Visual Outlining: Drawing your novel's chapters and word count on a narrative arc
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If you're a visual thinker, and you haven't yet tried this, let me tell you: there's nothing so clarifying as seeing your novel unfold from left to right. Lists are nice, and bullet-point outlines are fine, but nothing ever points out blank spaces in a plot quite like... drawing it and seeing the literal blank spaces. I write out word count along the bottom like a thermometer: from '0 words' on the left, to whatever your final estimate is for your finished novel- 50,000, 75,000. 400,000 if you're Brandon Sanderson or Patrick Rothfuss. For mine, I put 100,000. Then I split the whole plot arc into 1,000 word increments. As writers with computers, we're all so used to thinking in word counts now- with scrivener giving word count for individual chapters- this is one way to picture just how far along that narrative arc you'll progress by chapter 5, or how many words you envision for a certain scene.
Because if you've thought up ten incredibly epic scenes? With funny dialogue and great character friction, and brilliant explosions, or kissing, or sleuthing, or whatever the point of your genre is? And if you estimate each scene, once written, will take 6,000 or 7,000 words? Then that's... basically your novel. Just figure out the transitions that will tie it all together. (I find this hugely comforting.)
First, a pressing question: I imagine you're wondering what that lovely sheet of paper is in the photo. It's extra long. It's off-white. It's just the right size for making atractive plot arcs as wide as a desk. Or the whole wall of your living room.
Answer: PAPER TOWELS.
How convenient. The ideal tool for drawing out your very own plot arc can be found in any commercial bathroom near you! Long lengths of unspooled paper towel can unfurl like a scroll, if your plot just keeps expanding, and best of all, they're free. I've found I brainstorm much better with non-fancy materials. There's something un-intimidating and inviting about swiping a length of restroom paper towels and scurrying away to your nearest writing hideout, scribbling plans for a future bestselling novel on something that would otherwise have been used to wipe soapy hands (or worse) and thrown away. A diamond in the rough; you're Aladdin. It's like magic.
1: First, draw your curve. This is a narrative arc, the sort you've seen on blackboards in English classes. A long, steep rising action where we build tension, a hump where the climax / final battle scene / romantic confession all reach explosive showdowns, and then a short decline to the finish. Most stories - regardless of length - follow this rhythm. You can complicate it if you wish, by adding additional ups and downs to show the highs and lows, excitements and disasters of your story. The spiky up-down-up-down of try/fail cycles. The deep dip of a character's 'long dark night of the soul' just before he picks himself up off the ground for the climax. Add whatever you like, but the simplest is just this curve. The buildup is long; the climax usually starts around the 4/5 mark; and after the climax, the dropoff to the conclusion is as short as possible. After the hero wins (or doesn't, maybe she dies) end it quick while readers are still high on the buzz of your story.
2: Draw a line under your plot arc; this is where we'll label word count.
3: Next, pick your word count estimate - your best guess for how long your novel will be when you type 'The End'. If you're doing Nanowrimo, try 50,000. I usually put 100,000. To look up word counts for your favorite novels and see how long they are, check out perma-bound.com under 'reading information' after you search for your favorite novel.
Split your word count into increments, at the halfway mark, and quarter mark... 0, 25,000, 50,000, 100,000...
Then keep dividing, smaller and smaller, until your word count bar has increments of 5,000, or 1,000. (Doesn't have to be perfectly even. Don't bother using a ruler.) When you're done you'll have a road map of teeny tiny increments leading all the way to 'the end'. Each of those dashes signifies a few pages in a book, all lining up to make a narrative arc. I love this part. Each of those dashes - each 1,000 word mark - is two or three or four hours of writing, depending on your speed. I mean, I know the hard part is figuring out what to write. I know every chapter gets revised three or four times. But still, to finish a first draft? When you look at it like this, word by word? The actual writing of a book seems so possible. That narrative arc is built of tiny chunks of words, just like bricks on a house, and you can do it. Brick by brick. One word at a time. Whatever story you're dreaming of, you can write it.
4: At the middle mark, draw some sort of squiggle or tormented symbol to mark your character's 'mirror moment'. This is a great concept I first heard about at an SCBWI Montana event, and I've since realized James Scott Bell wrote a whole book around the idea. (James Scott Bell on The Magical Midpoint Moment). At the midpoint of many stories - almost all stories - the main character has an epiphany, or a crisis of identity, or gets backed against a wall, and they resolve to keep going. It's a moment of literal 'reflection'. Your character looks at what they've done so far. They may almost give up, almost lose faith, almost turn back... but after reaching deep inside, they decide: no. They're going to win. They're going to try again, keep going, keep pursuing their lover, keep chasing the bad guy, etc.
Another way to look at it? Up until the middle, your character is reactive. They're reacting to the bad guy or main antagonist / rival. Someone else is striking blows at your protagonist. Outside events force his life to change, and he's surviving as best he can. After the middle? Once your character has taken stock? Made up his or her mind? Become resolved? Recommitted? Then, he or she is active.
