How to outline a novel // writing tips for authors

[@bymegangrant]

Thank you for watchin How to outline a novel // writing tips for authors!

[@alananimus9145]

I like the idea of visualizing a story as a graph but I don't like the steep incline to fall off. Stories should have ups and downs and the visualization should reflect that. The novel should have peaks and valleys. Each of the four acts should have peaks and valleys. Every chapter should have peaks and valleys. Step 1 Act I Novel Setup Act II Novel Confrontation Act III Novel Climax Act IV Novel Resolution. *Step 2* Each Act of the novel should have it's own four Act's. *Step 3* Each chapter should have three of the four acts with the fourth act being in a different chapter. For example Chapter 1's fourth act takes place in chapter 4. It doesn't have to be done exactly this way. Another way to do this is to get flash cards of at least 4 different colors, lets say Act I is blue, Act II is pink, Act II is green, Act IV is yellow. Then Act I gets its own Scene; blue, pink, green, yellow. If you combine this with a "murder board" you can easily move around the cards.

[@bymegangrant]

That's a very interesting approach! Thank you for sharing it. :) @@alananimus9145

[@michaelhenry9473]

Ok. This is the first writing video where I learned something and watched the complete video…. Encouraging you to keep making videos, very good job. I’m Subscribing.

[@bymegangrant]

That means SO much to me! THANK YOU! I love talking about this stuff. xoxo

[@KatAdVictoriam]

As a Pantser, who is now committed to Plotting/Outlining before writing anything - Thank you! This video is really helpful. I need visual aids, rather than just a bullet-point list or spreadsheet. Great video!

[@bymegangrant]

Woohoo!!! So happy to hear this, and thank you for the kind words. This approach has helped me SO much.

[@daisyfranco523]

Megan, this is the best outlining how-to I've seen on YT. Thanks for sharing!

[@bymegangrant]

That means so much to me. Thank you!

[@cassiediaval2340]

This is literally the first planning guide I have seen which made me like my story for quite a long time lol. I have written over 5 stories in a span of 7 months, and at the end of each, I was bored cuz I just planned a lil too far, I didn't hate my stories, I just was bored was it.

[@bymegangrant]

I hear you!!!! It's hard writing a book. It's a huge commitment and by the end, you can feel so tired. I'm glad you found this helpful!

[@itsmaovinnehere]

thank you for these tips! im a beginner writer and non english person, but i still want to make my own story book :)

[@bymegangrant]

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!

[@vastvideos7212]

I'm both a plotter and panser. I have a 5 act outline,written in 3rd person omnipotent with over 30 developed characters,I got a good overall thought out story, although I feel overwhelmed being my first book and attempting to follow the formula of rules for writing.i got tons of great ideas I don't kno how to articulate 😂🎉

[@bymegangrant]

Woohoo! That's a LOT! But you know, just take one little step at a time. You'll get there!

[@andi-roo-pookins]

I love splitting the middle act in half but i can't stand calling it Act 2.1 and 2.2 so i just go ahead and call it a 4-Act story. It's all semantics! And what one writer calls the inciting incident, another calls the catalyst... except for the writers who don't use them interchangably, of course. Then there's the Call to Action, versus The Invitation, versus The Disturbance, versus Pinch Point 1. I may or may not have spent more time studying plot and structure than actually just making the dang outline 🫣 All of which is to say, Thanks for putting this together and thereby reminding me to stop procrastinating!

[@bymegangrant]

LOL you are welcome! And I totally know what you mean. At first, I was using "pinch point" and "inciting incident" interchangeably. Then I got confused. Then I understood. Then I switched. :p Do what works for you!

[@knottyneedle]

Love Sarra Cannon. And really enjoyed this video.

[@bymegangrant]

Thank you!! Yeah she's great.

[@andi-roo-pookins]

🙌 Sarra Cannon is GOALS.

[@WadeQuick]

Excellent video on story outlining, though I rarely outline I appreciate the advice. Fun channel, liked and subscribed

[@rrmerlan]

Thank you, this is a refreshing idea.

[@simonpert2485]

Really great video and very helpful, thanks so much.

[@livechangechallenge]

Hi Megan, I’m planning my very first book and am so glad I came across your channel 😊.

[@bymegangrant]

Oh my gosh!!! This is so exciting - congrats. :-) You'll have to keep me posted on your journey. I hope you have a ton of fun and enjoy the creative expression.

