Not sure where or how to start? Here’s your exhaustive guide to the book outlining process
Imagine you’re on a film set. The cast and crew are about to wrap the final scene of the movie. The very last line of the script depicts the leading lady riding away on a horse, but there’s only one problem: the assistant director forgot to book the horse. “We’ll fix it in post!” yells the director, as he motions for the scene to continue without this crucial equine cast member, without whom the ending makes no sense. The editor on set cringes, knowing her job just got a thousand times harder.
Not outlining your book is essentially resigning to having to fix a lot of your story “in post,” or in the editing stages. You might have written a lot of great scenes, moments, and quotes — but without an outline, it’s likely just not going to come together in the way you had hoped. The truth is, if you don’t organize your thoughts before you begin to write your first draft, you will almost certainly have to edit them heavily (or go back and rework the book entirely) after.
At The WritersBlok, we’ve written our fair share of books, both fiction and nonfiction, and we’ve helped many first-time authors navigate the writing process. In our experience, we can assure you that not writing a book outline is likely dooming yourself to a long and arduous road ahead. So, we’re here to help you crack the code on how to write a book outline.
What A Book Outline Can Do For You
Chances are, you’ve been mulling over your novel or nonfiction book idea for a while now, and you’ve decided that it’s time to start writing your book outline. Setting out to write a book is no easy feat. When approaching the nonfiction or novel writing process, it can be easy for aspiring authors to jump straight into that first stream-of-consciousness draft without an outline. On the other side of the spectrum, it’s common to stay in the daunting, overwhelming state of writer’s block, never getting into the flow of writing at all. Whether you’re person A or B, a detailed outline will help you get started with a process that will keep you on a solid, productive writing pace from the first to the final draft.
So, what exactly is an outline?
An outline is the written document that includes the main points of story and information that your book will include, in order. Ultimately, your outline will serve as your book’s table of contents, chapter summaries, character breakdowns and more. Additionally, organizing your thoughts into an outline will help you do more than just write your book — it will help you sell your book. An outline can help consolidate your book’s elevator pitch in a way that appeals to literary agents and publishers, which is extremely important if you want your book to be consumed by a wider audience, or if you hope to make a living as an author.
In short, there are endless benefits to hammering out your book’s story structure in the form of an outline before commencing your first draft. While new writers can find the outline process to be tedious, it will likely be the step in which your idea really comes together and comes to life. Because we can’t recommend outlining highly enough, we’ve put together the following guide to creating your very own book outline.
How Do You Outline a Book?
Congratulations! You’ve taken an important step by committing to creating an outline for your idea. Though there will be differences between fiction and nonfiction outlines, we’ll dive into everything you need to know about generating this crucial road map for your book.
Plotters Vs. Pantsers
Before going any further, we thought we’d add a disclaimer: there are, in fact, successful writers who don’t outline. The ongoing debate between plotters and pantsers (or outliners and non-outliners) is a somewhat silly argument over whether or not outlining is essential, and you will find bestselling authors on both sides of this argument. Famous examples of plotters and pantsers are J K Rowling and Stephen King. J K Rowling is a committed plotter, whose handwritten tables and charts have gone viral amongst aspiring writers who draw inspiration from her intense outline work (you may want to take a look — it’s good stuff). Stephen King (a famous pantser), on the other hand, does not write book outlines and has historically taken jabs at authors who do. Despite some of the world’s great pantser authors’ rather hubristic claims that everyone should simply be able to “intuit” their novels into existence, we respectfully disagree, especially when it comes to new writers.
As we are writing primarily for aspiring and first-time authors, we stand firmly in the plotters camp. It’s a well-known saying in storytelling that you have to know the rules before you break them. While many famous pantsers have great points about the creative magic of spontaneity, it’s pretty clear that they, being successful authors, already incorporate many of the rules of outlining into their work — they just do it in real time while writing. See, they learned the rules before being able to break them. When you have years of professional writing experience, this is possible. So unless you’re already a New York Times bestselling author, we are confident that you’ll find the outlining process to be indispensable. Perhaps one day, if you do it enough, you will rewire your brain to think in terms of plot points, act breaks, and overall structure. And that will be a great day!
What All Books Have In Common
Step one is determining whether your idea is nonfiction or fiction. While nonfiction and fiction may seem completely different in that nonfiction primarily provides information and fiction primarily tells a story, they are more alike than they might seem on the surface. First, all good nonfiction writing also tells a story. Even the most informational nonfiction books (like textbooks) must find a way to entertain and grip readers, and importantly – weave storylines and through lines together. Second, all fiction writing (like its nonfiction counterpart) makes an argument. In fact, all writing is making an argument, period. It may be explicit or implicit, but a thesis statement is not necessarily exclusive to nonfiction — it just might come in the form of the theme instead.
So, now that we’ve concluded that both fiction and nonfiction books make arguments and tell stories — step two will be diving into the differences in their outlines.
