How to Outline Your Fantasy Novel

Many new writers often feel lost on where to begin when it comes to outlining, believing the outlining process to be just writing out the "What" of the story.

"What happens?"

"What are the characters doing?"

"What do the enemies want?"

But the greatest question, extending beyond the pen and the page is not, "What", but "Why?"

Here are some outlining tips and guidelines to help you organize your throughts, figure out your "why", and maximize the impact of your story without wasting time on meaningless scenes:

Create not one, but TWO outlines

The first outline is not a bulletpoint list of the action or endless paragraphs that end up just being the story itself. The first outline should be ONLY the following:

• Premise

• Themes/Motifs

• Purpose

• Conflict

• Climax

• One Sentence Synopsis

Premise

The premise is the core idea or concept of the story. This should be at the top of your outline so you can always reference this when you start to feel too deep in the weeds of writing. This should serve as the anchor to your story, the grounding part of the story's soul.

Themes and Motifs

Right below the Premise and before you dive into the Chapters, there should be a section for your Themes and Motifs. Often times people misunderstand the term "theme". People hear the word "theme" and they think, "Oh, well this story has themes of love and found family." That's not a theme. That's a motif. A motif is a repeated image, idea, word, symbol, or situation that recurs throughout a story to reinforce the theme or emotional tone.

For example, a motif for Harry Potter could be Harry's scar, mirrors, owls, lightning, etc. But the theme for Harry Potter is that love is more powerful than hate. Ironic, I know, but that's now what you're here for.

A list of themes and motifs at the top of your outline serves the same purpose as the premise. It anchors your story so youou remember what story beats to hit and how frequently.

But here's the fun part:

Color code it.

I mean it, take that list and assign a color to each them and motif. Then when you create your chapter outlines, you highlight what parts of your chapter are contributing to each theme and motif. When you take a step back and look at the greater picture (for me, that's the entire printed outline scattered around me on the floor like a mad woman), you can clearly see what parts you maybe touch on too much and what beats you've neglected. This visual can help you see your areas in need of improvement.

Purpose

Each Chapter section should have this right under the heading.

What does this chapter serve?

Each chapter should carry some level of momentum, whether it be a slow roll in intimate scenes or a snowball effect of intense action sequences. Each chapter should continually move the story forward. Again, think of "Why". Why does this chapter exist at all? Does it introduce something or someone? Does it develop a character's ideology or motivation? Does is demonstrate who they are in relation to the overarching story?

Conflict

In each Chapter section, conflict needs to exist, meaning there needs to be tension or struggle to drive the chapter. This can be internal or external or both! Conflict creates stakes, which in turn, creates emotional engagement.

Climax

What is the most intense moment in the chapter? Where do we see a turning point or change occur in this scene? With the build up of the conflict should come the payoff and release of the tension built earlier in the scene. The climax should mark progress or change in the character's journey, hook readers and propel them into th enext chapter, and leave an impact in thought in the readers. What decision, realization, or complication are the characters (and the readers) facing now at this point?

One-Sentence Synopsis

In order to FORCE yourself to keep things concise (in this outline), you write a brief, distilled summary of the chapter's most essential narrative beats. NO embellishing. NO purple prose. NO detailed descriptions. Keep it straight and to the point so you anchor your scene to the main story beats. There's plenty of room for detail later in the second outline, but for this one, keep it short and sweet.

Now, about that Second Outline:

This is the outline we're all already thinking of, but we're going to keep it focused. Now that you have the Premise Outline, you have that north star to keep you on track to completion without getting lost on the adventure of your own story and it's millions of possibilities. Take that premise outline and put that on one side of your screen, then get a fresh new document and put that on the other side of the screen. Now, you go over the events of your story.

I highly recommend bullet point format, going over what you want to happen in the story, even including dialogue snippets if you'd like, but now you have a guiding principle document instead of the ideas jumbled and trapped in your mind. Having bullet points will prevent you from rambling on in paragraph format and allow you to continue moving forward. It also keeps your story beats clear, concise, open and easy to see in case you wish to make changes or in case you don't want your great idea lost in the middle of a wall of text.

Outlines That Work

Now with your Premise Outline and your Synopsis Outline, you have two foundational pillars to your journey on completing your fantasy novel. An outline is so much more than a retelling of our brainchild onto paper. It's not even a map to charter through the ocean of the world you've built. It's a lighthouse to ground you to the heart and soul of your story and to guide you back each time you feel you've gone too far from shore.

I hope that this advice helps, and as always, I have included some samples for you to view below! Good luck and happy writing!

Premise Outline Template.pdf

Download PDF • 77KB

Synopsis Outline Template.pdf

Download PDF • 53KB