Outlines

There are millions of ways to make an outline, but here is how I've been doing mine for my writing.

I make a general chapter online, as easy as possible with what I think will be the key events to happen in the chapter.

For example, if Uncle Joe is gonna die, that's a key event.

Chapter One General Outline

I. Uncle Joe dies

Beneath this I simply list questions I'm going to ask myself that are important to this event:

Chapter One General Outline

I. Uncle Joe dies
- How does he die
- When does he die
- The shirt Uncle Joe is wearing
- Mysterious doctor visit he didn't tell anyone about when he got home

I outline all the key events and anything I can think of that will help me develop and detail the event and then take note of anything I might need to research.

After the general chapter outline, I make a very detailed outline of each "number" on the outline, each key event.

Chapter One - Uncle Joe Death Scene

I. Uncle Joe goes to the doctor
A. The night before
a. Is very worried
b. Has heart pains

B. The day of
a. Is nervous
b. Has suspicions he has heart problems

My general outline for my first chapter has six parts - so I will develop six outlines.

It works well for me thus far, but I haven't gotten very far. I'm not even past the first detailed outline yet!

If you try this and it works for you or doesn't, I'd love to hear about the process.

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A Trip to Office Depot

I decided to re-write my novel.

Or at least the first chapter. I was using highlight on MS Word to highlight passages that I thought needed fixing or perhaps even deleting. When I saw most of the first chapter was highlighted and that I made more edits on my drafts on that one chapter than all my other chapters combined, well the decision became easier.

But first I wanted to get organized. I wanted to make an outline for the chapter, find a way to deal with the massive amounts of print outs I was accruing, and keep my notes and research together, so I bought a big binder and different dividers and sticky tabs and a million other things.

I am really organized now, and to be honest it was completely worth it.

I bought numbered tabs to represent the chapters, tabs I can write on for any additional materials, and some clear slips to hold my outlines so that I can find them easily and stay true to my outline.

I'll get into outlines (or rather how I came about mine) in the next post, but I really like them for keeping me on track.

For the first section I have a tab for my research. For this part I have four colored tabs (red, blue, yellow, green) that tell me by their color whether a page has notes, phrases, things I want to research further, or if something is essential to my story. The next part is for my general chapter and my detailed outlines. Each chapter and any drafts or revisions are also kept - the drafts being kept in one clear pouch to keep them together.

Writing the chapter with my outline has really helped keep me on track. I know where this chapter is going, what I want to accomplish and how I want to set the story into motion. The first chapter seems to be the hardest, the one with the most mistakes at least - having all my notes and everything I need at the ready has helped me with my dreaded Writer's Block.

Not to mention, I do so love to highlight things with a real marker.

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Holy Bejesus

I have a good excuse for not writing in this blog. I have been writing elsewhere.

I met a girl who responded to my post for a writers group.
I went to a writers group meeting at Shakespeare and Co.

The night before the group meeting I stayed up all night and wrote a chapter.
It was well-received and I was damn proud of my very first chapter EVER.

Yes, ever.

Then there were readings and glasses of champagne and a night bus to Amsterdam and a night bus back to Paris.

In a week and two days I've written SIX chapters.
It's now a book.
I really like where it's going and the story it tells.

BUT...

Now I have writer's block.

*#Y*Y$HIJ)(EH#IBI$E BIJ

Now I see the holes and the need for editing.

84y983y938y503ihnoiejg0h8e*Y*(^$Yiuhw

Isn't this glorious?

So I've cranked up Til' Tuesday's Voice Carry and had a bowl of Coccoa Pops and am ready to see where this goes.

*#T872g48hr40h7T657GVWRJ=-0I83Y4732

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