What’s a plot? And what’s an outline?
Let’s get the definitions out of the way.
Honestly, I keep mixing these up forever, and researching what’s the difference between plot and outline didn’t make me see things much clearer.
But the way I see it, the plot is everything that happens in your story, including the subplots. And I outline to decide and see the order of what happens in the plot.
You can’t have a story without a clear, decent plot.
And the more of you you put in that plot the better so that we get fresh perspectives on things we have seen before.
What’s a plotter, and what’s a pantser?
There are writers who know what will happen in their novel before they start writing said novel (plotters), and there are writers who liked to be surprised as they go along (pantsers).
Then there are those in between.
I’m a plotter, so I’m a big fan of knowing what the hell will happen, to who, and why.
Now, sometimes, I don’t know all of the how. Like I might know a character will meet a romantic interest, and why meeting that interest is crucial to the main plot/theme. But if it is not a part of the main storyline, I might start typing before knowing everything.
But I start writing my novel with at least 70% of the outline/events planned. Some things can change. Some scenes might get edited, expanded or cut, or just plain reordered to make the flow and logic better.
You might argue several valid reasons for not plotting, but nominating your creative spirit, unorganized nature, or just chaotic existence, won’t get me to let you off the hook.
I have all of those things. I’m so messy, my workspace (and living space, if we are being honest) looks like people fought a battle in there.
Yes, I try to clean and organize when I can, but don’t have the lack of skill to make that orderliness last.
As for the inside of my head? It is worse.
My browser always has several different tabs open, and my brain is no different.
However, I love to plot, and I love to outline.
I love knowing (mostly) what will happen before I get down to write the novel.
This prevents quite a few things:
– Writer’s block
– Desperation
– Saggy middles
– Plot holes
– Inconsistent characters
-And many other problems.
It simply makes writing easier.
How to Outline/Plot Your Novel (Like I Do)
Obviously, there is more than one way to plot your novel. Now, outlining and plotting aren’t exactly the same thing, but I’ll use them interchangeably here.
Because at the end: We’ll have the entire story order. We will know what happens, when and why, and even some of the most important things the characters say.
I’m not talking about writing the exact dialogue. Dialog is something that is up for editing till the last minute the way I see it.
But if your character says “I love you” in a romance novel, obviously that is integral to the story. You need to know where that goes.
It’s nearly impossible to have a romance without a big fight, or at least one giant-ass obstacle to keep your couple apart. You need to know what the fight is about and why, and you need to know where that fight goes.
That said…
You can change everything as you write.
You have an active, creative brain and a wild imagination.
You might have a better idea 3 hours, days, weeks, or months later.
But you might also not.
Your most important mission as a writer, should you choose to accept it, is to finish your first draft.
You can’t have a first draft written fast (or at least at a reasonable speed and not in several years!) if you don’t know what the hell goes on in your story.
What works for me might not work for you.
But generally, some things will work for a lot of people. So read what I do, take what suits you, and leave what doesn’t.
Maybe read a couple of other outlining methods as well. Experiment, see what works, and continue accordingly.
And if it works for you as a whole, all the merrier.
Let’s plot!
So for the purpose of this post, I assume you already have the basic concept of the story, at least the most important characters (the protagonist, antagonist/villain (depending on the genre), some essential supporting cast, and a general idea of what happens. You are also crystal clear on your genre (and subgenres, if applicable).
If you don’t, work those out yet. Before you try to do anything else.
You can write them down, or you can just remember them. The basic stuff tends to stay with me. You might have decided your tense and your POV at this point, or you might have not. You can decide after the plotting if you like.
Plotting Your Romance Novel
Let’s say you are writing a romance novel. You can answer these questions verbally or you can write the answers down. Do what works best for you:
So, you have two people falling in love.
- Have they met before the starting point in the story? If not, how do they meet? Do you already know, or do you need to brainstorm?
In my first novel, Making A Difference (M.A.D.), Zoe and Jay met five years before my novel’s first scene, and they have a secret.