How To Write A Nonfiction Book Outline
The first question you’ll have to ask before diving into the structure of your book is — what type of nonfiction book do you want to write? Is it biography or memoir? Academic? Self-help? Historical or true crime? Whether you’re writing a textbook, short story, or anything in between, there are dozens of nonfiction genres that vary in content, style, and organization, but here is a list of basic components you’ll need when writing your outline:
First Things First: Know Your Audience
Before beginning your outline, it’s important to know who it is you’re writing your book for. If you set out to write books for everyone, they will be read by no one. Getting a clear grasp on your target audience before starting an outline will only make the writing process that much easier from start to finish. The more specific, the better. Remember, the riches are in the niches.
Drain the Brain
Once you’ve got a clear grasp on your book topic and target audience, it’s time for a massive brain drain. If it’s in your mind and related to your book or books, put it down on paper. Don’t worry about the first chapter, the last chapter, or any of the chapters in-between. Don’t feel the need to have any sort of cohesion, or even quality, at this stage. This step is not about making sure what you learned in high school English class stuck, it’s about getting all the content in your brain out on the page in a low-pressure way.
Organize the Chaos
Once you’ve got everything you want to say out on the page, it’s time to add some structure and cohesion to the madness. Again, don’t stress here. With everything out in front of you, you can begin to look for common themes, through-lines, arguments, etc.. This will help you get a general sense of what points you want to hit, how many chapters might be required, what chapter length might look like, and other general structural issues.
Think of Common Questions
You’ve put everything you want to say down on paper and have started to organize it in a way that gives it life. But in the same way it’s important to establish your target audience at the beginning of the outlining journey, it’s important to keep them in mind throughout the process. Presumably, you have some level of expertise in the subject your book deals with, whether it’s historical, self-help, or something else entirely. What questions do you get asked most often on the subject? What do people crave to learn more about on Reddit, message boards, and social media that’s related? What’s in the cultural zeitgeist that could mesh well with your book? What are other similar books in your genre? Let your chapters be guided by these answers. Factoring in all these questions is key in making sure you craft an outline that puts your book or in position to give the readers a satisfying experience, from first chapter to final chapter.
Reorganize
You’ve got what you want to say and what your audience wants to hear written down. It may not look pretty at this point, but it’s all there on the page. Now it’s time to blend those two components together and figure out a structure that makes sense. Do you need a lot of short chapters that touch on a wide array of topics? Or do you need fewer chapters that take a deep dive into your subject matter? The final outline should start to emerge at this stage.
Edit
You’ve done your best to establish a method amongst the madness and have reorganized the brain dump to look like the beginnings of the road map to your book. Take a break, get up from the computer, and go get a cup of coffee. It’s good to do one more pass in outlining with a little space from the project. You might see important through-lines you missed, or that two parts of the outline overlap in a way that is unnecessary and hurts your book’s structure. Even if everything looks good, a final pass with a fresh set of eyes will give you confidence as a writer as you embark on writing your book.
A Final Word
There is no one nonfiction book outline template that is the best one to use. In fact, the structure of your outline could and should vary widely from genre to genre. A true crime tale will have a very different set of needs than an academic textbook. No two outlines look exactly alike. But if you can keep in mind the suggestions listed above, you should be able to navigate what’s important for your particular project.
How To Write A Novel Outline
Just like with nonfiction, you should consider genre before you outline a novel, as it may cause your outline to vary slightly. However, whether you’re writing historical fiction, thriller, romance, mystery, or any other type of novel, you’ll need the following components to get started on your novel outline:
Establish the Premise
Fiction stories are truly limitless in what they can say, what directions they’re able to go, which conventions the writer chooses to follow or buck, and what worlds can be explored. That’s why it’s important to get crystal clear on a story’s premise before you outline a novel. Getting your bearings on the parameters you’re working with will give you more freedom as a writer in exploring characters, as well as any given plot point or theme.
Characters
Once you have the world of your story solidified, it’s time to shift focus to the heartbeat of all good storytelling: characters. Every plot point and action sequence in your novel is important, but how those things affect the characters is what will really hook readers. One thing to keep in mind as you craft the specifics behind your characters is who your target audience is. If you know the type of people who will likely be reading your story, you’ll be able to create characters that are compelling in a way that is specific to that target audience. Initially, it can be good to do a deep dive on your characters beyond what will make it in the novel, or even the novel outline. The more fleshed out even minor characters are, the more depth every chapter of your book will have.
Plot
Once you’ve got a clear premise and compelling characters established, you’re ready to get to the meat of your novel outline: the plot. There’s a good amount of questions to consider here for what will work best for your specific story. Should you opt for the traditional three-act structure, or something different? Should you outline chapter by chapter, or plot point by plot point? How much detail is needed for each scene or chapter? Trying to outline a novel is hard, but getting clarity on these questions can make the task less daunting.
