Book Outlining: An Important Tactic for a Great Book

But regardless of where you may fall on the subject of the actual writing of your book, most likely you have some sort of plan like book outlining the contents. Authors often depend on the structure and support of book outlining to help them transform ideas into a finished story.

What Is Book Outlining?

An outline can be defined as a deliberate structure created to lay out the framework for a story. However, the way an outline looks and functions can vary widely from author to author. Some outlines are very in-depth, utilizing bullet points for topics, subtopics, and loads of details that the author plans to include in their writing. These detailed outlines can take a long time to create, and many authors use them to plan out most big decisions for their story before writing the story, allowing the creative process to unfold during the planning stage of book outlining.

At the other end of the spectrum is the informal or loosely planned book outline. Some authors like to jot down a few big plot points as a book outlining step, preferring to allow the story to unfold as they write it. Both types and everything in between can be deemed book outlining since every iteration results in a structure of some sort that helps writers create the manuscript for their book’s story.

Why Authors Utilize Book Outlining

New writers just starting on their first book as well as experienced authors with a handful of titles to their names all credit book outlining for helping them move forward in their writing. There are three main benefits to book outlining that most authors experience.

• Book Outlining Creates Structure: Writing the details of a book can bog down authors in creative slumps or even lead them down unproductive rabbit trails of storylines that don’t move the plot line forward. With book outlining, authors can write the sections they are inspired to write since the outline helps a writer to see ahead of time what scenes or sections are needed. The outline’s structure helps authors stick to their initial story plans without stifling the creative process.
• Book Outlining Makes Revising Easier: Reviewing your writing for gaps in the plot, character inconsistencies, and other big revisions is simpler when the outline provides the framework for your story before you even begin to write. Book outlining allows authors to lay out the whole story, in as much detail as wanted, to help them preview the story as a whole and provide a structural outline of where each plot point, characterization, and detail may be found within the manuscript.

Ways to Quickly Outline Your Book Concept

Book outlining can look as detailed or as basic as you want, but a few easy steps can help you take your book concept and turn it into a workable outline that will help you write your book more easily and efficiently.

1. Write down everything you are thinking about your book. General plot arcs, characters, setting, themes, and other details that encapsulate your book concept. This brain dump will show you what you already know and what you have to work with.

2. Write out a basic plot structure starting with the introduction to the story’s conclusion, even if your book concept includes flashbacks or other out-of-sequence plot tools.

3. Clarify the main plot points including the beginning, middle, and end that will move your story forward. Record the ideas that will drive your story forward, including the turning points, the climax, and how it will reach its resolution.

4. Review the whole of your content and then place the story elements into an organized structure. You may want to utilize a story template to track all components while some authors like to create their structure based on their story’s unique layout.

Is Book Outlining Necessary?

The creative process looks different for every author, and while book outlining is a very common tool many writers choose to implement, outlining doesn’t work for every author. While outlining is just an organizational writing strategy, you might choose to skip this step if it hampers your creativity, flexibility, and story-writing style.

Stifling Creativity

One of the key reasons some authors don’t include outlining in their pre-writing strategy is that they find it inhibits their ability to be creative. By laying out the whole book from introduction to conclusion, some authors feel that they can’t make changes in their writing along the way. Even though a book outline is just a tool for an author to use to guide their writing, having this pre-determined structure can make some writers feel like they have already completed the creative process before they even write a word of their story.

Decreasing Flexibility

Having an outline can be an excellent way to help writers keep moving forward while developing their manuscript, but some authors feel like outlining minimizes their flexibility while writing. Since the whole plot structure is usually included in an outline, writers may feel like they have lost the chance to make material changes to their story concept during the writing process.

Looking at an outline as something set in stone can feel stifling but remember that the book outline can always be adjusted or shifted around if it makes sense as your story evolves. You can make any changes to your story that you want or need to as a self-publishing author who doesn’t answer to a publishing company.

Discovering the Story

Another way that authors struggle with using a book outline is they may want their story to unfold and characters to reveal themselves in the moment of writing rather than during their brainstorming and outlining steps of writing. Many authors say they love to discover the story as they write, allowing their plot lines to develop and characters to present themselves as they write. This style of writing may work well for some authors, but choosing to use an outline helps writers keep track of complicated plots, multiple characters, and a myriad of critical details.

Use the Best Tools to Write Your Book

Every author has a unique style of transforming their concept into a completed, polished manuscript. Some take months or years to turn an idea into a book, ready to send to the printer while others crank out stories rapidly, completing a manuscript in weeks or even days. But most authors use tools to help them make the most of their creativity like book format templates to put their writing into a workable format for sending to the printer or a book outline that can help authors gel their ideas into a well-planned story.

Every author also has to decide how they want to bring their book to life once the last words have been written, and many writers partner with an experienced printing company like Publishing Xpress that can transform their manuscript into a gorgeous book, ready to put into the hands of readers. Whatever your method of writing, organizing, and finalizing your book, starting with a good idea and ending with a trusted printer is the best way to make sure your next book idea looks great and will be loved by your fans.