Though there will be differences between fiction and nonfiction outlines, we’ll dive into everything you need to know about generating this crucial road map for your book.īefore going any further, we thought we’d add a disclaimer: there are, in fact, successful writers who don’t outline. Because we can’t recommend outlining highly enough, we’ve put together the following guide to creating your very own book outline.Ĭongratulations! You’ve taken an important step by committing to creating an outline for your idea. While new writers can find the outline process to be tedious, it will likely be the step in which your idea really comes together and comes to life. In short, there are endless benefits to hammering out your book’s story structure in the form of an outline before commencing your first draft. An outline can help consolidate your book’s elevator pitch in a way that appeals to literary agents and publishers, which is extremely important if you want your book to be consumed by a wider audience, or if you hope to make a living as an author. Additionally, organizing your thoughts into an outline will help you do more than just write your book - it will help you sell your book.
Ultimately, your outline will serve as your book’s table of contents, chapter summaries, character breakdowns and more. Whether you’re person A or B, a detailed outline will help you get started with a process that will keep you on a solid, productive writing pace from the first to the final draft.Īn outline is the written document that includes the main points of story and information that your book will include, in order. On the other side of the spectrum, it’s common to stay in the daunting, overwhelming state of writer’s block, never getting into the flow of writing at all. When approaching the nonfiction or novel writing process, it can be easy for aspiring authors to jump straight into that first stream-of-consciousness draft without an outline. Setting out to write a book is no easy feat.
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So, we’re here to help you crack the code on how to write a book outline.Ĭhances are, you’ve been mulling over your novel or nonfiction book idea for a while now, and you’ve decided that it’s time to start writing your book outline. In our experience, we can assure you that not writing a book outline is likely dooming yourself to a long and arduous road ahead. The truth is, if you don’t organize your thoughts before you begin to write your first draft, you will almost certainly have to edit them heavily (or go back and rework the book entirely) after.Īt The WritersBlok, we’ve written our fair share of books, both fiction and nonfiction, and we’ve helped many first-time authors navigate the writing process. You might have written a lot of great scenes, moments, and quotes - but without an outline, it’s likely just not going to come together in the way you had hoped. Not outlining your book is essentially resigning to having to fix a lot of your story “in post,” or in the editing stages. The editor on set cringes, knowing her job just got a thousand times harder.
“We’ll fix it in post!” yells the director, as he motions for the scene to continue without this crucial equine cast member, without whom the ending makes no sense. The very last line of the script depicts the leading lady riding away on a horse, but there’s only one problem: the assistant director forgot to book the horse. The cast and crew are about to wrap the final scene of the movie.
Not sure where or how to start? Here’s your exhaustive guide to the book outlining process