Novel Outlining Template | How to plan a novel.
S.R. Beaston
Crafty with words, wit, and wisdom, just add caffeine to make it more interesting.
I am a firm believer that outlining is important. It doesn’t have to be a huge endeavor and there are plenty of templates that fit many writers’ needs, but I still see a lot of people that just wing it (followed by a lot of struggling.)
The beauty about outlining is that it doesn’t have to start and end before you begin writing your novel. There are some aspects that should be set before writing, but a first draft is you working through an idea. Things change and move, so your outline will do the same.
As someone who struggles with their draft even with a fantastic outline, I’m here to present another template with the use of NovelPad. Here you can use any matter of outline (Save the Cat, Three Act Method, Freytag’s Pyramid) within the software, while keeping these points in mind. We’ll see what’s important for any outline and how to keep them within arms reach the moment you need it.
Before You Begin
Here are some pointers to remember when diving into your shiny new story.
1. Over-planning is just as bad as under-planning. World building is fun, but all research and no writing makes a writer burn out. All writing and no plans raise wall after wall of writer's block.
2. Not everything has to be figured out. Write down any question you may have and allow yourself to come back to it later.
3. Always go back to your basics. If you are stuck, go to those basic notes and remember where you are going.
4. 90% of what you make in your outlining and worldbuilding process should not make it into the final draft. This info is only for you.
The Basics
The basics are what I believe to be absolutely non-negotiable to start off any novel. Having these elements fleshed out before you ever write a word will start you off in a great direction. No matter how you outline, these things should be set. Use NovelPad's ‘Notes’ to organize them.
Idea
What is your idea? If it is just a cool dream you had, write it. If it’s something funny your friend said that spurred a world in your head, write it. I don’t care what the idea is or where it came from. Write it.
"I had a dream where a man and woman were in a building and it caught fire. Man was scared but woman seemed to have been through this before and, though she wasted no time evacuating with worry in her eyes, seemed to know why this was happening. Maybe she expected it? Man notices this and asks if she’s okay. She tries to elude him but he knows something’s up. There was also a dolphin in a musical? He probably used his blowhole to spout water everywhere but I don't’ remember"
Write all of it. Write how it came to you, who was involved, what you think about it, and in as much detail as possible, the idea itself. This not only helps remind you why you were so excited about this idea, but helps you see everything you saw in this potential from the start.
Basic plot
Now that your idea is settled, form a basic plot. Nothing fancy.
"Woman meets a man in a building that catches on fire. Man is shocked, but the woman has had fire following her all of her life. This means something different to her. They escape together, but boy knows that there’s something more to girl."
Here, we don’t know characters, we don’t know the ending, we don’t know what the fire is about. It’s our idea forming into a plot.
Along with the plot, you want to start forming your theme and motifs.
What about this plot lends itself to an underlying message? You can use what you know to coax out a theme if you are struggling. Here, the motif seems to be ‘fire’. How can you use fire and mystery to form a theme? You can also refer to how this new idea made you feel to build up a theme.
Basic Character Notes
Characters are the most important aspect of a story. Quite a few stories get by because of their characters alone (though I’d recommend a decent story, please). Here’s the basics you should focus on for your characters.
You want to know as much about your main character as possible before you start writing. Know that it is always subject to change (and probably should) but having a strong foundation in your leading character will make the process much smoother.
I created a simple abbreviation and wheel to remember what characters need: MDD. Motive, Desire, Distaste.
Motives can change but a character without a motive at the beginning is a lost character, and though readers can get by with a lost character, it’s only because they are enjoying the other characters so much. Twilight is a perfect example. Before Bella’s motive of becoming a vampire to stay with her lover forever, she really has…nothing, and you can feel it when you read.
Desire can share a spot with motive, but where motive is the drive, desire is a want. A desire can beget a motive, but they can also be separate. It often makes for a more entertaining conflict if they are. Funnily enough my MC was lacking a motive at the beginning, much like Bella, but my critique partners caught it. Do as I say, not as I do.
Distaste is a great thing to know in your characters. My character distastes people (being real general here) and yet she’s literally stuck with someone. This brings out her worst and shows the growth she’ll need to make throughout the story. What’s the fun in writing if we don’t create characters just to make them suffer?
As for your other characters, to keep things clean, just have their name and motive here as well, as you’ll have a folder dedicated to characters next.
Basic Message
Similar to ‘theme’, you want to figure out what your message is going to be by the end of this journey. Ask yourself these two things:
What message do I want the reader to feel at the end of this story?
