The Importance of Planning: How to Outline Your Book Before Start Writing

The book outline is like the backbone of an entire book. It acts as a road map for your book drafting process, whether fiction or non-fiction.

Most writers (even professional ones) do not want to start their first draft with a blank page. However, by drafting an outline first, they can effectively overcome writer’s block and initiate actual writing. Additionally, writing the outline allows for the organization and management of everything, from idea generation to fleshing out the ending of your book.

The aim is to explore what aspects of the topic can be included in the book drafting for beginners and what will be its trajectory.

What is a Novel Outline?

A novel outline is just like a blueprint of the story that gives you a birds-eye view of what it looks like. However, there are no set patterns or laws governing outlines. Each writer approaches outlining differently, tailoring the process to suit the specific type of manuscript they are working on.

Creating an outline first makes the writing process hassle-free, as it eliminates the need for constant thinking while writing. By having an outline ready, you always have the next section to focus on, preventing you from getting lost and allowing you to write without interruptions.

Why Planning a Book is Important?

Planning a book before writing it offers several benefits. Firstly, it helps the writer navigate the topic more effectively, enabling them to organize their thoughts, points, and arguments with logic. Secondly, in the realm of fiction, it assists in sequencing the scenes and developing the characters’ personalities in a more comprehensive manner.

It serves these core purposes.

Structure the content to save time while writing
To organize big ideas to prevent several revisions and rewrites
To create well-crafted and cohesive stories that make sense

Whether you are writing a short fiction stories collection or an academic book, outlining and planning can enhance the quality of your work. It equally benefits every genre and type of book.

Exploring Different Types of Plot Outlining Methods

Every outlining method has its own perks and drawbacks. Therefore, it is advisable to try out all the types and then choose the one that best suits your genre and story. Alternatively, you can customize any of them to create your own unique book planning.

Following are some tried and tested methods of outlining and planning that can benefit beginner writing books.

1. Standard Method Using Bullet Points & Numerals

Since it is a standard method, it involves making headings, subheadings, bullet points, or flow charts for outlining the book. It aims to organize everything hierarchically so you can sequence the scenes and manage the characters. Plus, it helps to maintain the flow of the story or book.

2. Snowflake Method

Designed by Randy Inger Manson, this unique method involves expanding the central idea or crux of the story into different sections. In this approach, various aspects are considered, such as the transformation of scenes, paragraphs, character dialogues, setting descriptions, and more. As a more detailed outline method, it aims to encompass every significant detail of the story or book.

3. Beat Sheet Method

Screenwriters generally use this method. The ‘beat’ is every turn or development that advances the plot. It is an effective way to set the pacing and momentum of the story and check whether it is moving too fast or too slow.

4. 3 Act Structure

Widely embraced by story writers and novelists, this method encompasses three main steps of the story: Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution. Each of these steps comprises specific milestones, including the Inciting Incident, Midpoint, Reversal, and Climax.

It aims to help writers to raise conflicts and then provide satisfying resolutions to the readers.

5. Mindmapping

Mind mapping, on the other hand, is more of a visual representation of ideas and outlines. By using this non-linear method, you can effectively connect different plot points, subplots, and ideas, especially when writing an entangled story with multiple threads and puzzles to solve.

6. Visual Storyboarding

Filmmakers and animators use visual storyboarding to create tentative designs for their animations or film. The art panels give them the freedom to experiment with potential design ideas that they can use. Once they sketch the key moments, they get ideas about how the story will flow and look on the screen. Both digital and manual methods can accomplish it.

7. Index Cards or Post-It Notes

Index cards help to maintain a proper timeline of the story. Writing down important events of the story, turning points, and character development helps get an idea of the series of events in the book.

You can edit, rearrange, organize, and change the course of events until they start connecting; seamlessly.

Every plot outlining method comes with its pros and cons. You will need to assess what degree of freedom you want. And then, select one that suits your writing style the most.

8. Use Online Tools Like Scrivener

When it comes to expediting the editing processes in writing and outlining, online tools can be incredibly helpful. One option to consider is utilizing renowned plot builder tools such as Scrivener, Beemgee, Plotter, Story Planner, World Anvil, and many more. These specialized tools are designed to assist in crafting plots and outlines for both fiction and non-fiction books.

Or if you prefer to work with pen and paper, that is up to you. Pick the one that keeps your creative juices flowing and gives you the necessary freedom and ease to experiment.

Brief Steps to Outline Your Book

A book outline provides you with a pathway to follow right from the beginning of your writing journey. Additionally, it allows you to design various elements such as characters, settings, themes, dialogues, and writing styles that you will incorporate into the book.

Below are some steps you can take reference from to outline your next book.

1. Define the purpose of the book

Firstly, it is a no-brainer that you should have an idea of the topic or purpose of your book. You should know whether the goal is to educate, entertain, scare, or fulfill the readers academically. Clearly stating the purpose and topic of your book will help you determine its writing style and the vocabulary you will use in it.

Moreover, if you are writing a fiction book, then you need to set the basics first. The concrete details you should know about are,

Who are your characters (or just the main characters)?
What is their goal?
The time period in which the story is happening
Why is this all happening?
How all of this will happen?

If you can answer these questions, you have navigated through the initial details of the plot. Plus, you have your characters sorted out.

2. Brainstorm ideas for the book

The first idea you got is not necessarily the best one. There are a variety of ideas to choose the best one from. To collect ideas,

Get inspiration from real-life incidents and events.
Take part in group discussions and see what people think about specific topics.
List down all the topics you are interested in writing about.
Select topics that you can create dense stories of. Thin stories without any depth and nuances are not suitable for full-fledged novels.
Free writing on any topic can mirror your thoughts and interest in any topic. So, carve out some time to just free-write paragraphs about the concept/topic of your choice. It will help you unleash more layers that you might have overlooked.
Maintain a swipe file or idea journal to grab ideas lurking in your mind to use later on.

