Plotting/outlining a story

[Kyng]

Before you start writing a story, it's often a good idea to outline it, so that you know where you're going with it. However, outlining can be tedious - especially if we have a great story idea that we're eager to start writing! Fortunately, plotting your story doesn't have to be tedious - and, in the above video, Abbie Emmons explains a process for outlining your story quickly.

The first point she makes is: your outlining should serve you, not the other way around. Once they've created an outline, a lot of writers feel trapped in it: they feel so boxed in by it that the writing process no longer feels creative. However, that's not the point of an outline: if you find that it's stopping you from writing the story that you want to write, you can go back and change it. But it probably won't require too much changing, because it involves three simple steps:

1. Premise. What is the idea that you want to write about? Chances are, you already know - in which case, move on to the next step:
   
2. Protagonist. Who is your main character, and what are the important things about them? For the purposes of the story, the three most important things you need to figure out about your protagonist are: their desire (what do they think will make them happy?), their fear (what stops them from pursuing their desire?), and their misbelief (what do they mistakenly believe about the world, based off their fear?)
   
3. Story structure. For example, many stories follow a three-act story structure. In the first act, they get pushed outside their comfort zone, making a decision based on their misbelief. Then, in the second act, they go on their journey to pursue their fear-based goal, encountering obstacles as they go. Finally, in the third act, they experience a dark moment - but this will also serve as a 'eureka' moment that crushes their misbelief, and leaves them ready for the final confrontation. (Of course, you don't have to use this outline, but it is an example of a tried and tested one that gives you something to work with!)

So, how much outlining do you do? And do you have any additional tips for it?

[Pyrite]

Personally, I have a vague idea of where the story is going, but plenty of room for embellishment along the way as I tend to be a discovery style writer on the whole.

Take my mystery novel, Things We Do With Clocks. I outlined the backstory and personality of the main character, what the murder was going to be, some of the characters she would meet, and who the murderer would eventually be. From that framework, I then wrote what I felt like writing at the time. It definitely requires a lot of editing to make this style of writing work, but my memory retention is pretty decent so it suits me well enough.

I definitely think that having goals, flaws and fears makes for a relatable character, though. Part of my story is about Charly learning a lot about herself, and confronting herself. She bounces off Anton because they have different strengths and weaknesses, and I definitely think it helps to know what characters will do in situations, because then you can keep a looser framework and give them more space to be themselves.

[JHG]

I just make things up as I go some of the time. So I guess I barely use much structuring…oh dear.

[Megan]

I rarely outline. Something’s I’ll write down vague stuff but not too often.

[Kyng]

I rarely outline. Something’s I’ll write down vague stuff but not too often.

Yeah, I never outlined too much either . Even with the RPGs, I usually have a vague idea of the end goal, but a lot of the time, they still end up not happening .

Still, I find it's helpful to have a plan, so that if I need to deviate from it, I at least understand how and why. It's better than plodding along without any sense of direction .

[Pyrite]

I think by their very nature, RPGs can be a lot more open-ended than stories. With a story, you need to at least have a basic plan of where it's going and what ideas you want to explore. Stories need a proper beginning and end. Whereas RPGs can be jumped into at any point, and don't really have to have a big, grand ending. Even if there is a specific goal that the characters have, it's feasible for things to take a turn away, especially when there are several people involved in the RPG.

[Kyng]

I think by their very nature, RPGs can be a lot more open-ended than stories. With a story, you need to at least have a basic plan of where it's going and what ideas you want to explore. Stories need a proper beginning and end. Whereas RPGs can be jumped into at any point, and don't really have to have a big, grand ending. Even if there is a specific goal that the characters have, it's feasible for things to take a turn away, especially when there are several people involved in the RPG.

Yeah, that's certainly true: they are different, and having a detailed plan is definitely less important in an RPG than in a story. (Indeed, an overly-detailed plan is probably a hindrance in an RPG: much of the fun is in the unpredictability and the improvisation!)

With that being said, I'd argue that it's still important to have a clear goal, and at least a vague idea of how it can be reached. I've been in plenty of RPGs where there was no goal other than "just wing it", and these often end up going around in circles or just running out of steam .