You want to learn how to write a book outline? In this post, I’m going over the several ways I use an outline and how you can create yours, too!
How to Write a Book Outline
Multiple ways to use an outline?! you might wonder. Before I tackle that question, I’m going to tell you what the heck an outline even is. It’s literally that; an outline of what happens in your book or series. Sometimes it goes over the book, scene-by-scene, chapter-by-chapter, and sometimes it just covers what generally occurs throughout the book. Some people don’t use outlines or only use reverse outlines (more on that later). Whatever. Works. For. You. That’s the key to writing and self-publishing: do whatever works for you, and you’re good.
The different types of book outlines (I use):
- The outline you write before you start writing the book (let’s call this the, uhm, plotting outline, for now).
- The Reverse Outline that you write after the first draft to edit the rest of the book.
The Plotting Outline
What it is
The Plotting Outline (which isn’t the formal name) is the outline you write before you start writing the first draft of your book. You sit down and brain dump everything you want to include in your story. Then you rearrange all the ideas to make the whole more cohesive. You add or remove things if they don’t work. You create a literal overview. Many people use the 3-act story structure to write their outlines, but you do you, and follow your heart with your story—write the story you want to write. Although, sometimes, looking into examples of outlines can give you creative solutions to plot problems or just ideas you hadn’t thought about beforehand.
How to write it
- Write down all of your ideas (ideally digitally, to rearrange them).
- Decide on the way and timeline the information needs to be told for the story to work.
- Analyze the outline: does it work? Are there problems that need solving? Do you need to add/remove anything?
The Reverse Outline
What it is
The Reverse Outline is my favorite outline. It’s the outline you write after you’ve written your first draft. If you’re a plotter and you wrote an outline before drafting, you will edit it in this round. If you wrote a book like a true pantser (discovery writing), you would create an outline from scratch. The purpose of this outline is to adjust it to any changes you might have made while writing the story. Often—even if you made a very detailed outline—your characters and story take you to places or scenes you didn’t think about. It happens. You use the reverse outline while editing your novel to ensure the story still works. It’s also the outline I use to further flesh out the story’s details I didn’t get to write down in the drafting phase (like characters, worldbuilding, and more minor sub-plots).
How to write it
If you wrote an outline before:
- Take the outline you started with, duplicate it, and paste it into a new document.
- Take your manuscript and comb through it, adjusting the outline in the places you made changes or where you decide that you want to make changes during the edit phases afterward.
- Look through the outline again: does it still work? If you want or need to, do this alongside the 3-act story structure again (I do!).
If you didn’t write an outline before:
- Take your manuscript and comb through it, writing the outline alongside it and changing it in the places you feel your story needs to be different.
- Be critical when going through your story: does it work? Are there any plot holes that need fixing? Do you need to add or remove things? You’ll be using this reverse outline when editing the manuscript.
- Then, look through the outline as a whole: Does the story work?
I hope this post helped you with how to write a book outline. Outlining is one of my favorite parts of the creation process! Enjoy 😊
Lots of Love,
Britt
