outlining your writing journey
A month ago, I hiked with my sis, her hubs and bf through the lushest trail that opened to an alpine lake. It was one of those moments where you can't believe a place like this exists, and is accessible via a forty-five minute precarious drive uphill plus a three-ish hour hike also uphill. I mean, SO simple. But, mostly, just so totally worth it.
When we arrived, we perched on a rock by the lake to eat our ten a.m. lunches and climb and handstand and take photos. And, on our way out, we saw TWO marmots, begging the question: could the journey to get here ever measure up to this shire-like destination?!
*Shouts from a boulder by the alpine lake* OF COURSE! If the journey is complete misery, the destination is probably not gonna make up for the misery.
Not so seamlessly, back to writing. And, specifically outlining. A month ago, the person on this hike wasn't an outliner. Now, I get it.
Just like this hike was planned to have some MAJOR payoff plus fun along the way, outlining is part of my writing journey now (and forever and ever and ever more). If you haven't yet had a double marmot level epiphany for taking this next step in you're writing journey, here's what's worked for my outline.
Write the hook / short pitch for your book. You won't have to write it later, and it'll help keep you on track. No more than a few sentences. Practice by telling someone what your book is about, then WRITE it down and re-work till you're happy.
After this, write the heart of your story. At its core, is this a story about the marmots who protect the mystical underwater kingdom of Lake Constantine?! Just a sentence or two here to help you remember what this story is really about when your marmots are organizing for battle against early morning hikers.
Why are you writing this? Write the answer out. Why is this book special? Yep, write it out.
Next, distill the main conflict of the book down to a few lines. How does this conflict affect your main character(s)?
Then, you get to move on to the overall journey for different plot points and themes and other big picture things, along with each individual character! Yay! Perhaps, in the end, the lake kingdom frees the marmot guard. Maybe Mar, the youngest marmot warrior, doesn't want to be a warrior, but she's bound by a spell to protect the lake...if this is the case, what does she need? This can tie into your themes of duty or spell breaking or marmot cuteness etc etc.
Lastly, chapter by chapter. Keep it simple, write down each chapter's POV plus a brief summary of what happens.
Once you start writing the story after outlining, you'll be amazed by all the work you've already done and how much it helps. At least, I hope so!
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