Hey! It’s Emily! I hope summer break has either already begun or is right around the corner for all you busy students. The beginning of summer is the perfect time to develop your WIP before buckling down the rest of the season and cranking out some chapters. I often like to take the first few weeks and sit down with a nice outline, organizing my thoughts or reevaluating my progress so far. It makes my summer writing much more productive!
If you remember in last week’s blog post, Brianna briefly discussed the terms “plotter,” “pantser,” and “plantser.” While you don’t need to categorize yourself based on those terms, it is important to understand your writing style and what method of planning your story works best for you. Even if you’re not a fan of outlines, having some sort of bare-bones structure for your story will give your writing time direction. And if you are a fan of outlines, then you’ve come to the right place and to the right person! I adore outlines, and in the rest of the blog I’ll summarize just a few of my favorites:
The Hero’s Journey
The Hero’s Journey is probably the most well-known story structure. Such classics as The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Harry Potter follow this system. Joseph Campbell studied hero myth patterns from old texts and eventually introduced The Hero’s Journey in his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces. In it, he describes the story structure:
“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”
In The Hero’s Journey, per the picture above, the hero starts in the “Ordinary World,” going about their everyday business—living peacefully in the Shire, doing farmwork on Tatooine, or tolerating relatives at Number 4 Privet Drive. Then the hero (1) receives a call to adventure and (2) some supernatural aid, (3) crosses the threshold into a new world, (4) experiences trials and (5) faces conflict, (6) suffers loss but later (7) gains the upper hand and (8) wins the battle, (9) before returning home, (10) embracing a new life, and (11) resolving the story. Were you following along through the list with your favorite franchise? Take a moment to study a plot you’re familiar with and how its author applies this technique! There are different versions of The Hero’s Journey. Some are more detailed; some have different names for each plot point. Nevertheless, this is a good starting point to figure out your story, especially if your book features a “chosen one” type hero going on an epic quest. If you would like an extra review of The Hero’s Journey, take a look at this short video from TED-Ed:
Keep in mind though, this story structure may tempt you into the easy way of copying story beats from other established works. Feel free to deviate from any of The Hero’s Journey steps to give your story its own unique flavor. Yet, it’s also okay—often smart—for your story to have familiar pacing. It makes your reader feel at home and ready to see how you make the quest line your own. Just remember that there is no guarantee The Hero’s Journey will turn you into a Tolkien, Lucas, or Rowling. You are your own writer, so own it!
The Three Act Structure
The Three Act Structure is famous in the film and theater industry, but many writers make use of it as well. This method focuses on a beginning, middle, and end, also called the Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution—the bare essentials. Thus, this is also a helpful, simple outline for go-with-the-flow writers who don’t want a detailed plan to bog them down.
Just like The Hero’s Journey, the basic building blocks of The Three Act Structure have been around long before they had a name. Many of Shakespeare’s plays follow this structure as well. But, an author named Syd Field first popularized The Three Act Structure in his book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting. In it, he writes:
“Beginning, middle, and end; Act I, Act II, Act III. Set-Up, Confrontation, Resolution—these parts make up the whole. It is the relationship between these parts that determines the whole.”
Within these acts that Field outlines there are beats. Act I, or the Setup, contains the Exposition, Inciting Incident, and Plot Point One. The Exposition sets the stage and introduces the protagonist, the Inciting Incident disrupts their status quo, and Plot Point One features the character’s response to the Inciting Incident and decision to step into the new world.
Act II, the Confrontation, which is usually the longest section within the story, begins with the Rising Action where antagonists and obstacles complicate the protagonist’s goal. Next is the Midpoint where, typically, something goes horribly wrong, whether the villain strikes a hard hit or a magical mcguffin fails. In Plot Point Two, the protagonist reflects on the events so far and has to decide whether or not they will continue.
Finally, we reach Act III, the Resolution. Starting off, we have the Pre-Climax where the protagonist and antagonist go head to head, and it looks like the antagonist is winning. However, in the Climax the protagonist finally ends the conflict and wins the battle. The Denouement section ends The Three Act Structure, signifying a goal reached, a prize won, a lesson learned. The protagonist gets what they need, which is not always the same as what they wanted. If you want a more detailed overview of this outline, then take a look at this blog post on Reedsy: The Three-Act Structure: The King of Story Structures.
While I used quest-language in explaining The Three Act Structure above, remember that this outline applies to any type of story! The battle does not have to be a literal one; it could be the big cooking competition or a chronic illness or even an issue the protagonist had to address with their overbearing brother. Outlines are for your story, not the other way around. Use them in whatever way works for you and jump off the tracks when you want!
