I admit it. I love outlines to death. My outlines are so very detailed that by the time I reach the climax part, I could already be sobbing because I'm that moved by what's happening. Well that or I'm just a crybaby at heart. But anyway - I really envy those who can wing it from start to finish. I tried doing it the past two days, writing without any end in sight but I didn't come up with anything good. So lesson learned - once an outliner, die an outliner.
Most times, those who have only started writing aren't aware of what an outline is or even how important it is to setting up your story. Long story short, outlines make sure that every chapter contributes to the story as well as builds momentum for the climax and denouement in the end.
Most times, those who have only started writing aren't aware of what an outline is or even how important it is to setting up your story. Long story short, outlines make sure that every chapter contributes to the story as well as builds momentum for the climax and denouement in the end.
Now, there are two types of outlines I basically work on when setting up my story.
CHARACTER OUTLINE
There are 4 essential types of characters you'd be working on with a romance (of any sub-genre).
- Hero (H)
- Heroine (h)
- Antagonist (villain)
- Side characters
With each character, you must be very clear about the following:
- Physical description - hair, skin, eye color, height and build, any distinct features?
- Traits, personality, character - Funny? hard-working? quiet? You'll have an easier time defining a character's traits by considering how the character acts towards family, friends, lovers, colleagues, and the rest of the world
- Background - Income level, social class, cultural, religious, family history, medical history, relationship history
- Past, present, and future goals - These tend to affect the way they think, act, and decide
- Interactions - List down major interactions or scenes between characters and what you want to happen before, during, and after such interactions
PLOT OUTLINE
There are various ways to come up with a plot outline but I personally prefer to do it chapter by chapter - and as far as I'm concerned, that includes the prologue and epilogue as well. Now, for each chapter I make sure that the following details are included:
- Sequence of events (which you can rearrange / change as you go)
- Setting (You don't have to spend money for your character to "travel" or go to a different world even so set your imagination free)
- Spoilers (how one event in Chapter X will affect or contribute to an event in Chapter Y)
- Highlights (scenes where you have to emphasize a particular reaction, event, etc)
- Missing Links (indicate when there's something that should happen in a particular chapter but you can't figure out what that should be at the moment)
- Timeline (mention how many days / weeks / months / years or how much time has passed per event / scene)
Basically, that's it. With a detailed outline, you won't suffer from writer's block as much since you would have suffered from it already while writing the outline the itself. So the worst is over and now you can concentrate on writing. However - your outline isn't written in stone. If you need to change a few things here and there - go ahead and do so. That's one of the perks of being God the author of a book.