[@livechangechallenge]

@@bymegangrant Hi Megan, I definitely Will and will for sure be a regular in your comments. Love the real practical value you bring ☺️. Many thanks, Adele

[@tonyaroche7733]

Wow. Something actually clicked for me while watching this. I really appreciate how you broke down your process. Thank you. I’ll be rewatching. 🙂

[@patrickhurd7477]

I found this super helpful and took so many notes. I have an a novel idea in my head for years but never been able to get going. But this process seems like its a good way to finally get it going. Thank you!

[@bymegangrant]

You're very welcome! Thank you for commenting. WRITE THE BOOK! I bet it's going to be amazing.

[@patrickhurd7477]

@@bymegangrant you make it sound so easy! 😅 Do you have any videos on different writing POV’s & how to use them appropriately? I’m trying to figure out which POV to use.

[@bymegangrant]

@@patrickhurd7477 Oh I know it's not easy, but I believe in you!! I don't have a video on that BUT I've been learning more about it myself. So how about I make one?!

[@patrickhurd7477]

@@bymegangrant Yes please! I'd also love to see a video on how to fit writing into a busy life if possible? The few videos I have seen for writing rituals are all full time writers. But someone like me, I work fulltime, parent of 2, I'm a partner, workout multiple times a week. Just hard to fit it into life. Ya know? Is that something you might be able to give tips on? Sorry that was a lot. Lol.

[@bymegangrant]

@@patrickhurd7477 I LOVE LOVE that idea!!! YES! I can definitely do that (and also, I love talking about that kind of stuff). Thank you for the idea!

[@thefreckledcyn8826]

This video really spoke to me about my own writing process and I appreciate you so much for sharing your info. New subbie for you and Sarra

[@bymegangrant]

I appreciate you!! Thank you so much. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@CG-ng3xw]

This was very helpful. I had an idea for my 1st, which is now ideas for 3, and I'm learning everything as a total greenhorn. Glad to see I've had some aspects established that will be very helpful, but have been searching for the visualization of ths story structure(s). I think this will be part of it and I'll implement in Obsidian. Thanks!

[@MissMimimimi]

This was really informative - thank you! Please may I request a video on how to write strong main characters and antagonists?

[@bymegangrant]

Thank you so much! Oddly enough, I'm talking about developing characters in one of the next videos. :-)

[@TiffTalksNY]

This is so helpful thank you!

[@rosesofebony]

The way you outline your novels is fascinating. Splitting the second act into two parts makes sense. I hadn't heard of pinch points before, and I don't think I would like adding details to a Spreadsheet or notecards. I would love to hear about how you come up with an MC sometime.

[@bymegangrant]

THANK YOU!!! Yeah splitting it into two parts helped me so, so much. It got me unstuck. I hear you - the spreadsheet just overwhelmed me. Different strokes for different folks! I can definitely do another video on MCs! Character development is so fun to me. It's almost like making new friends (or enemies - hehe!).

[@rosesofebony]

@bymegangrant I would love that! I always heard if you make enemies with a writer in real life they'll k*ll you off in a book. 😂 I would love to see what you think goes into a good villain. I find so many in novels to be flaaaaat. The best villains in my opinion are the ones that elicit both sympathy and hate.

[@bymegangrant]

@@rosesofebony YES! That's the trick. Making it so that readers still find a way to empathize with them, no matter how awful they are.

[@stratocruising]

Hemingway, sitting in a bar in Key West, drinking beer with some friends. A guy comes up, asks Sully, the machinist, to talk to him at his table. Sully goes over, listens, then shoo's him away, goes back to his beer. Hemingway asks what the hell that was about. Sully tells him, "He wants to break into the bank and needs me and my cutting torch to get into the vault. Everyone knows I've got the only cutting torch on the island. hell, the cops borrow mine when they need one. They'd come in, see the cut bars and come after me." Hemingway wrote "To have and Have Not" based on that idea. You get ideas from watching life all around you and thinking about it.

[@bymegangrant]

omg that is so cool@@stratocruising

[@Xavier_kelvin]

Greatly explained!!!!

[@bymegangrant]

Thank you! :)

[@Calixj23]

Hello Ms. Grant, thank you for your advice. You seem to have the formula well worked out for books, however, have you ever thought of expanding this into "Writing Scripts for Video Games"? I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on how to lay out a storyline for a video game that would enhance gameplay. If you have any thoughts or would like to take on the challenge to do a video on this, that would be great. - Thanks you again.

[@bymegangrant]

Hey! Thank you for your comment. :) That's a very interesting idea, but I don't have much experience with video games -- even playing them! But I think a lot of the same principles would likely apply: conflict, characters you can empathize with, etc.