3. Develop subplots with main plots

Along with the main plot, subplots enhance the richness and depth of the story. Subplots run parallel to the main plot. And they add more complexity to the narrative of the story. These are stories of their own and somehow shoulder the primary concept of the novel.

Here are some tips you can use to develop compelling and well-integrated subplots.

Ensure that your subplots do not over-power the main plot. Most of the time, subplots end before the main plot.
Subplots are stories on a small scale. So, treat them like that. Whether you are using flashbacks or past events as subplots, they should have a storytelling feel.
You can incorporate new POVs into the novel in the form of subplots. It will give the readers a fresh perspective to understand the other side of the story.
Rise up the stakes or tension in the story through subplots.
Explore different writing expressions and narrative styles in creating subplots. But ensure that these are relevant to the theme or main plot of the novel.
Let characters drive the subplot. Experiment with different directions a story can go.

4. Add Dynamic Characters

Dynamic characters are the ones who transform as the story progresses. They add life and realism to the fiction book. People feel attached to them because of their authenticity and personality (even if you write fantasy). This emotional connection makes the readers much more invested in the story and makes them care about the plot.

It is not always poor to have static characters in your story. In fact, they are significant for specific roles. But the main character should always be dynamic.

Following are some tips to make your characters more dynamic and memorable for your readers.

Make them strive for goals and give them precise motivations to keep them going. For instance, their goals can be,

To live a simple life after being in chaos for a long time.
Being out of poverty as soon as possible
To get revenge for something
To get justice
To win a lover
To become a successful person (a businessman, entrepreneur, athlete, lawyer, or president of the student society, etc.)

These are some of the most used goals and motivations. You can customize them according to your genre and explore new possibilities.

Give them obstacles and hurdles to overcome and make them grow out of their fears and lacking.
Create characters having multiple shades and personalities. Make them choose options that do not go with their mindset.
Make the characters conflicting. They may have some sound qualities or expertise in one area and naive in another. These apparent flaws make them feel like humans.

5. World Building

Although intense world-building is for only fantasy and sci-fi genres, many other genres in fiction writing also need some level of world-building. Many writers intermix real-world places with fictional places, and many others create the entire universe from scratch.

Here is the guide to crafting better worlds for your novel.

Design the locations and landscapes.
Put in any unusual element that makes the world different from other settings.
Make the rules and laws of the land.
Describe the culture, traditions, environment, societal norms, and aura.
Create some historical background.
Design the geography, resources, economy, government, allies, enemies, climate, terrain, species, and creatures (if possible)
Insert different languages and dialects.

But, here is a caution. Don’t get immersed in crafting every little detail in the world at the initial stages. Because you will alter many variations as you write. Just do enough that get you started.

6. Plan Every Scene

Analyze how many scenes there will be in your story. And then create a tentative outline for it. You can help with the following questions.

What characters are included in the scene?
What is the location or setting?
What is the goal or purpose of the scene?
What are the key obstacles?
What is the primary conflict? Will it be resolved?
How will it transition into the next scene?

7. Use Templates and Online Tools

Using online tools can make your work easier and more automated. And when you integrate them into your daily writing routine, they can spark your creativity like nothing else.

Following are some widely used tools, apps, and resources that will help in writing books for beginners.

Outlining Apps and Software: With their drag-and-drop capabilities, customization options, and easy-to-use interface, you can edit your outlines easily. For example, OneNote, Evernote, Scrivener, etc.
Writing Software: You can use multiple word processors to write your manuscript. The most famous ones are Google Docs, Microsoft Word, etc.
Organization and Management: You can use general project management software to organize and manage your novel. Like, Trello, Notion, Asana, etc.
Mindmapping Software: For writers who want to “see” what their plot looks like can try MindMeister, ClickUp, Xmind, etc. These will help you think outside the box and collect new ideas to work on.
Pre-designed Templates: By utilizing pre-designed templates, you can easily create an outline or plot with a structured format. These templates save you from starting from scratch and provide a helpful framework to work with.

Bonus Tips

First, make chapter outline and summarize them to know what is going to happen in each chapter. It will help you track and follow the course of events much better.
Revise your outline multiple times to remove any flaws or mistakes left unconsciously.
Study your target audience to learn what they want to read. You can experiment with new perspectives and elements to add new flavors to the story.
Seek feedback from beta readers and editors on your outlines and make them coherent.
If you feel stuck in any section, leave it blank and hop on to the next one. You can always come back to fill up the blanks.

Selecting the Best Plotting Method for Your Book

Here is the checklist to select the best plotting method for your next best-seller.

Consider your story genre and then select the plotting structure accordingly.
Analyze your personal writing style and select what suits you best. Do you prefer a detailed outline? Or do you like exploring the concept while writing it?
Consider your preferred mode of outlining as well. Is it digital or traditional (with pen and paper)?
The book’s length is another factor to determines what type of outline will be the best.
Check how much is your story complex. Does every scene need to be tracked?

Once you identify the answers to these questions, you can choose the best plotting method for your story.

Final Words

The purpose of outlining is to identify the big-picture scenario of the story and capture the birds-eye view. Once you get the main idea about how the story is forming, you can break it down to navigate each scene and insert twists and turns to make it captivating.

Canny Book Writers are the most professional company to help you in writing all kinds of books, articles, and other manuscripts. Not only that, but it can also help you in designing covers and publishing books as well.