13 Questions To Help You Write a Novel Outline
“Hey, Fen. The questions in chapter four of your book seem tailored for nonfiction books. Can they be adapted for fiction?”
Sincerely,
Writing a Novel
Dear Writing a Novel,
Oh, my goodness, what a wonderful question. Why, yes, they can!
Chapter four of Claim Your Voice guides you through creating a working outline for your book. The questions are designed to help you brainstorm its contents and create a framework you can work with.
If you’re writing a nonfiction book, questions like, “What do you want your readers to know?” “What questions do people always ask?” and “What are the main points you want to make?” are helpful prompts. For fiction, not so much.
Instead of the nine questions in chapter four, try these, tailored to fiction-writers.
The 13 questions
What emotional experience do you want your reader to have?
What emotional experience do your readers want to have?
Is that really what they want, or only what they think they want? Is there a difference?
What significant changes between the beginning and the end might deliver the emotional experience you want to provide?
What events might happen in the middle that could lead to these changes?
What events really have to happen in the story?
What events feel full of emotional charge for these characters?
Where might the narrative get stuck?
Where do you feel stickiness or reluctance to keep the narrative going?
What could help your characters get unstuck from these places?
What events would feel exciting to you and help you get unstuck in these places?
What images, graphics, photos, or visualizations can help you see the way through the story?
Might they help the reader as well?
Questions like these help your brain generate a wealth of critical ideas and concepts. Then you can use the organizational strategies discussed later in the same chapter to shape the narrative structure of your novel.
Does that help? Let me know if you decide to try these out & how it goes.
Warmly,
Fen
