute. If you were in your novel and you experienced nothing but setbacks, you'd probably give up. So would your protagonist.
You should also break up the tension with other scenes. I like to use tender moments between characters. This helps build character and relieves some of the ongoing tension. A love scene or a death scene introduce a different kind of tension (if your story isn't primarily about either of these things), giving the reader a little break and bringing some realism into your story.
Picture that roller coaster again in your mind and try to mimic it with the drama in your novel. But there is one thing you should never do -- don't ever bring the bad guy back to life. It's ridiculous and you're only creating artificial tension. Bad guy dies and -- ack, he's not dead yet! It's been done and it's never done well. He's either dead (or at least defeated) or he's not. The only time this comes even close to working is when the bad guy fakes his own death, but even this is dicey. Better just stick with the realm drama if you want your readers to come back for more.
Drama is an important component in any novel so it pays to focus your attention here for a period of time. Go through your story and make sure the drama is balanced and realistic. In this manner you'll be able to craft a story that pleases readers and brings them back for more.
Books have formats. All books. They don't necessary have the same format, but they all have a format. If they didn't, they'd be no more than a mishmash of words that make absolutely no sense. Novels have a specific basic format, but within that basic format is room for an astounding number of variations.
Still, it's important to adhere to certain rules when writing a novel. This is partly because your readers will expect a basic structure, but it's also about refinement. Stories have been told for as long as humans have been around. In that time, the art of storytelling has been honed and refined. It's now down to a science. So when creating the structure for your novel, stick with the basics, but don't be afraid to get creative.
Your Novel Must Have a Beginning
I know this sounds like a ridiculously obvious statement, but I really felt it had to be said. In all the flurry over starting your book with a hook, with action, or even in medias res (in the middle of things, for those unfamiliar with the term), authors tend to forget that the beginning of a novel has more than one purpose. Yes, the beginning should hook your readers, make them want to keep reading, but it must do other things as well.
The beginning of your novel must introduce your characters, and must do this effectively. Beginning a novel in medias res is no excuse for skipping this all-important part of writing a novel. You have to introduce at least one of the primary characters in your novel and you have to establish where the novel is taking place. You also have to get the plot moving.
These three things -- characters, setting, and plot -- should be bound together right from the beginning. You have to identify your characters, setting, and conflict almost immediately. It's okay if the conflict in Chapter 1 isn't necessarily the big conflict of the novel. It's even normal. But these things still need to be there if you want to get your novel off the ground.
Don't Ignore the Middle
I can't tell you how many books I've read in the last ten years have weak middles. It's almost as if authors are writing the beginnings, the endings, and then just throwing words at a page to come up with the easiest way to get from A to B. But the middle of a story deserves just as much attention as any other part of your novel.
Nothing between the beginning of your story and the end is random. Everything that happens should flow from the choices and actions of your characters. So it has to make sense. Consider an event that happens on one side of a mountain range. But your main character starts the story on the other side. Part of the middle of your story will be about your character crossing the mountains. But why? No one just wakes up one days and decides to cross a dangerous mountain range. Your protagonist must have a reason for crossing those mountains, and it must be a believable reason.
I've read books lately that ignore the plausibility factor. Characters do things purely because it will further the plot, but they have no real motivation for their actions. This is a result of ignore the middle part of the story.
The middle of the story should also be made up of conflict and confrontation. Not the final conflict, but the little things that lead up to the final conflict. Think of it as putting your protagonist in a vice (emotional of physical). You slowly tighten the vice, and the majority of this tightening happens in the middle of the story.
Pay attention to this tightening. In fact, spend most of your time refining this tightening. Each little confrontation should bring the protagonist closer to the climax of the story. This tightening should continue until you're ready to tackle the final climax.
The End of a Novel is Important
One of the greatest crimes a novelist can commit is to let the reader down, and this inevitably happens at the end of the novel. You've hooked the reader, you've kept their interest, you've ensured the middle of your novel shines. And then you ... lose it. You wrap up your story in the fastest way possible, just wanting to get it over with. This leads to sloppy writing and *gasp* scene stealing.
What is scene stealing? It's the thing that sometimes happens when you're in a rush to finish a story. A minor character (sometimes the villain) become convenient, and you use him or her to wrap up the story. They effectively steal the scene from your protagonist. This usually happens because it's sometimes easier to use another character to do what the protagonist is supposed to do. I've seen it a lot with newer writers.
But don't let this happen in your book. If it seems to be happening despite your best efforts, you've probably chosen the wrong protagonist. If you can correct it with relative ease, you were probably just being lazy in the first place. Either way, you don't want any scene stealing at the end of your novel.
Scenes are Miniature Novels
Each scene (or chapter, depending on how you've organized your novel) should also have a beginning, middle, and end. This doesn't mean you have to reintroduce you characters with every scene, but you should look at each scene as a story in itself. Does it make sense? Does it do its job? If not, can you fix it? What does it contribute to the overall story? Should that scene exist at all? Evaluate each scene as an individual, and as a greater whole. And don't be afraid to hit the 'delete' key.
You need a beginning, middle, and end. Don't confuse your readers, don't leave them hanging, and above all, don't let them down. Polish each part of your novel until it shines. Then go back and polish each individual chapter until it glistens.