- How much do you know about your characters? And how much do you need to know?
Some writers know down to the name of their protagonist’s childhood pet even though the dude is 45 when we first meet him as a reader.
I’m not that kind of a writer.
But I do know:
- What makes my character tick?
- What turns them on?
- What turns them off?
- What is their general relationship with their parents like? Does their upbringing affect how they behave now? (It generally does.)
- What’s their personality like?
- What do they like/dislike? Do they have strong whys for things? Are they aware of their whys?
- What are their flaws? Are they aware of these flaws, and do they even see them as flaws?
- What does this character do for a living?
- How do they react in certain situations? (You might not include this in the book, but knowing how a character would treat a waiter, a kid or an elderly person would tell you so much.)
- Is your character likable, or do we need to *save a cat at some point? (*Refers to the coin termed by the late screenwriter Blake Snyder. It means we show the character doing something nice for another being so that we see their good side.)
- Is your character consistent? Inconsistency might very well be a character trait, but you will need to establish this.
Bottom line: You don’t need to know every single thing about your character, just the ones that matter to the story.
If you are writing a murder thriller, and your protagonist’s private life is not even mentioned, you don’t need to know if this guy remembers anniversaries.
Obviously, there is no harm in knowing. But don’t use it as an excuse to procrastinate.
Relevancy is your friend. And it helps with keeping procrastination at bay.
You need answers for all your main and supporting characters.
Since this is a romance story, find out:
- What makes them attract each other?
- When/how do they know they have feelings?
- How do they express/hide these feelings? Why?
- In what ways are they compatible? In what ways are they not? (the character traits and likes/dislikes you decided on will tell you all you need to know here)
- What are the tropes you are using? The tropes will tell you a lot about what kind of scenes/events/dialogue you will be writing.
Are they enemies to lovers? Friends to lovers? Is there close proximity? (If there is close proximity, how/why will that occur?)
You can mix-match tropes and/or give them twists.
When I first thought of my main character Janie in the romcom drama novel A Change Would Do You Good, I knew she was going to fall in love with her neighbor. She had lost her boyfriend eight months ago, and she would make some drastic changes to her life to get over this, including moving to a new city and getting a job at another company.
In romance, sometimes the guy the protagonist falls in love with after a loss is an awesome, supportive, understanding, empathetic guy who doesn’t mind waiting.
He doesn’t mind being the shoulder to cry on while they wait. (They mind, internally, which is quite human.) They are not pretending to be friends; they are genuine friends. The fact that they want more doesn’t take away from the fact that they want to see this person happy – whether it is with them or not.
You know, like the dreamy Jack from Virgin River. I do love Jack and the series.
But what if I make my guy insensitive, unempathetic, and so-not-down with being friends?
Now the road from neighbors to lovers will be super bumpy. And when they get together, it will be worth the wait.
Now obviously, my main male character isn’t a full-on jerk. Otherwise, why would we root for him?
For all the sex he has had with different women, he has never once cheated on someone for instance. That is an admirable quality.
He has never promised what he won’t deliver or pretended to be someone he is not. Also, admirable.
Obviously, he is hot.
He’s just lived a certain way, and now he has met a woman who is just as stubborn in her
ways. Her life experiences are completely different, and this will present a challenge he has never faced before.
So there is a bit of “opposites attract” trope going on, until they realize they are not opposites after all. This is not exactly a spoiler and since I tell just as much in the book’s blurb.
It is fun to watch a guy who goes from not used to being vulnerable to falling in love for the first time and dealing with that.
- Will it be happily-ever-after (HEA)?
Depends on your subgenre, but a lot of romance readers want happily ever after. Some might settle for happy-for-now. And be very careful to set the tone in your story when you are writing a sad ending.
For a great happy-for-now ending, I recommend the 2010 movie Forget Me Not.
- How will they get to the HEA? What will push them apart? Are we talking people? Situations?
Are the obstacles internal or external?
