#how I outline

[kogarashi-art]

Writing Tips: How I Outline

(Or: How I turn a list of random ideas into a plot outline.)

Saw this question pop up elsewhere and thought I'd put together my method, as someone who doesn't necessarily write her outlines the way your middle school English teacher probably taught, but I get something workable out of it in the end.

This goes for both fanfiction and original fiction.

Step 1: Throw Ideas at the Paper

I don't start out by trying to write an outline, beginning to end. Very rarely do I actually know the story start-to-finish already at this point, and even if I do (for example, a fairy tale adaptation I've been working on since college), I'm more likely to get hung up on what comes next and forget important details I want to remember.

So instead, just like those people who write individual scenes of their stories out of order and worry about maybe stringing them together later, I just write down ideas. I don't even necessarily try to keep them in rough plot order. The most important part of this step is just getting those ideas written down so I don't forget them.

To this end, I make a new document. I write a 1-2 paragraph summary at the top of what the basic idea is. Then I start a bullet list. Each idea gets its own bullet. Sometimes I'll have more to say on one idea, or have related ideas, and use sub-bullets to group them together visually. Every idea goes on the paper so it doesn't get forgotten.

(It's also worth noting that I say "paper," but I actually do this in Google Docs so I can add to it on the go via my phone if I have an idea away from my PC.)

Step 2: Start Grouping Related Ideas Together

This is still in the "throw ideas at the paper" phase, technically, but was worth its own step in the list.

Once the document starts getting long enough, it's time to start grouping things together. I add in section headers to make things easier to sort. I'll group ideas together that are related. I'll refine ideas via further sub-bullets. I may even start figuring out a rough plot order at this point—acts, narrative arcs, subplots, what have you. I still don't delete any ideas. Everything is valid (for now, at least).

You don't need to know things like story structure at this point. You only need to be able to recognize which ideas are related to each other.

Step 3: Organize Everything by Plot Order

This may have already been happening bit by bit leading up to this point, just by me grouping related ideas together or dropping new ideas into the list in their relative plot-position, but this is the point where I focus on really figuring out the order everything is going to go in.

Sometimes, my idea list is short enough that I can just cut-and-paste everything into a new plot order. More likely, though, I'll have to type it all up anew. When I do, I open a new document and move the old one to my other monitor (but you can also group the two windows side-by-side on a single monitor, or one-above-the-other on a phone/tablet screen, at least on Android). Then in the new document, I start re-typing all my ideas, but this time in strict plot order.

This means I need to figure out which idea makes for a good start to the story, or happens the earliest chronologically. That becomes the first bullet in the list. Then the next bullet is the next plot beat from the ideas list. Sub-bullets refine each beat. Ideas that don't work get left out. I end with the conclusion to the story (the climax and denouement).

This is where it's a good idea to have an idea of good story structure, but there are lots of articles on the internet about what makes for a good story, and there are a lot of different ways to go about planning one out. For the purposes of this guide, I would just suggest putting the events in chronological order. What makes sense happening first? What makes sense as the wrap-up to everything else? Would a specific event work better if it happened earlier in the story, before the other ideas, or does it work better if it comes after the other ideas?

Another important note is that I don't stress about breaking this into chapters yet, if it's a story that is intended to be long enough to have chapter breaks. I don't worry about word counts either. The only thing that matters here is that everything is in plot order so I can get to work on writing it (because I write in chronological order).

Step 4: Create a Chapter-by-Chapter Outline (Optional)

It needs to be said, I don't always do this for every story idea.

I've got two fanfic WIPs right now. One has a chapter-by-chapter outline, and the other doesn't.

For the one that doesn't, it's written more like a Wikipedia-style plot summary, with section headers to separate each major event, and when I write it, I just work my way through that outline and put chapter breaks where it makes the most sense to me (going off of rough word count as well as each chapter's individual arc).

For the one that does, I have a rough idea of how much plot fits into a given chapter of the length I'm writing for the story. Like Step 3, I put my plot-order outline on my second monitor, and started the chapter breakdown in a new document, but this time, instead of bullet points, I put the chapter numbers as section headers. Under each, I write a 1-2 paragraph summary of the events of the chapter based on the bulleted outline.

