How to… outline!

Yep, not an update blog! As you may know, I like to help people. And you can find all that I wrote so far on writing here. Below is a blog I wrote for FicRetreat on how to outline and why to do it! Hope you enjoy. Blogging is fun!

 

This was originally posted over at FicRetreat on January 15, 2018.

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Outlines are hard! Yes. Yes they are. And to be honest, I don’t outline as organized as I used to, instead I write notes, make bullet points of things I want to see and let it go the way it wants to go.

However, it does work. Outlining works. You know why? Because you can think of ideas for your story before you start writing, give you a ‘life line’ sort to speak. It’ll reduce the chance of you getting a writer’s block and well… all the research that you’ve done will fit in nicely! Writing everything down will avoid inconsistencies and you can always ADD to your outline when you’ve found something new for your story while writing, because let’s face it, our stories sometimes have a life of their own and go into a direction we didn’t think it was going to go.

Wait; disclaimer time! Even though you’ve made an outline, know that you’ll likely not follow it 100% because stories do tend to write themselves some points. But an outline can keep you tethered from straying too far.

So, how does one outline? Everyone has their own techniques. What works for me is brainstorming with people. Or do the research and find plot things through my research. I write them down and then the connecting happens. What’s going to happen when? Connect the dots.

Do you need an outline or notes on the story you’re going to write? No. Absolutely not. You can just start writing and see where it takes you, as long as you have the important details written down so you don’t become inconsistent (research! Your own rules for science/magic/supernatural).

There are no rules for writing. Just tips and tricks to make writing easier! So, allow me to show you something that Meeko and I did for our 2011 story “Broken Bird”, it’s a Stargate Atlantis/NCIS fanfic that we wrote for a Big Bang. We loved to write this story despite me ripping out Meeko’s heart and stomping on it when I thought of the plot *grin*.

This was also the story where Meeko taught me how to outline. Excuse the images, the way it was set up did not want to be copied and it just sucked so I took screenshots 🙂

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Yeah, that’s the monster of all outlines, I guess. At least for me. Now, here’s an ‘outline’ I did for Sanctuaire, my first story in the Twilight/The Originals verse. Notice that it’s merely a collection of conversations that I had with Meeko over various messengers 🙂

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As a family tradition, Klaus is going to host a ball when Bella, Kol and Rebekah return, in honor of Bella getting her groove back.

Meeko: so all that’s left is carlisle, edward, and alice
Buggy: carlisle, edward, emmett and Alice
Meeko: ah
Buggy: might have Emmett switch sides when it comes to the big fight though
Meeko: they’ll be taken out in NOLA
Buggy: Klaus could use someone like Emmett
Meeko: aye
Meeko: use carlisle as a vamp sacrifice to turn emmett into a nightwalker
Meeko: ?
Buggy: eh?
Buggy: what do you mean?
Buggy: ohh witchy spell!
Meeko: aye
Meeko: but still…. what was the ultimate reason for their being so adament on having bella in their family
Meeko: alice knew she comes from powerful witch bloodline
Meeko: what would it have done for the cullens
Buggy: *nods* They could have used Bella as a puppet to get rid of the Volturi
Meeko: you have to start teasing that out
Meeko: she brought them power
Buggy: and take their places themselves
Buggy: yes
Buggy: Mind you, they HAD her under control combined with Jasper’s gift and Carlisle’s drugs
Buggy: Until they went to New Orleans.
Meeko: aye
Meeko: alice should have seen that was a bad idea
Meeko: she took a gamble
Meeko: thinking that their control would have held but maybe her bloodline magic managed to overcome that control, the desire to be away from them in that opening chapter
Meeko: to make that self preservation come out
Buggy: *nods*
Meeko: without her realizing it
Buggy: I need to fucking copy/paste this shit
Meeko: if bella is strong enough, she may be able to do the spell/ceremony to transition him with a sacrifice to keep that gift
Meeko: sacrifice alice for that one, gift for gift
Buggy: I already thought of a stand off with Klaus saying: “You’re all here for the same reason and I understand that. I’m your chance of getting out of this mess. If you’re with the remaining Cullens, you’ll likely end up dead because I have one very angry little witch waiting for you. If you’re here under duress and you want out, join me.”
Buggy: Or something along those lines.
Meeko: YES
Buggy: I already thought of a scene where they land in New Orleans and Kol tells Bella to try and use her magic on Elijah. Like… opening his buttons or undoing his shoe laces. Hide the handkerchief, etc LOL
Meeko: put a stick in the mud sign on his back
Buggy: Because they WILL be King and Queen of the Witches because Kol is a damn Mikaelson and he’ll be damned if Klaus gets to rule all by himself.
Klaus is paranoid, he might start to think that Bella was a plant by the Cullens and that she’s not as innocent as she appears to be.

Me: Ohh Mary Alice Claire, Davina’s grandmum, was an ally of Kol’s in his war with Klaus in 1914
Meeko: Mary Alice……
Me: ohh that makes sense why he needed Davina’s blood to get into the tomb AAAAAND SHE and Astrid are trapped in the Dowager Folean’s house. Which is now used for Witches of New Orleans Coven to place witches who are considered insane or crazy. Where Rebecca woke up.
Meeko: Yeah. That I knew
Meeko: Mary Alice :D. I know where you are going with this.
Me: you do? I don’t!
Meeko: And I LOVE IT Alice!
Me: I’m just browsing the wikipedia
Meeko: Alice
Meeko: Think
Meeko: THINK
Meeko: You have all the info
Me: CAN”T
Meeko: Aaaand she is from Louisiana
Me: Alice was born in 1901
Me: AND FUCK HER NAME WAS MARY ALICE BRANDON

Buggy: Shame that by the time Kol was in New Orleans with Davina’s gran, that gran was in her twenties
Buggy: Alice was born in 1901 and turned in 1920
Meeko: >-D
Buggy: However, she was in an asylum. And turned by an unknown staffmember.
Buggy: The real Mary Alice Brandon could have died and Mary Alice Claire could have taken her place for looking similar?
Meeko: Yep
Meeko: Or could be here and records got fucked up
Buggy: And Alice is basically the one who told Carlile and Edward about Bella
Meeko: Common occurrence in the time
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After this story, I realized I had to make more detailed notes. While writing Sanctuaire (and Pandore) had been fun, I had to keep re-reading my story for details that I was missing or not. So for Fractured Marionette I went back to the 2011 outline that Meeko had taught me and even outlined all the chapters.

Some stories get the full treatment, others get just notes (I honestly have a doc for Pandore called ‘notes’ with the new face claim for Bella and nothing else!). But it’s good to have everything in one place, so you can read through it and add to it when you uncover new information in your story.

Other stories (like Between Heaven And Hell and I believe Divine Happenstance) get a 3000 word backstory as notes. It’s just whatever works at the time.

And DON’T RUSH THE OUTLINE. When you think you’re done, take a few days and then return to it. Maybe you want to add more. Or remove something. Or perfect something.

Again, there are no rules to writing, just tips and tricks and I hope that this has helped you somewhat. Granted, I used fanfiction examples, but I just checked my original story notes and lo and behold, I used the 2011 outline *snort*. I really should either fix that story so I can start posting it or… hmm…

More about outlining + more links to read

How to outline a complex novel in a day

Guidelines, not outlines

Remember, my ‘door’ is always open if you want some advice on things! Shoot me a message! Let me blog for you!

Xxx Buggy