Bettina's Books: A Word About Outlines

Saturday, May 26, 2012

A Word About Outlines

Unless you're an absolute genius, chances are you'll need an outline to tackle a writing project of greater length. Note: Even if you are an absolute genius, it's still a good idea to organize those superior thoughts using an outline.

I'm currently gearing up for JuNo (National Novel Writing Month's June event), so I am rediscovering the value of a detailed outline. The book I will be writing for JuNo is called "Mindbreakers' Rebellion". It's about what would happen if telepaths started cropping up in distressingly large numbers. We're not talking Professor Xavier and Jean Grey... more like the gradual creation of a new species (tentatively called homo sapien telepathus, though my Latin is rudimentary at best. If anyone knows better, I'm open to suggestions on the genus and species naming conventions.)

Since I'll need to write at least 50,000 words for this story in the next month, I began writing an outline of the scenes. How to the two main characters meet? Which secondary characters are more important than they seem, and how can I drop hints? Is the villain hiding in plain sight, or hiding 'off-screen'?

By creating an outline, I can answer all of these questions before I ever put pen to paper. An outline also helps me determine what ending will be most enjoyable for the reader, most believable, and work out the challenges in writing whichever ending I decide on.

See the post above this one for prompts that need outlines. Have fun, and keep writing!

1 comment:

DMSJune 23, 2012 at 2:17 PM
I always like to have at least a rough outline before I start. Things may change along the way- but the outline does help. :)

~Jess
http://thesecretdmsfilesoffairdaymorrow.blogspot.com/
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Writing Prompts: Traditional and Bookends

This section contains traditional prompts--those that inspire writers to start a short story or novel. It also contains a type of prompt that I created: the Bookend Prompts.

For the Traditional Prompts, take my suggestions and start writing! Feel free to tweak, alter, or completely reinvent the prompts to suit whatever story you want to write.

Traditional Prompt:
"I always knew that jumping jacks were dangerous. Now, I had proof..."

Bookend Prompts: Use the pair of prompts listed below as the beginning and end of your writing. A bit more challenging, but I know you can do it!

Bookend Prompts

1a. Why me?

1b. When he heard the sizzling of meat on the grill, he knew he was home.

For more writing prompts, check back regularly in the main blog (center column). I'll post more as I think of them!

Fanfiction Links

Even with a solid grasp of writing basics, it can still be intimidating to create an entire world of your own in which to write. Has this setting been done before? Are the plot twists too predictable? Are the characters no more than stock cut-outs, or are they so original that a reader won't know how to empathize with them?

To avoid those pitfalls, I suggest starting with fanfiction. You can't make money off of it, because the characters and settings have already been taken by established writers, but you can practice emulating writing styles, character descriptions, and plot twists until you're confident enough to use these elements in your own writing.

There are sites online that will host your fanfiction, but be sure to add a disclaimer at the beginning of these stories, so that it's apparent you aren't trying to horn in on another author or screenwriter's meal ticket. At these links you will find several (okay, so it's a few dozen) of my fanfiction attempts. These are Supernatural and Magnificent Seven fictions, sometimes crossed with other shows or characters, such as Highlander, The Pretender, and Boondock Saints.

Standard disclaimer for stories in this section: These characters aren't mine, and I'm writing for fun, not profit. No copyright infringement intended.