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Outlining questions and techniques

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Re: Outlining questions and techniques

Postby THE Rigil Kent » Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:29 am

I know that I don't use a proper outlining technique, but it works for me. Since I write almost exclusively in 3rd Person Limited, I tend to outline like this (using the first couple of scenes from Teaser and Act I of Endeavour: Icarus as example):

TEASER
Archer POV
  • 18 Dec 2156
  • SFC changes Endeavour's mission profile to a mobile R&D platform.
  • They have finally realized that TnT are too valuable to risk on front lines & Romulans have been actively targeting R&D facilities (indicating that they have penetrated Earth's security.)
  • Realizing he has no choice in this matter, Trip asks if he can pick his crew...
ACT ONE
Harad-Sar POV
  • 2 Apr 2157.
  • Orions have been playing both sides of the war for their own benefit.
  • The Orion meets with Romulans and is offered a substantial amount of money if he can capture two people for the Romulans: CDR T'Pol of Vulcan and CAPT Charles Tucker III.
ADM Black POV.
  • 13 Jun 2157.
  • ADM Hannibal Black is on inspection as Endeavour testing new engine breakthrough (Project Icarus?).
  • Reveal through Black that Earth is LOSING the war.
  • Every single engagement, since Elysium has resulted in SF losing ships and retreating; Warbirds are kicking ass with BoPs serving as light escort.
  • Challenger battle group ambushed by Romulans on 15 Feb. UES Challenger scuttled to prevent capture & CPT Stiles KIA.
  • Atlantis battle group unable to prevent Terra Nova colony from being nuked on 9 Mar. During the engagement, one Daedalus-class and 3 NV-class ships are destroyed - no significant Romulan casualties.
  • There has also been some troubling ship movements in the Xindi region of space, prompting many within SFC to fear a second “front”.
  • Black is very frustrated that the Vulcans have not offered anything beyond “technical assistance”, although he is quite aware that T'Pau is continuing to have problems dealing with the “Old Guard” put in place by V'Las & his cronies.
  • The Coalition of Planets has already started to collapse as the “member states” constantly argue over what sort of support to provide the humans...
  • Brief reflection regarding the breakthroughs that have come from Endeavour: they include greatly extended sensor range and higher weapon yield. Black is hoping that the upgrades to Endeavour's engines will allow Starfleet to turn the tide of the war ... if it works.
  • END breaks warp 6 barrier but heat build-up damages nacelles, requiring addit'l repairs - limited to warp 1 while nacelles damaged.
And so on. Important bullet points help me keep the plot thread intact and my eye on the goal, but can be as detailed as I want or as empty. In the Endeavour: Acheron overview, I literally had a scene that was like "Space battle. Pretty explosions. Blow shit up." and that was it.

With my Endeavour stuff, I also tend to write in a pseudo-television format with a Teaser and five Acts. Normally, I have four POV scenes per Act, but that can fluctuate - I think I've had as few as three and as many as six or seven.

Yeah, it probably looks insanely complicated or way too anal retentive, but it works for me and that's all that's important, right? :)
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Re: Outlining questions and techniques

Postby lfvoy » Sat Oct 15, 2011 10:51 am

Somehow I missed this, but Rigil, that's very close to the process I follow. I actually run spreadsheets, one for each scene, and have columns that I fill out:

Scene # (since I frequently reorder scenes, I can do it in the sheet by changing scene numbers and using the sort command)
POV
Time Frame
Events -- for things that are supposed to happen
Notes -- for things I need to keep in mind or am trying to accomplish; for example, a note I have references the fact that this is the scene from which the fic's title is derived, and I need to make sure I make that clear in the language I use

As the fic demands, I sometimes add additional columns; for example in one fic I am plotting I have a "Flashback? y/n" column to keep me from having too many of those things.

I'd also submit that you actually don't want the outlines to become too detailed. I am working on rewriting a Voyager fic right now that suffered greatly because I got too detailed in the outline. Toward the end, the fic itself begins to sound just like the outline. In the rewrite, I'm intentionally not re-outlining that part because, well, I know what's supposed to happen....

[ETA] I should probably mention that one of my non-ENT outlines is for a series vs. a fic. In that case, I actually have two outlines...one for the series, one for each fic. That's because I'm trying to maintain continuity, and by writing the series outline first I am able to have a reference to make sure that I don't get off-track on the fic outlines.

Probably way too much information and navel-gazing but I hope it helps. Ultimately it's whatever works best with you.
Bridge looks a lot different from here. Think anyone would mind if I fired a torpedo? -Travis Mayweather, "Cold Front"
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