How To Outline Your Books: Tips and Tricks

One of my biggest struggles with writing a book is figuring out what goes on in each part of the story. I spend weeks upon weeks trying to outline efficiently (and effectively), but it can be really overwhelming. I’ve discovered some methods to outlining that have really helped me, so hopefully they will be helpful for you! Just know that everyone has their own way to write, and what works for me may not work for you!

First of all, don’t outline every single detail. I like to start with a simple Freytag’s Pyramid (exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution). When doing this, remember that the inciting incident shouldn’t happen too late in the story. You want to hook your readers, so sooner is better to begin the main plot. If you’re struggling with thinking of any part of the pyramid, it’s best to skip it and come back to it later! After you fill in what you’re sure about, it’ll be easier to see what falls into the empty places. 

Next, I like to split my pyramid into chapters, which really helps me with pacing my books. I decide how many chapters should be for the exposition, how many should be for the inciting incident, and so on. Once I figure out approximately how many chapters I want, I really flesh them out. I go through each of my chapters and decide exactly what will happen in each of them. I go into a lot more detail during this part than many other authors, but that is just what works best for me! 

This next part won’t be relevant for some novels, but if you’re writing a book with multiple point-of-views, this is extra important! This is the point in your outlining where you’ll want to assign chapters to each character. Some chapters will only be able to be told by certain characters, like ones where none of the other characters are around. The other chapters, however, can be more difficult to decide. What I like to do is think about which character it would be easiest to write the chapter from—then pick a different character. You want to surprise your readers and help them see things from different angles throughout your novel, so don’t choose the obvious choice every time you have to assign a character’s point-of-view to a chapter. 

That is typically all the outlining I do for my novels, but my best piece of advice is to just go for it! You may not think you have much of an idea, but I find that my thoughts just start flowing as soon as I start putting words onto paper. Nobody will have the exact same outlining style, so just take from this what you think will be helpful to you! If you’re feeling stuck, try listening to songs that fit your book’s “vibe”, or make Pinterest boards for your book. But overall, have fun and get started!