McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Outline Help

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TgirlValentine:
There was a topic on outlines, but it's been over 120 days old and i dont know how this board feels about "resurrecting" old topics.

So i'm a novice, if that, in the craft of writing. I'm a dreamer, so dont get me wrong i 've got plenty of ideas, but when it comes to writing i get stuck. It's not simple "writers block" as it is "writes insecurity of not being good enough for their own story" =0) i'm sure some here are familiar. SO i'd like to attempt outlining, but to be honest i'm not sure what all that entails. What are some "pre-outline" things i need to have in order to outline?

Thanks in advance for any help given.

LizW65:
I'm not saying this will work for you, but I start with the general and move to the specific.  I usually start with an idea of who the principal characters are and what the story's main problem is.  Once I get that much down on paper, I can start to think about how I want the story to begin and end. 

By then I usually have some idea of backstory, and of different scenes and suppporting characters I want to include, even if I don't quite know how or where they fit in.   By the time I have a three or four page treatment, I can start breaking it down into chapters and from there I get more and more specific - by the time I'm ready to write I have half a page to a full page breakdown for each chapter, as well as character sheets, notebooks of research, and so on. 

Of course none of this is written in stone and may well change from time to time, but I personally can't finish anything if I don't have a very detailed and thorough outline.  Hope this helps...

Murphy's Stunt Double:
JB himself actually has a really good article on his blog right now about this. Go here: http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/ Further down, he's also got more individual articles on the various parts of writing a story. I highly recommend you read it. Best advice I've seen in a long time.

TgirlValentine:

--- Quote from: Murphy's Stunt Double on April 30, 2008, 02:52:22 AM ---JB himself actually has a really good article on his blog right now about this. Go here: http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/ Further down, he's also got more individual articles on the various parts of writing a story. I highly recommend you read it. Best advice I've seen in a long time.

--- End quote ---

I forget livejournal exists sometimes! thank you so much!

TgirlValentine:

--- Quote from: LizW65 on April 30, 2008, 12:58:25 AM ---... and what the story's main problem is. 

--- End quote ---

yeah...about that LOL. my story has been evolving for...well atleast 10 years in my head. I've got an idea of my characters, and their inter-relations. I have a "bad guy"...though it's weak (because some things changed for my characters) and a "super"plot? (as opposed to a subplot LOL..okay maybe a subplot) that seems a bit trite to me. I was hoping i could hammer it out with some sort of outline. But i suppose i'll just have to keep truckin as they say.

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