Sunrises inspire me as much as a blank page. They're the hope of a new day, a new novel on the horizon—but the unknown can be intimidating. When I catch myself wondering if I can "do it again," write an entire first draft without getting discouraged, I remember how many times I have done it before. If I have enough capacity to handle the coming day, I can take that first step to write a new book.
So, I'm planning again.
I took the NaNoWriMo quiz challenge to find out how I prefer to tackle planning a new novel. The results were exactly what I expected: I like to outline at least rough plot points and character arcs. It works for me.
When I began my last novel, I created a rough outline and broke it into chapters. Each chapter contained bits of plot points for the character's journey through her struggles, and even some dialogue. This helped me identify rising and falling conflict, where I could put twists and extra challenges, and helped ensure the tension was moving at a steady pace.
I get that this method isn't for everyone, but for me, it works. Do I go back and adjust things after the first draft? Of course. If you're someone who enjoys writing as inspiration hits, and doesn't need a solid direction, go for it. For those of you who, like me, need at least a child's crayon-scrawled map depicting the way through the murky woods of a new novel—and you want to learn one way to write an outline—read on.
My best outlining advice is this: keep it loose, and don't worry about perfection.
This means let yourself be surprised and creative. Let your mind wander. Try plot points that sound absurd. Throw grammar and sentence structure out the dang window.
Unfortunately, I am a perfectionist. How do I pull back and throw ideas into an outline that may not work? These ideas often change over time and grow with the fluid plot. That's the beauty of not having all the details fleshed out. The character motivations/conflicts, however, stay pretty much the same. I do find ways to make them go deeper, and that's when I know I'm onto something.
I'll break down my process for those who may struggle with similar issues.
First off, if you're having trouble nailing the main conflict of your story, read my last blog post from Week 2. Starting with the main character's conflicts (external and internal) is essential to figure out how they resolve them. Do they get the love interest? The family inheritance? Inner peace? What do they truly want (or maybe they don't know exactly?) and what's constantly trying to stop them? Often, characters do a fair bit of standing in their own way, just like real people.
If only they could kick that habit, quit that job, say "no" to that abusive person, etc.
Whatever the character's main conflict is, write it at the top of your outline. You can turn it into a few rough sentences that describe the journey.
Though I wanted to dig into ideas for my new novel, I decided to fall back on a method I already used that worked. I wrote this for my novel outline of Three Scoops of Integrity:
Johnna engages in her integrity project to go from superficial back to decent human being. Meets Conley who distracts her, but she’s guarding her heart after bad breakup. Johnna falls for him. Chooses her original goal over him until she realizes she’s been reaching for the wrong goal.
These are supposed to be surface-level facts. The meat of the story happens when the characters bump into their struggles, antagonists, etc.
Next, try writing a rough idea of what you think the climax of the story may be. This will likely shift, and you may change your mind once you get there. That's totally fine! Leave room to be creative and veer off the path.
For Three Scoops of Integrity, my climax (I thought) was this:
Johnna is forced to face her nature and own up to the fact that she is judgmental.
How?
Faces Conley who’s grown cold? Revisits Conley after emailing mom?
Once Conley opens back up, they have moment and Johnna talks to her mother. How does it go?
See how I wasn't even sure how Johnna would deal with her life? I didn't need to know exactly how her main conflict was resolved to start writing the story that holds it up. In fact, I didn't want to have it all figured out and stick to a script. One of the beautiful things about writing (for me) is letting the characters surprise me. I can think I know them inside and out—I created them, after all—but just like real people, I can still discover something new. A new angle to tackle their fears, barriers, and adversity.
Once I jotted down what I felt was enough to form a story, I started listing out chapters. I'll only put chapter one from my outline for now. Keep building your chapters (or you can do segments of main character development markers if you want) until you reach a point where the character's struggles reach their climax.
My Chapter 1 notes for Three Scoops of Integrity:
Johnna realizes she doesn’t like her life or the people around her. Boyfriend’s pool party, she watches the girl he cheated on her with touch his shoulder? Something inside Johnna snaps and she blurts her confession and walks out to a chorus of boos, with a smile on her face.
“I hate him in that moment, but I hate myself more. I stayed with him while he rolled her up like sushi in his sheets, then he had me over before he even washed them”
Dialogue helps me get into a character's head and mood. You could outline your entire book with quotes from characters and see how that goes. As long as the story is moving, and there's identifiable conflict in each chapter, you're on your way to a first draft.
Think of the chapter markers as a way to judge that the story is progressing toward the climax. Each chapter needs to present a new or old struggle, and how the character grows by working through it. If it helps, you can label the climax on its own and place it far down the list, then add as many chapters as you need to hold it up.
First drafts are supposed to be yucky and rough. You'll end up cutting and rearranging later. That's normal and unavoidable—unless you're the first person on the planet to ever write a perfect first draft. Don't be afraid of "messing it up." Just keep writing and exploring until you have a unique story that appeals to you.
Above all, breathe, let your imagination run away, and enjoy the ride.
Keep on smilin'!
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