9 Secrets for Outlining Your Novel

(originally published October 21 2021)

I started the outlining process for my debut novel and, not to flex on every other writer in the world, but I’ve pretty much cracked the code. I found the secret to outlining. Now, full disclosure: I am quite the heavy plotter, so these tips and tricks will probably work best for writers who also like to put a lot of planning into their writing before they open their word processor. If you are a tried-and-true pantser, then these tips might not all work for you, but I think you might still find some nuggets of useful tips and hacks in this article. If you are a big planner — maybe too big of a planner — and need strategies to ensure all that energy you’re putting into outlining your work is being used effectively, then this article is for you!

Here are my nine secrets for outlining a novel!

Outlining Secret 1: Divide and rearrange and conquer

The biggest tip I have for successful outlining is to ensure that you are controlling your outline, not being controlled by it. That means you’re the boss, and if you want to skip a scene, or input [fix this] every three lines, or start from the ending first, then that is up to you. It’s your process. The outline is your tool to use. If you’re spending so much time and energy trying to craft the perfect first line that you can’t even move on, then your story will never get written. Write [enter killer first line] and move on. No matter what you write, an even better first line will probably come to you while you’re writing the story, anyways.

Outlining Secret 2: Experiment

The biggest similarity between Plotters and Pantsers is how attached we can be to those labels. The issue with that is that we can forget the valuable benefits of the other kinds of writing: the genius that can come from Pantsers’ spontaneity, the hours that Plotters save by working out kinks in the plot in the beginning, rather than 80,000 words in. I find that testing other methods, even if they may not work for us in the long term or every single day, can be a great way to break out of a rut and approach your story from a new angle.

Outlining Secret 3: Keep a notebook (and actually take notes)

The biggest similarity between Plotters and Pantsers is how attached we can be to those labels. The issue with that is that we can forget the valuable benefits of the other kinds of writing: the genius that can come from Pantsers’ spontaneity, the hours that Plotters save by working out kinks in the plot in the beginning, rather than 80,000 words in. I find that testing other methods, even if they may not work for us in the long-term or every single day, can be a great way to break out of a rut and approach your story from a new angle.

Outlining Secret 4: ByePhone

One of my secrets for outlining a novel is to be serious about focusing, even if it means taking my phone away from myself. Personally, I like to use a focus app like Flora that locks my phone for a set duration but still lets me access music or emergency phone calls. If those kinds of apps don’t work for you, I highly suggest putting your phone in a separate room. Outlining and plotting require a lot of thinking, and with that usually comes a lot of pondering, staring into space, and frusterated whimpering. That is, if you let yourself sit with your thoughts for long enough before grabbing your phone. The thing is, that discomfort and empty thinking time is a crucial part of writing process, especially at the plotting stage. So the best outlining secret I can give you is to encourage you to get uncomfortable!

Outlining Secret 5: Write the damn outline (even just to rewrite it)

Nothing is set in stone. So write it. Even if it sounds stupid. Because maybe just by switching around a few words, the sentence won’t sound so stupid in between the other sentences you haven’t written yet. But you’ll never know if you don’t get the idea, the feeling, the message on paper first, and all the ideas that go before and after it. That’s what’s important, and capturing those moments of genius on paper should really be the objective of not only your outline but your entire first draft.

Need motivation to write? Join Renée Elson’s Midnight Write Fight live on Instagram every Sunday evening.

Outlining Secret 6: Don’t finish outlining

I’ll be honest; if Camp Nanowrimo wasn’t a thing, I may have not even started my first draft yet. June 30th rolled around and I realized that, despite about a dozen rewrites already, my outline was shaky and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen in the middle or how I would convey important themes or even the motivations and backstories of some very important characters. But without a deadline, without getting started, I would never get started. And guess what? The answers of all those questions started coming to me. I just had to write. You don’t need to have the most solid outline in the world — in fact, you don’t even have to finish it — to start writing your story. If you’re the type to get too wrapped up in the outlining process to the point of being unable to start your process, then maybe you need to approach your outline bite-by-bite rather than trying to eat the whole thing. Try outlining act-by-act, or even chapter-by-chapter. The outline is your personal tool, not a homework assignment that needs to fit someone else’s expectations.

