Last year, I published my personal way to write a novel outline. Even though I am not a plotter, I prefer organizing my novel work in my own way. There are many ways to write a novel outline in detail. One of them is index card outlining. However, in this post, I am going to talk about another way to outline a novel.
Recently I learned this outlining method in the Udemy course and I thought why not share it with you. The way of outlining is simple. However, if you are not a plotter, but want to make a simple outline for yourself, go with your own personal way. This is my own simple way of outlining a novel.
To create a detailed outline, you need to use the rule of PCPT. You must be wondering what is PCPT, well it’s just detailing about Plot, Characters, Places and Time in the novel.
Let’s go into details of outlining.
How to write a novel outline
The very first step is to outline the plot. For that, you need to write down a sequence of the story.
Plot outlining
Converting your story into a plot is joining the story points. Filling the gaps between storylines can be done using multiple plotting ways.
As you have the idea of a story with you, now it is all about breaking it into chapters. First, write your story in simple 10 or 15 sentences. Break them into chapters.
Deciding the chapter length is a different thing. But you can add plot lines in between the storylines. Club the sentences from the plot into chapters and you will have an outline of a plot.
For example:
Story: King and Queen had 2 kids, King Died, Queen Died, King’s elder son became king.
To turn into a plot, add more details
Plot: King and Queen were kind people. They had two kids- a son and a daughter. King was the protector of the realm. He went on a war to save his kingdom. He died during the war but won. Queen loved him a lot. She could not digest the news of King’s death and fell sick. Queen died due to her sickness. King’s elder son was worthy of the throne. The entire realm decided to make the king’s son their next king.
You can plot the story in your own creative way. Above was just an idea of how you can go into detail. Club the plot sentences and break them into chapters. Now you have a detailed plot outline.
Characters
In the novel outline, listing down all the characters is a good practice. Even a tertiary character has importance in the novel. First, make a list of all the characters. Now, join the characters with a relation between them.
For example King Alexander- Protagonist, Prince John (King’s son), Princess Bella (King’s daughter). Likewise, list all the characters and add a little bit of description in front of them.
Places
In the novel outline, some plotters even design the map of the imaginary world. That is important to avoid plotholes. Just like the list of characters, make a list of places in the novel.
You can add a description stating why this place has importance in your novel. If you are designing your own fictional world, add maps, sketches and all the details possible in the outline. Or, you can always make a different document to hold all detailing of the world.
For example, Queen’s childhood life was in the Kingdom Of ‘Alielia’. Then she moves to King’s landing ‘Valedus’ after marriage Add these two places into the list and add a description of them. You must have knowledge of the places you are writing about. The language, accent, home arrangements, clothing, and culture. Study well about the facts of the places that you want to add in your novel.
Time/era
The time or era in which the story is happening is as important as the plot itself. If you are writing a story from an ancient time period, mention that in the outline. Just add some basic details in the outline about the time period.
You will need in-depth research on the time period which won’t fit in the outline. Maintain a different document file to add additional details on era such as the language, people, mode of transport, food, clothing and the culture.
To write a novel outline using PCPT rule, open word file (or any other editor). First add four primary headlines – Plot, Characters, Places, Time. Start adding the outline under each point until you are satisfied with the outline.
If you want to have my sample outline template to understand the above method in detail, request the template below.
Happy Writing!
