8 Steps for Outlining a Novel

I’m in the midst of outlining a new novel and thought I would share  the process I’m using which I’ve cobbled together from various sources. The examples shown are rough and rather cryptic at this stage.

Story concept: A 10 thousand foot view of the story. In my case: the story of how love changes with time; and, a story of friendship between two very different women; evolving into a mature friendship, each challenging and changing the other.

Time Period: The time period for your novel. Mine will be set from 1870 to 1880 or so; a time of significant unrest and change in France; end of Napoleon III regime called the Second Empire; followed by an intermediate period of political change as republicans gain strength; ultimately a secular, democratic state emerges; monarchists and aristocracy declining; Paris is rebuilt, dominates Europe if not the world as a centre of culture and ideas; women’s suffrage is a topic of concern; impressionist painting takes hold; new philosophers; literary giants like Emile Zola; political alliances reforming across Europe; industrialization has taken hold; financial industry changing with some banks failing, others emerging; France still a major cultural and political power; colonial expansion.

Themes: list the main themes you expect to consider then augment the list with your point of view.

• Love
  • The search for love; the desire to be loved for one’s self
  • Love that grows within marriage
  • Different definitions of love
• Friendship
  • Friendships born out of hardship
  • The evolution of friendships, the strength it brings to each party
  • A safe harbour
• Marriage
  • The negative impact of societal views of marriage
  • Marriage is not for everyone
  • Male and female expectations differ
  • Nineteenth century views
• Rural versus city life
  • Conservative views dominate rural life
  • Cities are the crucible for change
• Family
  • You can’t choose your family
  • Families can inflict great pain on individuals
• Greed
  • Its dominance as a motivating force in business and politics è parallels to today
• Freedom
  • Within marriage
  • Within society
  • Different definitions of freedom

Conflicts: briefly describe the conflicts you expect will emerge from the story. Camille and Mariele will be the main characters. Both women are featured in Lies Told in Silence, which opens in 1914 Paris – a later time period. If I had been smarter, I would have written the story about Camille and Mariele first 🙂

• Between Mariele and her mother; lacks her mother’s approval which makes her think she also lacks her mother’s love; Mariele strives to be loved for herself and to be secure in her relationship with Bertrand; at the same time she resists falling in love with Bertrand because she fears she won’t be loved in return; she has learned to cope with her mother by being as compliant and as invisible as possible
• Between Mariele and Bertrand; Bertrand has lived in an austere, private household and has no example of a warm, loving relationship to emulate; he wants a wife who will be obedient and an asset as his career develops; he has had relations with a few prostitutes but otherwise knows little of modern women. Camille’s wilfulness both intrigues and repels him. He wants to be more successful than his father, seeks power and influence.
• Between Camille and her parents; Camille should have been a man; She is wilful and determined to get her way. The older she gets, the more she seeks independence and to be amongst those with modern attitudes. Her parents want her to be an obedient daughter who marries to enhance their reputation. They want someone strong who will be able to handle Camille.
• Between Camille and society’s expectations of women
• Between Bertrand and his father whose underhanded dealings come to light – not sure about this angle
• Between Mariele and the uncle who molests her; perhaps this occurs when they are in Lyon
• Between Mariele’s brother, Robert, and his father
• Between Mariele’s mother and father
• Between Mariele and her MIL and FIL
• Prussian War and Siege of Paris, Paris Commune and national government dominated by nobility and wealthy; Monarchists and republicans
• Women’s ideas about suffrage conflict with traditional society; women excluded from the public sphere – even today we see this
• Conservatives and progressives – parallels to today
• Social change and unrest at that time in France – parallels to today
• Workers and well-to-do – parallels to today

Plotting Concepts: my take on what goes into developing a plot

Note that this is not a step in the process, more a set of reminders to me as I go about plotting.

• Make sure you know what the over-arching questions are in your story: will Mariele find the kind of love and family life she desires? Will Camille’s desire for independence leave room for happiness? Will she ever find love?
• Plotting is what characters do to deal with the situations they are in; it’s a sequence of events that revolve around an attempt to solve a problem or attain a goal
• You need conflict to have plot
• Think of the events in the novel as ‘dramatic dominoes’ and make scenes causally related; A causes B causes C
• Continually open up the story by creating scenes in which I lay down but do not answer dramatic questions; make partial disclosures, answer one question but create another one
• Compelling questions need to start in the opening paragraphs of chapter 1
• Each scene needs a specific purpose; characters should want something in every scene; readers need to see their motives; each scene needs action, needs something to happen; there is no narrative thrust without action; your heroes can’t be passive
• Play the information out with great care – don’t give things away too soon
• Link scenes, and the overall story, with what a character wants
• Raise the stakes; give the character bigger and bigger stakes as the story goes along; consider adding a ticking time bomb (something will happen at a certain time unless …)
• Need to have high points of drama which will deeply involve the reader
• Need to have a climax and a climax within the climax
• Need resolution – tie off the loose ends and illustrate the nature of change that has occurred in the lives of my characters
• Narrative thrust is the taut building of a story, beat by beat, scene by scene, chapter by chapter; using the complexities of plot and character to propel the story forward in a dramatic arc that peaks at the climax

Structure: early thoughts on structure

• Generally chronological
• Use major historical events to add tension, and to raise the stakes for Mariele, Camille and others
• Alternate chapters between Mariele and Camille so we see their views of one another, how different they are and how they affect each other
• Balance of the novel may tilt towards Mariele
• Third person narrative

General story outline: major events that occur in the novel; some will turn into scenes, chapters or might even be dealt with in multiple chapters

I’ve written about four pages, single spaced. Some of my notes will become scenes, some are background details on the characters and their families.

Chapter outlines: each chapter will next be outlined using the following template

• Setting: details, timing (day, hour, year), mood invoked, historical aspect, details that reveal personality, actions that preceded it
• Fashion: who’s wearing what
• Narrator: who and some sense of the emotional state they are in
• Others present: who and some sense of the emotional state they are in
• Desires: who wants what
• Basic outline: a series of bullet points describing what occurs in the chapter (or scene)
• Dramatic dominoes: scenes that are a consequence of this one; I borrowed this concept from Elizabeth George’s book Write Away
• Open questions: what the reader is left wondering or worrying about; also from Elizabeth George

Another step is Character outlines. More on that later.

I used a similar process for Time & Regret, my third as yet unpublished novel, and it made the writing much more productive.

Would love to hear what others do.

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M.K. Tod writes historical fiction and blogs about all aspects of the genre at A Writer of History. Her latest novel, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE is set in WWI France and is available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. Her debut novel, UNRAVELLED: Two wars. Two affairs. One marriage. is also available from these retailers.

Mary can be contacted on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.