So, I am at the point where I am realizing that I can’t go into Project Red too aimlessly. I NEED a clear direction for the story from beginning to the middle to end end. The problem is that I’m not great at doing outlines anyway, but for the sake of Project Red, I have to.
I know what the story is about. I have ideas. I just need to jot down the ideas and make it all clear.
I’m planning on making Project Red a novel series and I need to flesh out the plot, characters, and the world heavily enough that I can.
Though I do think about that just doing a wild zero draft where I just write and get my thoughts onto paper or doc is crucial. Yet I still want to create some outlines for the first draft and just take it from there.
I have options. But the thing I need to realize is that I need to outline for Project Red.
What are your thoughts and feelings? How do you create an outline?
Do you have any advice and tips for me?
do you want the story to be slotted into a pre existing structure? OR Do you want the structure to be unique to do your story?
do you want the beginning to be a setup ie establishes the parameters for the readers either in terms of story, character, or both- that any twists will fit inside? OR do you want the beginning to simply just be the beginning?
what I mean is- when your reader reads the beginning beginning (yes of book 1) do you want them to know what type of story/ plot they are reading and do you want to stick with what you set up for the rest of the books?
thats not what i mean. (but good to know)
I mean like do you want the genre to be established in the beginning that you stick to.
for example the start of Hunger Games is established as a dystopian fiction. all the twists and turns that happen within Hunger Games fit within the genre or convention of dystopian fiction.
ill try explaining from a reader’s pov since that might be easier.
sometimes when you read a book - at the start you know what type of story you are going to get even if you don’t know how- and the author sticks to that. in others you think you know what story you are going to get but then the author deviates from that.
do you already know your character’s motivations?
if not would you like them to be straightforward ie something the reader instantly gets. like in hunger games Katniss’s motivation is straightforward it is to protect Prim. OR do you want it to be complex something that requires the reader to interpert the subtext to get?
Personally, I think every book needs an outline, but I’m hardly one to talk. My outlines start as timelines that list everything that needs to happen to advance the plot. Then I turn that into a bullet list for the outline. The idea is that I’ll take that to the next level and flesh out the details, but I never do get to that point before I get tired of working on it and just start pantsing with what I already know so far. (♯^.^♯)
I do think my stories would be tighter and better if I could bring myself to flesh out the outline more but I’m too lazy. I just correct all the plot inconsistencies when I revise the first draft–a process that would be a lot faster with an outline. (ノ_<、)ヾ(´▽｀)
okay sweet so you have some options in terms of how to approach an outline
Option 1
in a doc or notebook follow along the instructions:
Motivation and Conflicts:
write each character’s motivation
write the stakes for each motivation
write the internal obstacles and the external obstacles
write down each of the conflicts
world
answer the following
what does the reader need to know about the world of the story and of the characters to get the motivations, stakes, obstacles, and conflicts.
what does the reader need to know about the world of the story and of the characters for the motivations, stakes, obstacles, and conflicts to exist.
character
answer following
what does reader need to know about the characters to get their motivations, why they might be/ have an obstacle, why the stakes are what they are, and why the conflicts are what they are
events
answer the following when does the reader need to know each of these pieces of information (listed in the world section and character)
just say at the start, in the middle, or at/ near the end. DO NOT OVER THINK THE ORDER IF YOU ARE UNSURE YOU CAN PUT IT AT MULTIPLE SPOTS.
this will give you a rough outline.
Option 2
write a 1-3 sentence summary of the story.
use those 1-3 sentences to write a 1-3 page summary of the story
read over those 1-3 pages and note down every change you read or that is implied (regardless of scale)
look at the list and arrange the order based on your aims of wanting reader to instantly get character’s motivations, which means also instantly getting the conflict, obstacles, stakes. and of wanting to stick to the genre/ sub genre. DO NOT FILL IN WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN EACH CHANGE