How often does your story outline go astray? Always, right? Outlining a story is extremely important to most writers, consultants and teachers. I don’t believe outlines are for everyone…certainly not me. Why?
I’m a pretty structured person, generally, but when it comes to creativity, I just can’t be held back by structure, especially an outline.
I used to spend so much time outlining then spend even more time changing the outline to try to keep up with the different, crooked directions my story would constantly take. And I mean crooked in a good way. It’s thinking outside the box. It’s boring to be linear.
I certainly encourage those of you to keep doing outlines and sticking to them if that works for you. For those who are like me, here’s a different kind of ‘outline’ you may want to try:
A. Beginning
B. End
That’s it. There’s no point putting Middle in because it’ll constantly change a lot.
Under your Beginning, introduce your character and show the characteristics/traits that will completely change by the ending (see my Writing Tip on Visual Character Arc). Make sure you state your theme as well.
Under your Ending, write down what happens to your character at the end, where he ends up, and what, if not all, characteristics/traits have changed and how these help support your theme.
Then ask yourself, how do I get my protagonist from A to B? What physical and mental actions and emotions will my protagonist have to endure to reach his/her goal and achieve a complete arc at the end? How can I SHOW all of that? The answers can fill in your Middle if you want one but what you will be writing is really a list of many initial possibilities that will most likely change as your story develops. You will always come up with new ideas along the way. But it’s a good start and don’t be surprised if you end up changing your beginning and/or end.
If you’re clear on your Beginning and End, even though they might change as well, you will definitely take your audience on a great journey with your protagonist through a crooked outline.
I’m with you Carol. No matter how often I try to write an outline, I always end up suffocating the story. So, I figured it’s better to have a notes page and jot down turning points, dialogue etc, etc as I go along.