If you’re a pantser, the thought of outlining seems daunting and restrictive. How many times have you heard; you must outline your novel? The implication is that pantsing is not a valid way to write. It’s true you end up spending more time editing if you pants your novel. When first attempting my novel, I didn’t know my characters very well and ended up throwing out the highly detailed outline that took days to come up with. So I went to the internet looking for the answer to my problem. After weeks of researching writing advice, I created a simple formula to structure my novel and scenes without excessive points and outlines.
For scenes, include the following:
1) Character’s goal(s)–what do they want to accomplish in this specific scene?
2) The obstacle that gets in the way of that goal. Aka—the conflict.
3) How they react to the conflict and how they pivot. Sometimes people refer to this as the crisis point where the protagonist makes a decision or chooses a new course of action because of the obstacle that thew off their original plan.
4) Climax—the protagonist faces off with the antagonist or antagonistic force and acts on their decision.
5) Transition—now that they have changed their goal, this will set up their new goal for the next scene.
At the start of each scene, I type the following at the top of the page before doing any writing.
1) Goal
2) Conflict
3) Decision
4) Climax
5) Resolution
Beside each, I type what I want to accomplish with this scene, then write the scene. This structure keeps me from meandering too much but doesn’t feel like my hands are tied if the character’s actions lead in a direction I hadn’t foreseen.
This structure applies to the overall novel as well. With all of the writing advise out there about the 12 points or 7 points for 42,000 points that you have to tick off, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and give up. Don’t get me wrong, structure is important. However, it is also important to get the story written. Save the plot points check list for draft two.
Why We Tell Stories 