How I Outline: A Plotter's Version

 Hi friends! I hope you've been doing as well as you can in our chaotic little world. I've recently wrapped up another round of revision and sent off the updated manuscript to my agent. I'll be taking a bit of a writing break, but starting the process of outlining a new WIP (yes, yes, I know. I have like twenty million of them at the moment).

I am most certainly a plotter, with some pantsing inclinations. If you are in the same boat, you might find my process of outlining useful. So, buckle in! If you are familiar with my revision method, you'll realize I can be... pretty heavy on the notes, hah. 

A big caveat to say that the story arc that dominates Western storytelling is not the only way to tell a story. I personally do use these templates when I craft my own stories for a few reasons:

• For better or worse, they are the most widely available online. There's a myriad of templates, texts, and resources explaining each arc and plot beats.
• There are also resources on other story arcs online. Search 'non-linear' or 'non-western story structure' to generate helpful resources. There may not be as many handy pre-built templates for you to use, but the information is certainly there!
• I am someone who cannot write unless I have structure. In order to get words down on the page, I need to know what I'm writing toward. Using beat sheets helps me a lot. 

For my last project, I used Michael Hauge's Six Stage Plot Structure. It is a story arc focused on a 'hero's journey' type of story, or one that is very character focused (my last project very much in this camp). I used it both during drafting and during revision. 

Now, bringing it back my caveat. While I use these beat sheets to help guide myself, I allow myself the creative liberty to move the story however it feels most natural to me at the time. If that means plot beats now happen at vastly different times, I allow that change to exist. My use of outlines is less a blueprint and more  a guiding document. For example, my last story essentially ends on a very high narrative note. There is a brief moment of calm and collecting at the very end, but by and large my story ends on this higher intensity revelatory note.  

With all that said, I've described my general outlining process below as I've undertaken my new project. Enjoy! I've also linked all resources I use.

1. I start with a premise. This one being: "Two women leading separate lives both have mothers who went missing decades ago. Their bodies are found, and when the two strangers meet, realize they are identical twins."
2. I research story structure, and what might be most pertinent to the story I want to tell. A resource I heavily use and recommend are Jami Gold's worksheets. They come in many different templates, and you can pop in an estimate wordcount and the worksheet will automatically populate the beat sheet for you. So useful and recommend these too all my writing friends! (This time, I've chosen the Story Engineering Beat Sheet, which is a plot arc oriented for this story.)
3. For this project, I used 90k as my estimated word count. I am not married to this, but use it as a ballpark based on the general expectation of the genre I am writing in (this being adult mystery). My last novel, which leaned more literary speculative, was based on a 70k estimate. For another adult fantasy work I used a 110k estimate). I am a chronic underwriter, so make your goals reasonable for your first draft.
4. I take the beat sheet, and transfer the information to a chapter by chapter outline. For this project, I estimated a 3.6k word estimate for chapter length, and then calculated out until I hit 90k words. This then allows me to estimate generally which chapters a certain beat should hit.
5. My goal before I start drafting is to complete the outline through Act I, and have an idea of what I want the major beats to be (e.g. midpoint turn, pinch points, etc.) for the rest of the story. 

• Everything going into my outline might not be super detailed, but provides a skeleton for me to work with (e.g. for 'Opening Scene' I input 'explore the lives of both women on the anniversary day of their mothers' disappearances. Hint to their family dynamics.')

Tada. Then, I try to write through Act I as a guide, and then recalibrate the rest of the outline once I finish. 

Hopefully I was clear with my process, and you might've found it useful. There is no correct way to write, just the way that works for you (this is mine).

Good luck and happy writing 😄