Outlining can be done with many techniques. I like to start with a mind map. I use XMind as my mind mapping tool. With mind mapping I can let ideas flow however they come to me. Plots, characters, themes, settings - I just spill it all out onto the screen. The organization gradually takes shape as I push the ideas around and link them in various ways. I end up with a hierarchical outline of short phrases and sentences, which become the barest of bones for my story.
From this bare-bones outline I begin to define plot lines for each of the main characters. A plot line is a story within a story. My book has one main story around which the individual sub-plots weave themselves to create a rich tapestry. The high-level outline tells me how the plot lines diverge and interleave to create the patterns of the book.
It is commonly accepted that only seven stories or plots exist in the whole world of fiction:
- Overcoming the monster
- Rags to riches
- The quest
- Voyage and return
- Comedy
- Tragedy
- Redemption
Virtually every novel we read is a variant of one or more of these plots. Each has its unique rules, stages and steps. These plots are not formulas, however, They are structures around which to build stories and reveal characters. In the western world we all pretty much live in rectangular houses with flat floors, windows, doors, bathrooms, and kitchens. Yet the structure does not limit creativity, and we each make our living spaces unique. The seven standard plots do the same thing for authors - they are the tools through which we express our creativity.
In the Lachoneus series, the main plot is "overcoming the monster", which is the basic theme of good overcoming evil. I also try, however, to weave other plots around that main theme. One character is on a quest, another goes on a voyage and returns; one is comic and another is tragic. Redemption is, for me, the most satisfying plot, and so at least one character seeks redemption. In my outline I use the structures of these various plots to mold the characters and find out how they change and grow. Each sub-plot has a million problems to solve, and it is exciting to see how they work together to create a climax that is both fun and satisfying.
In my detailed outline for a sub-plot, I first lay down the structure, and then I write a paragraph that describes each step in the structure. These paragraphs become the bases for the scenes to be developed. I then order and interleave the scenes from the sub-plots to follow the chronology of the main story and to determine how one scene may impact or lead into another. I try to balance the characters and their scenes to provide harmony and rhythm while interjecting a sharp curve or a jagged edge here and there to create surprising effects.
Finally, I define chapter boundaries around the scenes. My goal is to place a scene at the end of each chapter that is so suspenseful or compelling that the reader cannot close the book without reading at least the first couple of paragraphs of the next chapter.
And so the book is outlined. But it is far from done. Outlining is fun because it is fast. I get constant shots of endorphin as I push the outline along and discover in rapid fire the many twists and turns the story will take. Turning the outline into a first draft of prose is, by comparison, tedious torture. I may write for an hour and come up with only one good paragraph. But even so, surprises still await. The outline is only the blue print. No project ever turns out exactly the way the plan says it will. A good outline, like a good blue print, just gets you started. Finishing is whole different story.
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