If a novel is a completed puzzle, then writing an outline is creating the perimeter and organizing the pieces. An outline describes a novel in broad strokes, helping the author picture how their novel is going to look at the end. It’s a helpful tool in writing. With a completed outline, the author can write their book without minimal issues and, most importantly, with no writer’s block!
But what exactly is in an outline of a novel?
An outline should include the following sections:
- Character Bios and Story Arcs
- The WHOLE story
- World building
- Plot structure
- Scene by Scene
Let me break it down for you.
Character Bios and Story Arcs
This is self-explanatory. Your outline should include character bios for EVERY character. Character bios include physical descriptions, their best and worst qualities, their key relationships and their role in their story. This is where their story arc comes in. The best way to keep track of each character is to have snapshot of their entire story in their character bio. For a quick easy way to view characters answer these 3 questions: Who are they? What are they doing in the story? And why does it matter?
It’s my personal preference to include EVERY character in my outline. (Even the characters who get mentioned once, or the barista at the coffee shop.) The barista won’t have a long, detailed character bio/story arc as my main character but it helps create a full, three-dimensional world when you, as the author/creator, know everything.
The WHOLE Story
This becomes more important when the point of view (POV) in a story is limited. Writing a summary of the WHOLE story includes writing about the pieces of information the narrator/main character may never know. For example, Bilbo doesn’t learn the significance of the ring he picks up in his travels—but Tolkien knew exactly what that ring was and what it meant for Bilbo to pick it up from Gollum. When writing a summary (or bullet points) of the WHOLE story, include details that even readers won’t learn about until later (if ever!).
In my current work-in-progress (WIP), my main character doesn’t know who kidnapped their father or why. But as the author, I do—and I know what is happening with their father and his kidnappers while at the same time, my main character is clueless. When writing the WHOLE story, I write it chronologically, so while my main character goes to school, I add a note about their father getting kidnapped. This is going to be very helpful when developing the plot structure and writing foreshadowing!
World-building
World-building is the process of creating a magical/fictional/fantastical world that your characters live in. For those authors who don’t write fantasy, this section will be very short. Fictional authors can include the high school the main characters go to, or the coffee shop they work at. Fantasy authors will have to include the socioeconomic structure of their society, the name of the language and the people, and a magic system fully explained if necessary.
I will write a whole blog post about world-building soon! But for now, think of the basics any society needs to start your world-building section: education, medicine, government, technology, language, society, population, and geography just to name a few things!
Plot Structure
Plot structure refers to the various ways storytellers have divided up parts of a story. There is the 3 Act Structure, the 5 Act Structure, Save the Cat, and many, many more. If you are following any type of structure, you should have that clearly outlined.
For the basics of any story, you’ll need to introduce your characters, introduce the problem, share the journey the characters take to solve the problem (often by illuminating other problems they haven’t even realized yet), which leads to a climatic moment in which the characters have shown personal growth to solve the problem, overcoming obstacles, and finally a conclusion.
How you get there, how you divide your scenes or tell your story is up to you but just be sure to include parts of the plot in your outline.
Scene by Scene
The scene by scene portion of your outline breaks up the entire story into smaller, specific scenes. Many people skip this part of an outline but I think it’s the best thing you can do for your future self. (Future self is the one writing the book and future self will suffer writer’s block if they don’t have any idea what to write.)
When I write a book, I find that I never have writer’s block if I have the scene by scene portion of my outline done. Does this mean I follow it without fail? No. In fact, I just skipped over one part of my scene by scene when I realized, while writing, that it didn’t serve my story. However, it also didn’t change the rest of my outline, because not only did have I have broad strokes of my entire story plan (see the WHOLE story) but I also had the next scenes already planned out. I saw that the scene I had put in there three months prior was unnecessary and ineffective. I moved straight into the next scene of my book without stress, without worrying if the story had to be completely redone, without writer’s block. That is the power of outlining your story scene by scene.
This is also the hardest part, in my opinion. I’ve spent several weeks planning the scene by scene of my book. This is where I get writer’s block; this is where I’m confused as to where my story will go and if the things I have planned will work out the way I want them to. I deal with all of that upfront so I don’t have to deal with it while writing.
These are just some of the MAJOR parts of an outline I include while I outline a novel. If you’re struggling to get the idea you have for a story into an outline click here! I describe the steps I take in turning an idea into a story. But when in doubt of what to do in your outline, just remember: your outline is your roadmap. It’s meant to help you write your story. Do what is necessary to help future you write your story!