This is not set in stone, by the way. As I write my way through the story, I may think of another event to slot into a chapter, or may realize I want two events to happen in a different order than I planned. I may realize I don't have enough content for a chapter the way I thought I did, and need to combine two. I may realize I have too much content for a single chapter, and need to split it. The outline is always flexible.

Step 5: Write an Outline for the Current Chapter (Optional, but Helpful)

I'm ready to start writing after either Step 3 or Step 4, but I will frequently do this as well before I actually start writing.

If I have a chapter-by-chapter outline, I'll look at the chapter I'm ready to write, and then create a quick bullet list of the events of just that chapter. Any specific scenes or images I want to remember to include go on the list, and I write this list in chronological order.

If my outline is more general (the "Wikipedia summary" style or a bullet list not divided by chapters already), I'll start writing the chapter outline wherever I intend it to start, and include events until it seems like enough content for the chapter (or an event sounds like it would be a good end to the chapter).

In either case, I may not end up writing everything I've included in this outline in the chapter, rolling some of it over to the next one instead, but this essentially gives me a checklist to work through as I write the chapter to make sure I don't forget things I wanted to include (in case my characters go off the rails a little).

Step 6: Write the Story

Now just write the story.

Hopefully this helps anyone who didn't already have an idea on how to turn random ideas into an outline. Full disclosure: this is also how I write other things (such as lesson plans or talks for church). I throw random ideas at the paper, then worry about sorting them into a coherent order and figuring out what my thesis is.

[hinamie]

surprise it's yuri!!!in 2024

[dem0nyo]

♡ AMIHAN HAIR ♡

late valentines, i suppose? this has been a wip since last year but i finally got around to finishing it this week. i ran into a few issues that i almost gave up on it but it's been so long since my last upload and i wanted to share something before February ends so here it is! i drew the scalp textures from scratch in Photoshop (using one of the braids from GT as a reference) so it took ages. it's not perfect but i quite like it, hope you do too <3

inspo ♡

BGC

toddler-elder!

feminine frame

24 EA swatches + 17 extras, 15 EA swatches for the toddler and child versions

NOT hat compatible

all LODs, all maps

21034 polys

playtested :)

DOWNLOAD: Patreon (free) | SFS

as always, lmk if there are any issues!

[fee-phy-fo-fum]

Take a bow, when everything's done.

the fun thing about handwriting words instead of using font is that you can do the emotion thing easier. the unfun thing is inconsistent size and also not straight and also writing neatly is so troublesome.

[sacredxnight]

So I've been rewatching some Seinfeld recently

[ladystoneboobs]

so, one aspect of catelyn which i think is underrated (certainly the biggest adaptation loss which nobody talks about) is her, let's say superstitiousness, or better yet, let's call it genre-savviness, being one of the few adult characters open to magic and the supernatural in this fantasy world. we first meet her in the godswood, home of gods which are not truly hers, yet she is still very aware of their power. when she and ned talk of the deserter he killed, he hopes he won't have to go with the nw to deal with mance rayder, but she has even more fear of that idea bc there are worse things beyond the wall than just wildlings. ned scoffs and says she's been listening to old nan too much, but she's right. we already know from the prologue that she's right! and here she is, understanding the genre of their world better than her husband, who was actually born and spent his earliest years in this northern land of deep magic, listening to old nan's stories. same with the direwolves, where she was uncomfortable with them at first, but later believed in them as guardians from the old gods even after robb had lost his own faith. and once again, we know she's right even if she doesn't know the evidence to back up her instincts, bc summer and shaggydog did not fail bran and rickon and robb was almost certainly a warg like his brothers. (perhaps making it more fitting that she's the one brought back as a fantasy vengeance monster, not ned and robb, the most unbelieving dead starks.) and in her 2nd agot chapter, everyone focuses on her ambition in wanting ned to agree to the hand job (pun intended) and sansa's betrothal, and while she does recognize the value of their daughter being a future queen more than ned does, that's only her stated argument bc she thinks it's rational enough for ned to listen to. (if ambitious matchmaking were as important to her as to her father she never would have made those frey betrothals fandom loves to blame her for.) in her own head there's a deeper urge driving her. she keeps thinking of the dead direwolf with antlers in its throat, an omen which filled her with dread from the first she heard of it, before robert's arrival, and thinking of it again is what makes her desperate to convince ned not to refuse robert. she had to make him see. and really, she's not wrong, as jon snow would say. the dead direwolf was an omen of ned and robert getting each other killed. it's just one of those misread portents, with no way of knowing the danger to ned was in his loyalty to robert, not conflict with him. BUT the next time she's dealing with baratheons, she knows exactly what she's talking about. it's catelyn, not brienne, who sees the shadow slaying renly, and explains that it was stannis who did that through some dark magic. with no way of knowing how it was achieved and no prior expectation that such a thing were ever possible, she realizes with no hestitation that stannis was guilty and that his red witch was capable of pulling this off somehow. really, the only instinct of the supernatural she's wholly wrong about is her insistence that varys gathered his knowledge through some dark enchantment. however, though that might offend varys, given his own personal experience with a sorcerer, i'd say it's a reasonable assumption without knowing the dude had children moving through walls everywhere like oversized rodents. and imo it just shows she had a healthy respect and awe for varys's power which most other characters lack.