A Final Word
Just like in nonfiction, there is no one-size-fits-all fiction book outline template. Your story’s genre, length, themes, and target audience will all have bearing on what kind of outline execution is best suited for you. As fiction writers, figuring out the answers to these creative questions is part of the fun!
Your Outline Should Tell A Story
We know the saying don’t judge a book by its cover. The thing is, people do it anyway. Right after a reader judges a book by its title and cover art, he/she flips open to — you know where this is going — the table of contents (in other words, a form of outline). As a writer you must ask yourself — does my table of contents tell a story? Because it should. Authors don’t want to miss any chance to sell a copy of their prized work, so don’t give the reader an excuse to put your book down by failing to engage them with a compelling outline.
Outlining Is Brainstorming
When creating an outline, embrace the freedom to brainstorm. Nothing is set in stone. Jot down any and all ideas that come to mind as relevant for your book or as part of your story. Not every idea will make it into the finished product, but many of them will serve as supporting information for the book regardless, whether in the form of big picture world building, character backstory, or other context or subtext. In short — outlining helps you learn your own story like the back of your hand, so that when it’s time to fill in the blanks, you leave no stone unturned. Your outline is the skeleton for your book. Hashing out your book outline part by part, chapter by chapter will determine which ideas sink or float, separating your best ideas from the rest.
Outlining Allows For Early Feedback
Once you have a basic collection of ideas and structure for those ideas, it’s a good idea to get feedback from peers and colleagues. Being able to communicate your ideas in this condensed way will benefit you greatly in the long run, as it’s a lot harder to get twenty people to read your entire book and give feedback for free. Once you have the confidence of affirming feedback, you’ll be able to write your book much more quickly than if you were constantly deliberating over and second guessing every little thought. If the feedback is less than ideal, then you will thank yourself immensely for having had the foresight to gain that insight before spending hundreds or thousands of hours on a “finished” manuscript. Your book outline is valuable in part because it will save you lots of time, money and stress in the end.
Effective Strategies for Book Outlining
Different people have different ways of working. The type of outline that is best for certain authors might not be best for you. Whether it’s as simple as the Bookend Outline, or as fleshed out as the Snowflake Method, we’ve put together a list of outlines that can help you maximize productivity and creativity every time.
Bookend Outline
A Bookend outline is a great option for authors who want a lot of flexibility in writing a first pass, but still want the benefits of having established beginning and end points, and maybe one or two significant plot points along the way. If you have an idea for the direction you want to go, but think it’s best to have more freedom in exploring that idea, this might be a good choice. For those who decide that this book outline is best for them, it’s important to do all the pre-outline work necessary to get a very strong grasp on your book’s world, characters, story, etc.. More creative groundwork must be laid before starting this outline, otherwise, it won’t serve much of a purpose as you make your way through the first draft.
Fleshed-Out Synopsis
The Fleshed-Out Synopsis is the opposite of a Bookend outline. This type of book outline is as in-depth as they come. Each chapter and plot point is mapped out and explored. The word “outline” can make us think things need to be short and broad. That is not necessarily true, and certainly not the case for this style of outline. Don’t be afraid to use as many words as needed to go scene-by-scene, chapter-by-chapter. This outline takes the longest and is the most labor-intensive, but usually makes up for it by helping you get through your first draft faster than any other outline would.
Skeleton Outline
The Skeleton Outline is a hybrid between the Bookend and Fleshed-Out styles of outlining. It’s usually one to two pages in length and makes sure to cover every significant plot point and chapter, without going too in-depth on any particular argument or story idea. This outline is a great choice for people looking to strike the right balance of creative exploration and solidified direction when taking their first crack at their new book.
The Snowflake Method
The Snowflake Method was created by Randy Ingermanson, and it has become increasingly popular amongst writers. The idea is to start very small, and build from there. This method takes you from a one-sentence summary of your book to a full-blown outline with ideas, themes, character arcs and chapters established. For new writers that aren’t used to outlines and might be overwhelmed by all of this, the Snowflake Method would be a great place to start.
The Bottom Line
Writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint. Running a marathon requires training and preparation — that’s what your book outline is. Runners say that mile 18 is the hardest. Knowing that you’ve come so far but still have quite a ways to go can feel discouraging. Similarly, many writers face the dreaded “sagging middle.” With an outline, you can avoid the sagging middle and breeze through every chapter of your book with relative ease and steady pacing. That’s what proper preparation can do! Be it the sagging middle or writer’s block or blank page syndrome — some of the biggest time and energy sucks of book writing can be avoided (or at least minimized) thanks to the preparation of crafting an outline.
When thinking about the next step on your path to becoming a bestselling author, you may want professional, one-on-one guidance. If you’re looking for anything from a story consultant to a book ghostwriter, WritersBlok has services for you. Your authorship journey might not look like anyone else’s, and we can help you carve out that path in the quickest time and with the least stress. We approach our clients’ ideas with the utmost care and urgency. Your story is important to us, and we’re here to help bring it to life. Contact us today to get started.
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