What is your technique for outlining a plot?

[MollyHopps]

I have decided that I am going to start writing again. I have always been a bit of a "pantser" I think they call it, and just wrote as things came to me.

I wonder how other people do it? Do you plot it out bit by bit, or using another method to get the outline of a story from start to finish?

I'd like to try something new...

I use A4 paper, and post its. Each page is a chapter, each post it is a plot point, scrap of dialogue, important moment, reminder, etc. I can rearrange everything as much as I want until I'm happy.

Then I completely ignore that plot outline and wander off in a totally different direction. I like having something to ignore when I'm writing.

I start by pantsing. Then after a few thousand words I stop and think about what it's all actually about. Before I continue I have an idea of key plot points and where I'm going to end up and a detailed outline of the next few chapters.

But some people don't plan at all. The main thing IMHO is to have a clear idea of your characters' motivations.

I don't plan. I see a scene/ scenes in my head - almost like a film, then I start writing and keep going until the first draft is done - which is obviously only the beginning. But that works for me.

I find this hard. I know the main plot points for my novel, but when I write scenes they sometimes end up too dull because I don't think it through enough.
What's worked really well with some short pieces I've written recently is just writing some rough notes, including snippets of random dialogue that the characters might say, nice similes, etc. Those pieces are the best I've written because the dialogue ends up fresh and brings out the characters well. More interesting things happen to them. Doing this seems to free up my imagination more.
I'm going to try the same thing on my novel chapters now.

In the early days I planned my novels meticulously.

Each POV scene would have its own page of A4 stating who, where, what. Often with other snippets I'd want to include ( bits of dialogue, something thematic, a visual).

This way I could see that the structure worked and the plots arcs panned out.

I don't do this in as much detail now. But I think it's become sub conscious, so in my head I am still aware of where the beats need to go.

My current plan is three pages of A4. It contains only the main story beats. I will create the necessary scenes around those beats, with everything leading to the next one IYSWIM. I may ski off piste but I will stick to my story beats to give the nartotive the correct shape.

Oh dear - I'm a real saddo I'm afraid. I plan in great detail from beginning to end because if I don't I meander horribly and it ends up in four times as much editing (which I hate!).

I tend to use a variant of a four part story structure with lots of rises in action and falls etc. until a big old climax at the end.

I know planning isn't for everyone but if I don't plan, the novel never seems to get finished (see my computer's hard drive which is full of half-finished novels eating up space!)

pocket I thInk good planning definitely helps to eliminate projects that go no where.

Certainly those that don't plan tend to finish less than those that do because the writing drifts.

Also, I've read lots and lots of novels/scripts that contain great writing, but don't work as a whole.

One of the things I tell new writers is that a novel is not just 80,000 words of good writing. It has to work in broad terms too. And it is very hard to make it work as a whole without planning.

As I say, I'm now so experienced that I think I do it instinctively but I would bet that if I broke down my most recent novels/scripts they would all have beats in about the same places as those novels/scripts I planned meticulously.

Get have you considered running some sort of mumsnet writing course?! You always have such useful advice!

I didn't really plan my first novel and I think you can tell!

I'm mid-writing my second now which I've planned in much more detail which I'm finding makes the process of writing much easier. Scrivener has been great for this as you can move scenes around so easily.

I've just read Stephen King's On Writing and he does very little planning, but one thing he says is about being honest with your characters and their actions which for me means sometimes you get to a point where they don't want to do what you've planned so you have to be able to adapt the plan else the story wont ring true.

stripey I'm so pleased you find my posts useful.
Obviously they're just my experience. Not to be taken as set in stone.

Regarding King's lack of planning. I know he's fond of saying that planning removes the surprise element of writing but actually I think he knows exactly how to shape a story. He may not write it down in note form, he may even do it without thinking but he knows precisely where the story beats should happen.

Master story tellers do this instinctively. It's in their DNA.

But most of us mere mortals have to think about the craft more carefully. Zadie Smith talks about building the scaffolding of a novel which you then remove at the end.

The point about characters is interesting. Obviously we create them and direct them. But they have to ring true. They have to do things that seem in keeping with their deeper selves.

Readers are very alive to this. They become incredibly invested in characters. The popularity of series fiction, sequel movies and the dominant box set tells us this clearly.

They buy into a character and follow their journey. They want to be surprised by the character but not too much... heaven help the writer if the character does something way off radar!

I'm a plotter. I think having been a project manager in a former life means that I need a plan for everything! I follow loosely various generic plans so I know that I'm covering the right beats and I do lots of character plotting etc. I can't just jump in!

I agree Get, I think the story structure comes naturally to King, like singing in tune or moving to the beat does to great singers or dancers. You can learn it, but some people are lucky enough they don't have to!

I love reading advice from successful novelists - especially when they contradict each other! It just shows there isn't one "best" way to do things.

A friend of mine says that she likes to give tools not rules.

And I like that.

I'm happy to offer tools and systems and methods that have worked well for me. But no one should feel obliged to follow them. They may prove absolutely useless to some writers.

Thank you for sharing all

I am yet to actually sit down and start this one, but I am much more well informed about my subject matter this time round.

I like the A4 page ideas. When I wrote in high school I remember physically drawing a line that rises and falls, much like a graph, and placing points along it to note what happens where.

I want to focus more on giving my characters their own life this time too, so instead of writing out a situation and sticking them in it, taking them and seeing where they would go in that situation.