How should I outline my story?

[RootBeerBert]

I’m going on hiatus for bit and was wanted to take the opportunity to outline my story’s plot and make it easier to write chapters and hopefully better in overall quality. I’m wondering how far into the story should I outline. Just the first arc or the first arc and a few arcs after it. What do you guys think?

 

[Anon_Y_Mousse]

Welp, what I do is I plan the ending first(though honestly you should have done this from the start if you haven't already), then I work towards that ending

Plot it by "arc", where you have one main objective to progress the story towards the ending you want(i.e slay the dragon which awakens the greater dragon so the MC gets noticed by the greatest drgaon), then you have side objectives that you want to happen(i.e character a kisses character b). You can figure the rest out by yourself at that point, I think.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Just pick a random if it's your first time outlining. If you outline too far into the story, you might lack the motivation to write chapters. If you don't outline enough, you might write yourself into a corner. And, of course, if you are based enough, you don't need outlining.

 

[vish]

Welp, what I do is I plan the ending first(though honestly you should have done this from the start if you haven't already), then I work towards that ending

Plot it by "arc", where you have one main objective to progress the story towards the ending you want(i.e slay the dragon which awakens the greater dragon so the MC gets noticed by the greatest drgaon), then you have side objectives that you want to happen(i.e character a kisses character b). You can figure the rest out by yourself at that point, I think.

That's what I do too

 

[Anon_Y_Mousse]

Just pick a random if it's your first time outlining. If you outline too far into the story, you might lack the motivation to write chapters. If you don't outline enough, you might write yourself into a corner. And, of course, if you are based enough, you don't need outlining.

*Insert Virgin Plotter vs Chad panderer meme*

 

[JayDirex]

Hi @RootBeerBert, @SailusGebel suggestion is the most correct. If an outline overwhelms it will stall your writing. So to prevent this follow mah advice:

1. Write out a great hook opening with an inciting incident. (one that hooks the reader. PLEASE DO NOT WRITE SOME POINTLESS INFO DUMP PROLOGUE. Remember, the story starts on page one chapter 1.

2. Know how the story ends. period. Don't even begin outlining until you know how the story ends.

3. Lastly, use the standard three act structure for your outline. Why? because it is THE STANDARD and it works. And you don't have to complete the outline in a day. fill in the gaps, walk away from it. Come back to it. Change it. In time you'll have the skeleton of a story in this structure below:

 

[Lloyd]

Hi @RootBeerBert, @SailusGebel suggestion is the most correct. If an outline overwhelms it will stall your writing. So to prevent this follow mah advice:

1. Write out a great hook opening with an inciting incident. (one that hooks the reader. PLEASE DO NOT WRITE SOME POINTLESS INFO DUMP PROLOGUE. Remember, the story starts on page one chapter 1.

2. Know how the story ends. period. Don't even begin outlining until you know how the story ends.

3. Lastly, use the standard three act structure for your outline. Why? because it is THE STANDARD and it works. And you don't have to complete the outline in a day. fill in the gaps, walk away from it. Come back to it. Change it. In time you'll have the skeleton of a story in this structure below:

Lol i still have this image from when you sent it to me.

 

[Dajoe1234]

Hi @RootBeerBert, @SailusGebel suggestion is the most correct. If an outline overwhelms it will stall your writing. So to prevent this follow mah advice:

1. Write out a great hook opening with an inciting incident. (one that hooks the reader. PLEASE DO NOT WRITE SOME POINTLESS INFO DUMP PROLOGUE. Remember, the story starts on page one chapter 1.

2. Know how the story ends. period. Don't even begin outlining until you know how the story ends.

3. Lastly, use the standard three act structure for your outline. Why? because it is THE STANDARD and it works. And you don't have to complete the outline in a day. fill in the gaps, walk away from it. Come back to it. Change it. In time you'll have the skeleton of a story in this structure below:

Feels too mechanical for me.

 

[HappyVainGlory]

I’m going on hiatus for bit and was wanted to take the opportunity to outline my story’s plot and make it easier to write chapters and hopefully better in overall quality. I’m wondering how far into the story should I outline. Just the first arc or the first arc and a few arcs after it. What do you guys think?

It depends. How much do you think you'll remember, and how fast do you think you can get back in the groove? If you think it'll be hard, outline more. If not, outline less.

As a general rule though, there's nothing bad with outlining more. Anything that gets you thinking more about the story and narrow down where you want it to go helps. Just remember that it's possible what you outlined may not end up as what you ultimately write, depending on your writing style.

Hi @RootBeerBert, @SailusGebel suggestion is the most correct. If an outline overwhelms it will stall your writing. So to prevent this follow mah advice:

1. Write out a great hook opening with an inciting incident. (one that hooks the reader. PLEASE DO NOT WRITE SOME POINTLESS INFO DUMP PROLOGUE. Remember, the story starts on page one chapter 1.

2. Know how the story ends. period. Don't even begin outlining until you know how the story ends.

3. Lastly, use the standard three act structure for your outline. Why? because it is THE STANDARD and it works. And you don't have to complete the outline in a day. fill in the gaps, walk away from it. Come back to it. Change it. In time you'll have the skeleton of a story in this structure below:

I'd like to say that this is great if you're a writer who can work off of an outline. This will allow you to see everything at once and then slot in all the pieces without worry or much hassle. Not only that, but then the main work is done, and you can just flesh things out.

This is terrible if you're a seat of the pants writer. Trying to move your story to this structure when you already don't know where you're going next will cause you to trip yourself up and lose motivation. Also, you might find yourself completely bored if you've outlined everything like this, depending on what part of writing you like. Of course, it's a great structure to use in editing and revising your story after you've written everything, since good stories do tend to fall into this structure. But it should be something in the background when you're writing and used to check what you've done.

 

[Katsuya]

Hi @RootBeerBert, @SailusGebel suggestion is the most correct. If an outline overwhelms it will stall your writing. So to prevent this follow mah advice:

1. Write out a great hook opening with an inciting incident. (one that hooks the reader. PLEASE DO NOT WRITE SOME POINTLESS INFO DUMP PROLOGUE. Remember, the story starts on page one chapter 1.

2. Know how the story ends. period. Don't even begin outlining until you know how the story ends.

3. Lastly, use the standard three act structure for your outline. Why? because it is THE STANDARD and it works. And you don't have to complete the outline in a day. fill in the gaps, walk away from it. Come back to it. Change it. In time you'll have the skeleton of a story in this structure below:

Thanks for this advice. I just happen to look at this form and yeah. Anyways, It feels much better knowing all this and stuff