You can try
Create A Plot Outline in 8 Easy Steps.
Just a word of caution: there's no "right" way to outline, really. As long as you can see your logical progression, it's all good.
What really helped me, if you want to know the truth, was back when I was 16 I read
The Screenwriter's Workbook by Syd Field. While writing a screenplay that's time-compressed for a 30-minute sitcom, 60-minute drama, or 2 hour movie is a little different than writing literature, it does teach you valuable things that you can
apply to literature. You get really good at identifying elements that don't further the plot and therefore should go. What may help you the most are the sections about structure--it's basically how to outline a screenplay, and the formula works quite well for fiction literature as well. If you think of it in terms of a 2 hour movie movie, it'll go something like this:
1. Expositon: Introduce the characters and the situation.
2. Plot Point 1: The event that spins the action into another direction. In "Broken Bow," that would be when the Suliban kidnap Klang. It's no longer a mission of take this Klingon dude home and come back. Now they have to go find him, and they get caught into this much bigger thing with the Suliban.
3. Plot Point 2: Another event that spins the action toward the resolution. Think back to "Broken Bow" and see if you can spot it.
4. Climax/resolution: Much like its sexual counterpart, this is the part of your story where the planets line up and everything comes together. THIS IS NOT YOUR ENDING. It just refers to how your main character's problem--the core of the plot--is getting solved.
5. Ending--tie up loose ends (or not, if it's supposed to be that kind of story), show the characters (BRIEFLY) headed toward their new normal.
Between Plot Point 1 and Plot Point 2, you need dramatic conflict--Plot Point 1 establishes your character's dramatic need ("Broken Bow"--mission of exploration is in jeopardy because Archer lost Klang to the Suliban--he needs to get Klang back not only for Klang's sake, but so the mission isn't jeopardized and the Vulcans aren't proved right.) Dramatic conflict is all the obstacles the character encounters as he tries to satisfy his dramatic need. Again, refer to "Broken Bow"--what kind of obstacles did Archer encounter?
Your story can have more than two plot points, but you need at least those two major ones.
If you know the elements of all five steps, you have the foundation upon which you can build any story, whether it's for the big screen or print.
There are no hard and fast rules about when these elements have to happen, but in a two hour movie, Plot Point 1 usually happens about 20 minutes or so into the story. (Think about it; how much time do you really want to spend showing what your character's dull, boring, routine life is like? Your viewer/reader wants to get into it!) Then you get about an hour of conflict between Plot Point 1 and Plot Point 2. Also, something different usually happens about midway between Plot Point 1 and Plot Point 2, to break things up a bit. In an action movie, this is where they'd usually stick the sex scene. The Climax comes pretty soon after Plot Point 2, usually within about 10 minutes. Then your ending. Don't spend too much time on your happily ever after. Just tell us that they get one.
Again, a little different than writing literature, but you can see where this would be helpful in keeping your literature writing tight and on track, while answering all those pesky plot questions that often stump us.
Field also uses a technique involving writing summaries of scenes on index cards which can be rearranged and thrown away as needed.
His book is still in print, the latest edition is for sale and I highly recommend it to any writer, not just future screenwriters.
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