How are some ways I need to convey that message and through what characters?
I tend to forget why I’m putting myself through the ringer, what all of this is for, so a quick click to this tab can help push you forward. It’s also something you don’t need to know right away, but good to be thinking about.
Characters
Like I said, characters are the most important aspect of a story (in my opinion). Once you make a few characters, sit with them, ask them questions and let them answer. Go through a character template to flesh out characters you know are going to be a part of the story.
Each character should go through their own character template, even if you are certain that information will never come up in the novel. The more you know, the more sense your characters will make even without the context.
The smaller the role, the less you need. The MDD’s can be for all of them, or the MC, villain, and secondary. Any other antagonistic character should probably have a MDD to keep track of why they are being antagonistic, but it depends on your character list.
Lore
The word ‘worldbuilding’ implies a lot of work, which we’re trying to avoid, so I decided to break down the things you probably will want to know to outline your novel. Lore is a good start.
Depending on your genre, this may or may not matter, but it’s always good to have a small establishment of the general belief system before man and the belief during the story. If you have a list of pantheons, a brief build of those aspects may be important to establish before the story begins.
Personal lore is also helpful. It’s said that you should know a character's story six months before the beginning of the book. I agree with this, if not more. Again depending on the genre, your MC’s backstory should probably be the most fleshed out spanning over years to their lifetime, but this can be an on-going build up and not fully fleshed out before you start writing.
Locations
Another ‘worldbuildy’ device is the use of locations. But for now as you outline, you only want simple locations. Where is your character now and where are they going immediately? This can possibly be followed by where they will be at the end if you know.
That’s it, that’s all you need right now. Culture, language, currency, all of that can be worried about in your second draft. If it comes up in your first draft, put what you know. [English], [dollars], [miles]. You can come back and switch out words once you know, but don’t break the flow of writing to decide these things. (I tend to accidentally come up with great ideas for these as I continue writing, so trust the process).
Setting this up in NovelPad now will ensure you don’t waste time trying to make folders and files just to type something up. It’ll also prevent you from writing in what will inevitably be a "dump folder" that you’ll have to clean up and organize later. We want efficiency and ease, so set these folders up. (Remember you don’t have to set them up this way, it’s just one of many ways.
Magic System (if applicable)
If your genre doesn’t have magic systems, then boy are you in luck, cause this can be one of the longest and messiest outlines ever. If you are like me and hate yourself, you likely have a magic system and already know the frustrations I’m referring to.
Much like worldbuilding, making magic systems can be fun and very involved, but takes so much time away from writing. The trick to avoid this is to define your magic system and stick to it! The intricacy of rules, powers, items, spells, and who can and can’t use it are all part of the writing process.
Your NovelPad notes should have a lot of blank space here. That’s for you to fill out as you are developing your story and learning about the intricacies that way. You’ll thank me when you finally write "The end".
Plot Point Setup
The next two points are not outlining, but setting up space for you to make notes as you write. Within your Plot Points folder is each chapter you are working on or have worked on, and within each of those, are plot points for that chapter specifically. You want to do this in your notes AND in the scene cards in your chapters tab.
Having everything in notes is helpful because you can link information to other information for even faster access to the information, so having a folder with the same information can be very helpful. This is outlining as you go, which is not needed, but recommended.
Questions!
Here is where your playground is. You can use whatever organizational method works best for you, but have a ‘Questions’ system set up. I personally use chapters and characters in my folder, but anything will work, as long as you have a place to ask questions.
This stops you from stopping your work to spend two hours thinking about one aspect of something that shouldn’t matter at this moment. More often than not, it’s the progress of writing that helps answer these questions. Let’s look at our Plot example.
Q: How did the fire start?
Answer 1: Maybe it’s an ex-lover who told her he’d burn her world down and has slowly been doing so for years
- No, too cliche but I like the idea of a curse-like thing being the reason.
As you can see, I don’t have the answer but I have a better direction. Did this just turn into something supernatural? At the very least, it’s superstition.
Bottom line, ask questions to yourself and let your muse answer when it’s ready.
Conclusion
I’m a big fan of outlining and encouraging writers to at least know some concrete things about their story before going into it. However, there are a billion ways to write—this is just one measly option.
Are you a big fan of outlining? Do you pants your way through to the end. Have you yet to see the end? You can share your experiences with us over at our $ Discord$ , where we talk about plotting, pantsing, and the multitude of ways to procrastinate both.
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