Outlining Secret 7: Set a deadline

My next secret for outlining a novel is to set a deadline for your outline, even if that means you’re not going to finish it. Your outline will never be perfect. Your first draft won’t be perfect, either. So while there are definite advantages to planning out your novel and getting your ideas on paper before you open your word processor, your outline can definitely become detrimental to your writing process if you can’t put it down at all. So pick a day, highlight it in red in your planner, and give yourself the whole day before to get as much crunch-time work on your outline as possible.

Outlining Secret 8: Scrap 42,000 words.

Of my nine secrets for outlining a novel, this one hurts my heart the most. 42,000 words into my story, the holes in my outline started to haunt me. So I went back to square one, pulled out a permanent marker, and re-outlined my story on a white bristol board. And guess what? For the first time in a dozen outlines, I saw every step of my story clearly, beginning, middle, and ending. I divided my entire story into a ten-step roadmap I can follow to 90,000 words. The problem? I don’t see much of any of the 42,000 words I wrote in Camp Nanowrimo transferring to my draft two. It’s not that those words aren’t good, and they certainly taught me a lot about my characters, but maybe that’s just what I needed. So, as much as it hurts my heart, I moved those 42,000 words to another doc and moved on with draft two. This is my first novel and I’m still learning my own process, so I’m trying my best to…

Outlining Secret 9: Stay flexible

See secret number 4: nothing is set in stone. I would say the only exception is the deadline I mentioned on tip 6; try to stick to the deadline to move on from your outline and start your rough draft. But other than that, it’s not over until you see your book on the shelf (virtual or in-person or otherwise). So let yourself write badly. You can always change it later, when you’ve written 50,000 more words, read another book, and you’re a better, more experienced writer. And don’t let the arbitrary restrictions of what an outline should or should not look like restrict your process. Move things around. Adapt. Read up on different author’s strategies and shift them and mold them until they make sense for you. I think that a lot of writers can get caught up in trying to achieve fancy aesthetic 5 a.m. writing routine videos that just aren’t feasible for their lifestyles or personalities. There’s a quote on my desktop right now that reads, “the secret of your future is hidden in your every day routine”. Making your routine harder than it needs to be and trying to adapt to unrealistic goals is a surefire way to not achieve those goals, but also to get disappointed and less motivated to try again. So make things work for you. If you’re a night owl, don’t try to force an early wake-up time on yourself. If you like naps, carve out an hour every afternoon. You can make up for it at night. Listen to your body’s cues. Maybe your writing schedule looks more like a full-day affair, divided into smaller, more manageable word counts throughout your day. Or maybe you push all your writing to two days a week because you also work a full-time job and are too tired or busy to write after work. The point is, writing a book is hard enough: give yourself all the flexibility and grace you need to make your processes work for you and get it done.

JUST KEEP MOVING.

I hope that out of my nine secrets for outlining a novel, you have learned something new to help you in you

r own process. The outline may be a tool in your process, but don’t be fooled, you’re the one that’s in charge, not it. If there was a step-by-step way to craft a perfect outline, a perfect linear process that would work for every writer in the world with steps and directions like a recipe, then this

wouldn’t be so difficult. But our stories wouldn’t be so great, either. So outline, and re-outline, and switch your characters’ roles around and change the theme and move the climatic event to the hook and dream up a whole new ending and keep changing it until you’re holding an outline that tells your story, conveys your message, and most importantly, excites you. Not the market or your beta readers or your best friend, but you. You’re the one who’s got to deal with the story for the next hundred-thousand-and-then-some words. And the secret to failing not just your outline but your entire story is to hate what you’re writing.