– How active are your protagonists in trying to accomplish their goals?
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So, you have basically the skeleton of a romance. Let’s say it’s a male/female romance.
Plotting the romance of Joe and Eve
Let’s call our protagonists in this hypothetical romance novel Joe and Eve.
They meet after your novel starts. They sort of like each other. But there are forces that keep them apart. Maybe Joe’s ex is back in his life. Maybe Eve has a marvelous job offer waiting for her on another continent.
- How close will Joe and his ex get? Will Eve get the job? How will you keep them connected despite the conflicts?
- Will you make Joe’s ex likable? How?
Because if she is too unlikeable, it makes Joe look bad. We might even question Eve’s taste in men. If you make her too likable, your audience might be rooting against Eve. So, you need to make more decisions.
Note: But you will need to decide what is likable enough. You can’t write for everyone, and eventually, you will need to be confident about your decisions on where to take the story. Because some things are just not universal.
- How will Joe and Eve fight? When, how, and how often will they fight?
They don’t have to be fighting all the time. One of my favorite romcom movies is Music & Lyrics starring Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. As a movie couple, they are not like Allie and Noah from The Notebook at all! There is not much fighting, and I love it.
- When is the first kiss?
Or does it happen all the way at the end of the book? Will that make you happy? Would that make your readers happy? (Is this a clean romance?)
Also, you have options. Just because your couple shares one big kiss at the end of your novel, it doesn’t mean your romance has to be clean. Maybe there is a lot of swearing and partying. Maybe they are doing stuff with other people.
- Will the couple have sex at some point? How much will you describe it? You can decide on the length of sex scenes and steam level much later. But knowing this will help you build/keep/resolve tension much better.
I call my romances semi-steamy. They are far too steamy to be considered clean, but next to certain steamy books, they are super clean.
Basically, my characters have sex, but I don’t get into too much detail about it. But you do see the foreplay. But I make sure you know they have sex.
There is also a lot of making out and clothes have a habit of coming off. So like I said, semi-steamy.
- What happens if they have sex? How do they handle it? What do they do the morning after?
- Is one of your protagonists more mature and/or sensitive than the other? (Which leads to conflicts.)
Are they both putting in the effort? Generally speaking, we want people at similar emotional levels, and we want equal efforts. If Joe is conquering a new civilization just to show his love but Eve’s forgetting even his birthday…this might not be a match to root for after all.
- Are your characters realistic? Very few people are purely angelic or evil, so choose your flaws and damage well.
- Have you brought your own voice and style?
- Where /when/how does the (happy) ending take place?
- Do you have enough conflicts in the way?
Pay attention to the conflicts. Enough is the keyword here. Make it too easy, readers lose interest. Make the conflicts unbelievable, uninteresting, or too many/much, readers will lose interest.
For instance, if your characters can’t communicate openly with each other for the whole book, you’d better present solid reasons for the lack of communication skills.
You don’t want a reader to go “OK, none of this would have happened if these two idiots had a meaningful conversation in the first place.”
You don’t want stupid characters.
Yes, it is hard to tell someone how much they mean to you. But if it is painfully obvious they feel the same way, you’d tell them unless…
Unless maybe they are your underling, and it has severe consequences and you love your job? Maybe you are both adults but the age difference is giving you pause? Maybe there are cultural differences that freak you out?
Maybe you are so painfully shy and/or you’re so emotionally invested that you can’t be sure you’re reading the other person right?
Maybe they are giving you mixed signals? (You do need to make sure you have a good reason for the mixed signals, though. You don’t want a protagonist coming off a manipulative jerk.)
- Are there significant others?
In this case, be careful where you take the story. Will there be cheating? Cheating characters are hard to forgive or root for in most romance subgenres.
So generally speaking, not should Eve and Joe not cheat on each other, but they shouldn’t cheat on other people with each other.
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Caveat:
What I say covers a lot of romance novels, but not erotic romance and dark romance. They play by different rules.
