As regular readers know, I despise outlining. I just can’t get myself to do it. My mind has started to shift on this over the years, owing mostly to the fact that I haven’t been able to finish a novel doing things my way. I mean, what’s the point in doing things over and over again, continuing to fail. At some point you need to make the decision: quit or try something new. Let’s try something new.<\/p>\n
Let’s also not that when I say outline, I’m not talking about the roman numerals from grade school. I’m talking, rather, about a skeleton of a story. Just enough to know where I’m going so I don’t completely lose my way. Actually, that sounds more like a map. Let’s call it a skeleton map because almost everything sounds better with the word skeleton before it.<\/p>\n
Anyway, I was really excited when I came across this blog post yesterday because I’ve been searching for it for a long time. What I’ve been looking for is a breakdown of the various parts of a novel, with a rough idea of what chapter each part takes place. \u00a0Here is must an excerpt of what I’ve found and at first blush seems exactly what I’ve been searching for. Read the entire post, linked below, for the full details:<\/p>\n
Opening – Chapter One<\/p>\n
Act One End – Chapter Six<\/p>\n
Mid-Point Reversal – Chapter Twelve<\/p>\n
Act Two End – Chapter Eighteen<\/p>\n
Act Three Starts- Chapter Nineteen<\/p>\n
Climax Starts – Chapter Twenty-Two<\/p>\n
If I find I need more or fewer chapters, I just adjust. If one of these events happens sooner or later, no problem. The goal isn’t to follow this exactly and make it fit, it’s to guide me so the story unfolds at the pace I’ve found gives me the best story for my style.<\/p>\n
My first pass at outlining will look something like this (but with the details of the actual story of course):<\/p>\n
Opening – Intro of protag getting into trouble<\/p>\n
Act One End – First major problem that throws a wrench into protag’s plans and forces them to act outside of their comfort zone.<\/p>\n
Mid-Point Reversal – Unexpected event that sends the entire story sideways.<\/p>\n
Act Two End – Protagonist’s actions have led them to a point where they can’t back down, but they’ll need to sacrifice something to continue.<\/p>\n
Act Three Starts – Protagonist has acted in ways to bring them in direct conflict with the antagonist, it’s do or die, all or nothing time.<\/p>\n
Climax Starts – Showdown with the antagonist.<\/p>\n