oh, oh, and let's not forget that she also believed in the curse of harrenhal, from her own childhood and the stories old nan told her kids. "and every house that held Harrenhal since had come to misfortune. Strong it might be, but it was a dark place, and cursed. 'I would not have Robb fight a battle in the shadow of that keep,' Catelyn admitted." sure, that wasn't enough to save robb, but he did not die from the curse of harrenhal. that doom was meant for his enemies from tywin lannister to roose bolton.

[choccy-milky]

omianne wip from over a year ago that ill never properly finish (redraw of 'the other father' by mac conner)

[dodofoge]

I saw @soappbar post and immediately thought of these two. The shit post was too good to pass up on 😔😔😔

Original is @ _sadeleine on tiktok

[cutter-kirby]

getting into both of these games at the same time is pretty funny

[accirax]

a collection of DCAS memes so far

[prahacat]

when the horrors catch up and you take an evening off to batch-process

[das-a-kirby-blog]

what if I drew mii

[starscream-is-my-wife]

A bit more of the thunderfire story ‘post canon’, I think this should be around mid 2010s?

Jetfire and Thundercracker would be the duel income uncles with only fur babies, Skywarp is the actual breadwinner, Megatron is… there

Since the ex Decepticons no longer have to find energon and are no longer in war, they have so much free time.

(Rough outline here)

Text in the picture underneath the cut because it’s a bit small + Starscream

Jetfire

- changed his name in 2005 and is the only non neutral in the household

- the one who owns the house (used to be a lab) everyone lives in

- infamous in the science community for dropping a technological revelation every couple of years and then disappearing

- he and Megatron are the ones mostly taking care of the pets

- is the least online in the household, and goes outside the most

- has only gotten more unhinged ever since he was melted

Thundercracker

- likes to create all sorts of art, experiments a lot, currently into sewing, but who knows what’s next? Felting? Glass art?

- well liked with netizens because of his redemption story and loves the internet

- the bigger simp in the relationship, they got human married for fun in 2016 when gay marriage was legalized

- in charge of PR for everyone, including the Autobots sometimes

Skywarp

- Lives in Jetfire and TCs basement and is messy and loud

- twitch streamer, problematic due to him being kind of dumb (gets tricked by chat a lot)

- tricked Megatron into signing marriage papers because he felt left out when TC got married (and then forgot about this)

- used to live in the attic but was so loud during streaming he was forced to swap with Megatron in the basement

- is actually filthy rich, paid the entire mortgage

- the pets least favorite bot :((

Megatron

- misses fighting in the war but living in the attic is… ok

- edits for Thundercracker when he writes

- all of the pets favorite, no one is happy about this (except Megatron)

- is mostly unknown to the public, is under house arrest because of his war crimes for now. Does not feel too guilty about his crimes

- due to him being unemployed he is the household maid

- on the internet the most, cyberbullies Optimus Prime with alt accounts

- doesn’t know he’s legally married

[blaithnne]

I don’t think Twig grows up to be as big of a deerfox as his parents because it would honestly be pretty inconvenient. One thing about Twig is he CANNOT be too big to sleep in Hilda’s bed, I simply will not allow it.

[jojaxcola]

i cant explain it but your art style reminds me of danganronpa distrust (the beta)

well i did do DR fan comics a few years ago

[katabay]

bayek, doing some exploring :)