Outlining: 5

Hi everyone,

There isn’t much to report. I’m currently doing another draft of my outline. I’m trying to fill in as much as I can. Once I finish this story structure pass, I intend to do a scene level pass which will take a while. Since I don’t have much more to report on this aspect of writing, I’ll move the blog to once a month because when I finish this, I also want to concentrate on fast drafting which takes a singular focus.

I’ll leave you with a brief recap. If you’re outlining and struggling, just get a one sentence down for each of the six major plot beats and go from there:

1.     Inciting incident:

What changes everything? A new student arrives? They go to a new school? They lose their job? Their friend dies?

2.     Climax of Act 1 (break into act 2):

This is where you bring the curtain down on the act 1 world. How can your MC not go back? Have they burned some bridge, left home for good, destroyed a relationship and now have to move on without that support. Think about this as the curtain coming down on act one in a play. Has your MC committed to something that they can’t back out of. It’s the point of no return. What is it in your novel?

3.     The Midpoint of the Story:

I like to think of this as the midpoint twist. What happens here that changes everything going forward? A new direction. It can either be good or bad, it really doesn’t matter, but your story direct pivots on this event. Where they fighting one villain and now fighting a different one? Is everything they knew to be true up to this point, a well-crafted lie? Where they trying to reach a goal only to discover that it is worthless, that they’ve been going about it all wrong?

4.     The crisis:

Everything goes wrong for your main character. It blows up in their face. They thought they had it all figured out, but they were all wrong and had been careening to this dark moment for a while without knowing it. What happens to make everything fall apart? Someone dies, a plan goes horribly wrong, they are all captured, their house burns down, the true enemy was hidden until now and it is their best friend. This is where you torture your main character.

5.     The climax:

This is where your story question is answered. What has your MC been trying to achieve the entire novel? This is the moment of truth. Were they successful or did they fail? Did they find their lost sister? Overthrow the powerful institution that was oppressing them? Reconcile with their love?

6.     The resolution:

What does their new wholehearted world look like? How have they changed? Compare them to how they were at the beginning. Have they grown? Are they in a better place, emotionally, mentally, physically?

Once you have these beats completed, then you can work on adding six new beats. Three in act 2A (before the midpoint) and three in act 2B (after the midpoint). I also suggest fleshing out your climax and midpoint a little more so you have somewhere to aim in both halves of the novel. That should give you a solid outline.

I’ll check back in next month when I have finished my outlining and I’m preparing to fast draft.

Until then, happy writing,

Joanne.