But while cheating and just being with each other might not be of concern in a subgenre, you still need to answer most of the questions I presented in this long post.
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What now?
I gave you a lot to think about, didn’t I? There are obviously many more things you can explore, but knowing the answers to these questions will give you a solid start.
You might be saying… Damn, Pinar! If I knew the answers to all the questions, most of my work would be set for me.
Yeah, that’s the idea. So that writing your first draft (and your following drafts for that matter) becomes more fun and less torturous.
If you don’t know the answers to all or most of these questions, please bookmark this post and come back when you do.
Are you with me?
Good.
Now that we know the answers, we write them down. With as much detail as we need. This will depend on the person, story and even genre.
Now imagine the when and where for each scene. At least, decide on the most fundamental scenes.
Do they meet in a café shop? When? How? Where? Why?
Do they take each other’s numbers? How? Why? Why not?
When do they meet again? Is it planned? When/how/where/why?
You do this for every scene/story part you decided.
If you only know that they are two strangers who meet in a coffee shop only to find out later that they are neighbors or co-workers, write this down.
So you move on where they see each other later:
Second meeting: Office, early morning, funny.
Third meeting: Huge misunderstanding, first fight
Fourth meeting: Christmas party, first apology, first friendly conversation since meeting.
(If you know how these conversations roughly go), add it in. If you thought of a clever liner, or know how the dialogue should go, take notes.)
Even if you are writing a romcom, you think of something hilarious, write that. You can even just write “funny thing happens”, and find out what that thing is much later.
If all you think of are cliches at the moment, choose that cliché as a placeholder and change it later.
Do this until the end.
Type the end.
Ordering the Events: Outlining
You can use an online program, flashcards, normal notebooks, Word,…whatever works.
I tend to write on paper first. If I need to see everything in one place, I also use flashcards.
Pieces of paper also work. Just cut stuff off. You don’t need fancy stationery all the time.
I use a physical notebook, Word, and the free version of Trello.
Trello is a super friendly online software. It’s a super user-friendly list-making application. There are even color codes if you need them.
Organize, rearrange, and edit as needed.
Add more scenes. Cut some. Add more.
Get in a groove.
It’s okay to start typing your story’s first draft even if you only know about 30%. You can know %95. It might change much or it might change little. It might stay about the same.
The idea is to give you a strong, confident start with a basic map. The map can be as advanced and detailed as you want it.
What if you found that plotting and outlining aren’t for you?
And if you found that outlining/plotting doesn’t work for you at all.
No hard feelings. You just discovered something really important about your own working/writing style. This will help with your productivity.
I personally like to start typing when I know at least a few things by heart.
I’m currently working on two novels. Both are romcom dramas. One is a sequel to my second novel A Change Would Do You Good. The other is standalone.
With the standalone, I know about 70% of the story. All the characters, major events, some crucial dialogue, and most of the scenes are there. So I started typing my first draft.
With the sequel, which is called A Change Would Do You Better, I knew about 60% of the story. I started that too. Now, I’ve got to write two more scenes and expand on the descriptions before I finish the first draft.
But when I was writing my debut novel Making A Difference (M.A.D.), I knew about 97% of the story. I was venturing into a new format (from screenplay writing to novel writing), so I needed my roadmap to be more comprehensive.
What to do if you’re overwhelmed
If this feels confusing and overwhelming….
Pick a novel or movie you like.
The only condition? It has to be as similar in tone as you can manage to the novel you are planning to write. And it has to be in the same genre.
Great.
Answer all these questions in this post according to that book or movie.
To internalize the process, you can do it a couple of times with different movies and books.
You will see things will become almost automatic.
May plotting muses be with you.
Parting Thoughts
Doing research is fine. Getting lost in information overload is not.
Pick a couple of articles that you feel are the most helpful. Eliminate the ones you feel aren’t right for you. And get to work. You can combine tips and tricks to create your own method.
There’s really only one rule: You need to start writing at one point. And the sooner the better.