[@durandaldevil]

Thank you for the video. I’m definitely not a panther. So any outlining help is greatly appreciated. ❤️🎩

[@s0urp0wer5]

Pantsing is fun for me tbh but I definitely think it can take a longer time. Finished the second draft of my first novelette and tbh the plot just sort of happened as I was writing it, I just thought of juicy events to move the story forward and it kept rolling.

[@markusher1621]

Some great points here - thank you! As someone (attempting) to write my first novel, your point about over-planning and “boxing yourself in” really resonated. I’m definitely a planner/big picture person by nature and one of my issues is the dreaded “paralysis by analysis”. I’ve absorbed a lot of frameworks for novels and screenwriting and feel I have a story idea that moves me, but I can never seem to get down to point of just writing. Any suggestions? Should I just start writing anything (even if it’s bad, perhaps?) just to get going?

[@bymegangrant]

Hey! Thank you for the comment, and HOORAY! You are writing your first novel! That is so exciting. This is just my two cents - everyone is different - but if paralysis by analysis is getting the best of you, maybe try committing to sitting down and writing just one chapter, or even one scene. Just to get SOMETHING concrete down on paper. Know what I'm saying? It can be anything, even something that happens later in the story. I feel like if you can kind of overcome that hurdle in even a small way, it'll be really empowering and the writing will flow better. :-)

[@markusher1621]

@@bymegangrantthank you so much for your quick reply. I’ll try your suggestion and pick a couple of the scenes to write. I’ll let you know how it goes!

[@bymegangrant]

@@markusher1621 You're welcome, and yes, please do keep me posted! You're going to be great. :-)

[@aikenpublishing]

With text to audio now available, it's easy to create an audio version of each chapter as you go. Hearing it out loud really helps. Just cut and paste the text into an AI-generated audio file.

[@RavenLotz]

I’m a pantser but I reread what I wrote last time and add character notes on their documents and add what happened to the outline so I’m not having to do it for the whole story in the editing stage and I don’t have eye colour changing five different times. I want to have freedom to write but not have to wonder if I have a character a hair colour of eye colour already and I can discover everything as I write

[@bymegangrant]

It sounds like you found a great balance! Not too restrictive but you have a little structure.

[@MrRosebeing]

That advanced/pants rhyme left me somewhat entranced, I have to say. Now I have to go away and write something less fun. I have a ton of work to do. I'll stop there.

[@MrNoucfeanor]

Great video! But I as an author that will never get published, I've given up. Thumbs up for your content all the same!

[@robdead4550]

I've known a few "sugar babies" in Germany and Holland. I'd be interested in reading your take on their life.

[@MrChaoLupus]

I don't understand how I can be an obsessive world builder and plotter, like I will get into the minutest of details in terms of technology, clothing, even language, but when it comes to actually writing, I am 1000% a pantser

[@alexburke1720]

Thanks, I look for a walk-through like this. but a lot of people think it's in nessisary then follow trends giving advice you find in 12 other videos. Can't search for a video like this either because you just get arbitrary rules to write videos you have to untangle yourself. Tbh I just have a hard time connecting these individual things i study a lesson at a time or explore my experiences on. on top of the writing blocks you described. Things like character and plot and arcs and when I should start worldbuilding, fleshing, defining and getting out of my own way. To continue: Mind bottles Like what Is my process? but also why can't I imagine more context surrounding my scene/consept. I could be further along as a writer but you know how awful things get. An analogy of, making a crap drawing gulping as you finish. Then on review you see nothing and everything wrong because you put in the work and you managed your best. no more is coming to light now. You find your skill is nothing near the masterpieces you have trouble fathoming. To end the analogy, you visit KZbin for the experienced eye on those masterworks. An answer: try again, make it with experience' in mind this time. "Ploish your prior effort when you find more worth to it. Or flutter along to the next word exchange."

[@ng67432]

Never written a novel and dishes out "writing advice". Priceless.

[@moniquea4209]

I believe she's on her 3rd novel now, one is published, one is querying, and one is a work in progress... unless I completely misunderstood your coment, in which case, I apologize.

[@stratocruising]

You're a lefty. Sinister ideas come easily to you, don't they.

[@bymegangrant]

MWAHAHAHA! YES! Kidding.

[@hpbecraft]

sugar baby? that's called an escort.

[@bymegangrant]

No.

[@hpbecraft]

@@bymegangrant 🤣