For the second half of the story, she's fighting back. Making a plan. Not running from the bad guy but chasing the bad guy. Planning how to stop him. Not hiding from the enemy forces, but actively planning the final battle.
You don't have to know how this works in your story right now, but draw it on your arc - it's just one more tool that might help generate ideas later, if you get stuck.
I draw a jagged thing like a shattering window. Like my character is literally having their soul cracked in half, as they choose to leave behind who they were and become who they will be.
5: Next, around the 1/5th mark, draw some sort of symbol for a doorway: the first 'doorway of no return.' Somewhere around here, events happen that force your character to leave their old life behind and plunge forward into the unknown. (James Scott Bell on 'Doorway of No Return'). Maybe it's a decision; maybe it's an attacker, or a job offer, or a war. Whatever inciting event changes the status quo, some new element enters your character's life, and once they've passed this doorway of no return... there is no going back.
This is the trick of any plot, really. Your characters will probably go through terrible, terrifying, nerve-wracking, difficult, or humiliating things. If not, it's boring. So the trick is... why do they go? Convince us why they care, and we care. The more your character's pulse pounds and they want something, badly, the more our pulse pounds and we want it, badly. The crafting of a good plot means you devise a reason why your character cannot simply turn around go back to their safe and normal life.
Either, a) they don't want to. (Because something is wrong, or missing, and they're determined to fix or find it.)
Or, b) they can't go back because someone's chasing them. And they'd die.
The more interesting the reason, the more interesting your plot.
Around the 3/4 mark, draw another doorway: the second 'doorway of no return.' Around this point, an event or revelation or discovery probably forces your character forward into the climax. The climax is the epic battle or showdown, the most highly-charged point of your novel: the second doorway of no return is the event or decision that makes them decide to go for it. They're going to risk it all. (Reputation, their life, their honor - whatever they'll be stripped of if they lose.)
The exact placement of these 'doors' really doesn't matter. Ignore the ratios completely if you like. But as a tool, this helps generate ideas. If you're stuck, wondering what should be happening at some point in your story... the 'doorways of no return' might spur breakthroughs. Draw them on.
(I draw a literal doorway. Like, if your character was walking uphill on the narrative arc, they'd have to go through it.)
6: Finally, and most important: Whatever the core conflict or quest of your novel is? Write it down. This is the thread of awesome you'll cling to when all else seems foggy.
Jim Butcher's 2-sentence 'Story Skeleton' (taken from his own writing instructor) is the best and most brilliant technique I've found for clarifying your story idea:
How to write a Story Skeleton, by Jim Butcher
If you haven't already, go read his post, because he's funny and clever. Then write out your book's conflict in 2 sentences. Fill in the blanks: 'When ____ happens, your protagonist decides to ____. But will they succeed when ____ stands in their way?' (Note: this is really hard. I always want to skip this step. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. If you do ONLY ONE THING for any story, do this. Give your character a goal they're passionate about. And throw in someone who's trying to stop them. Anytime your story's sagging, it's probably because your character either is not actively trying to attain a thing they badly want... or, nobody is trying to stop him/her. All the trappings and set dressing and fine prose can fall in around this, but that concept of a story skeleton makes a gripping story so much easier.)
Now, write that 2-sentence story skeleton straight along your narrative arc. It's literally the spine of your plot. What does your character want? Every chapter, every scene, your character should make progress toward that goal. Maybe it's a battle; maybe it's a clue, a whispered meeting in an alley. Progress can be physical or mental. A character can work toward a goal by moving toward it or thinking about how to solve it. Either way can be equally satisfying and gripping to read.
Bravo! You're done! Add chapter divisions if you like. I do, because it makes the chunks of the book look more manageable, and finishing any monumental task is all about breaking it into manageable chunks. Eating a twenty-pound cookie. Building a skyscraper. Writing a novel. I guess that chapters will be about 6,000 words (in reality some are 3,000 and some are 9,000, but at this stage nobody cares) and I draw in 6,000-word divisions, in pencil. I draw in the chapter numbers, too - 1, 2, 3, 4 - and if I have any idea of a chapter name, I label it in pencil, just to see ideas start filling up.
Now, go crazy. Stick on sticky notes for ideas you've had; color code scenes; erase and cross out and add and delete. Write in random bits of dialogue. Draw pictures of places characters will wind up. That cave. That island. That spaceship. Tape on photos from Pinterest that inspire you; put them in the places they'd appear in the story. Experiment. Learn what works for you. Think of all your favorite parts of stories you loved, and analyze why you loved them. Draw arrows and write notes to yourself, and at this stage, no matter how crazy the idea seems, don't say no. Outlining is half organizing and half brainstorming. The brilliant idea-generating half of your brain is like a hurricane; the strict outlining half of your brain is like the Red Cross arriving to sort through the wreckage for salvageable building materials and survivors and clean up the mess.
After this stage, then you'll start building.
But in the meantime? Give yourself permission to be messy. (It's a lot easier to change scenes before you write them than after. Unleash the hurricane.)
Happy writing,
-mlj
