Best Novel Outlining Methods
Some writers want to know the whole plot before writing the first sentence, while others discover the story as they go. Both are valid, but most novelists sit somewhere in between. This list compares five common ways to outline a novel and the kind of writer each one suits.
How we evaluated them
We looked at three criteria: (1) how easy it is to learn and get started, (2) how flexible it is when your ideas change mid-draft, (3) how much it helps keep a long novel consistent. There's no single right method; many writers mix several.
1. The snowflake method
Popularized by Randy Ingermanson, it starts from a one-sentence summary that you expand into a paragraph, then into a page, doing the same for your characters. It suits writers who love planning and want to see the big picture first. In return, it takes a lot of work up front and can be hard to keep current as the story changes.
2. Three-act structure
You split the story into setup, confrontation and resolution and decide the major turning points in advance. It's easy to learn and helps you control pacing. On its own, though, it doesn't plan scenes or your characters' inner lives, so it's usually paired with another method.
3. Scene cards
You write each scene on a card and arrange the cards on a table or in an app. Moving scenes around is very easy, which is why writers who often reshape their plot love it. As the cards pile up, tracking which character knows what in which scene becomes a job of its own.
4. Discovery writing
You start writing without an outline and find the story as you go. Creative freedom is at its highest. But there's a lot of rewriting after the first draft, and details like a character's age, family ties or a place's specifics easily contradict each other.
5. World first, plot second
You first build the characters, places, organizations and the rules of the world, then draw the plot out of that material. It's powerful for fantasy, science fiction and stories with large casts. yazar.io suits this approach: characters, places and other records are linked to each other, key events stay in order in the Timeline and your ideas gather in Notes. You keep writing your novel in Word or Google Docs; yazar.io isn't a manuscript editor but your world's reference.
Which method should I start with?
If it's your first novel, the three-act structure plus a simple character list is a good start. As you write, you'll see where you need more planning and can expand your method from there.
Should discovery writers keep notes too?
Yes, they benefit the most. Even without an outline, gathering the character and place details that emerge as you write in one place prevents contradictions in later chapters.
Can I outline my novel in yazar.io?
You can keep key events in order in the Timeline and gather scene ideas in Notes. But yazar.io isn't a chapter or manuscript editor; you write your novel wherever you're used to.
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