The Snowflake Method
The Snowflake Method is the perfect outline for those who want to start small but reach deeper. Whereas The Hero’s Journey and The Three Act Structure were story formulas where you could plug in your own ideas at each point, The Snowflake Method is a system that requires being intentional with your creativity. The bowling bumpers are down!
Randy Ingermanson, a novelist and physicist, developed this method of outlining that starts with a simplistic theme before eventually growing into a complex story. Sentence becomes paragraph, paragraph becomes page, and page becomes novel—all in ten steps! On Ingermanson’s website Advanced Fiction Writing, he says:
“If you’re like most people, you spend a long time thinking about your novel before you ever start writing. You may do some research. You daydream about how the story’s going to work. You brainstorm. You start hearing the voices of different characters. You think about what the book’s about — the Deep Theme.”
The Deep Theme is where Ingermanson starts. Step 1 asks you to take an hour to write a one-sentence summary of your story—the big picture! Step 2 asks you to take another hour, expanding that sentence into a paragraph that details the story’s setup, major disasters, and ending. Step 3 grows more complex, asking you to create a one-page summary for each of your key characters, including their name, storyline, motivation, goal, and conflict. The method continues like this, branching out and out and out until you have the first draft of your novel. Ingermanson gives a more thorough description of The Snowflake Method on Advanced Fiction Writing, so check it out if you want all ten steps!
This method is helpful for streamlining your story, figuring out what really matters, and having an elevator pitch ready to go if you just so happen to meet a literary agent on your way to the seventh floor. If this type of outline seems overwhelming, you can always use just the first two or three steps to get started and trust your own process from there. Never forget: do what works for you!
The Story Grid
Finally, we reach possibly my favorite outline, The Grid Outline, also called the Chapter-by-Chapter outline, and—like The Snowflake Method—this system does not offer a plug-in formula. This one’s all up to you. One of the things I enjoy most about this outline is its ability to keep you on track but still have room to be detailed, just on the things that matter for the plot.
Shawn Coyne—an editor, publisher, and writer—developed this outlining method in his book The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know. Its goal is to analyze stories and figure out what is and isn’t working. He says:
“What The Story Grid offers is a way for you, the writer, to evaluate whether or not your Story is working at the level of a publishable professional. If it is, The Story Grid will make it even better. If it isn’t, The Story Grid will show you where and why it isn’t working—and how to fix what’s broken.”
Essentially, The Story Grid functions as a table chart. There are different ways to set it up but how I’ve seen it most often starts with a column on the far left listing each chapter: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and so on. Then, a row stretches across the top listing different characters and plotlines. And that’s it! It is then up to you as the writer to fill in each square.
J.K. Rowling used this method to outline all of her Harry Potter books. You can find examples from her and other writers online. As a quick example of my own, I use The Story Grid to help organize the plotlines of my two main characters, Kestra and Solias, and their involvement in the Eventide Rebellion and the Emperor’s Guild respectively. I have a column for each Kestra and Solias and I fill in the chapter rows with what they do or what happens to them in Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and so on. I do the same with my different plotlines, subplots, and arcs. Besides the Eventide Rebellion and the Emperor’s Guild, I also have columns for the prophecy, the apprenticeship, and family dynamics. The Story Grid helps me to keep track of what happens in each chapter regarding each character or plotline, as well as the progression of each character or plotline individually.
If you don’t mind spoilers, search online for an example from Rowling’s books that will give you a better idea of how The Story Grid charts look! Or visit Coyne’s Story Grid website and get the overview straight from the source!
Whatever Works For You
As you work on developing your story and organizing your ideas, remember that these outlines and story structures are just tools at your disposal. You are not required to stick with a method that isn’t working or fill out every beat and box. One of my favorite writers, V.E. Schwab, puts it like this:
“There is no right way to write. The only thing that works is whatever works for you.”
Give these outlines a go, but don’t let them dictate your work either! And, if none of these work, but you still want an outline method to guide your process, feel free to search for other types. Trust me, there are so many: The Agenda Method, The Bookend Method, The Synopsis Outline, The Seven Point Story Structure, the 27 Chapter Method. You can outline your novel in chronological timeline format or use magnetic flashcards or jot everything down on a spreadsheet. There is no wrong way, so long as you keep at it!
If you have questions about any of these outlining methods, want to talk about your story, or need an extra set of eyes as you edit, please reach out to Brianna, Gabrielle, and I at Honeycomb! Storytelling is our passion and we cannot wait for the opportunity to work with more writers like you. Next week, we’ll wrap up our Learning Your Writing Style series as we discuss how you can tell if and why your story is worth telling.
Till then, bee brilliant!
Emily
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