The necessity of an outline and how to write it

Any author who has communicated with the editor-in-charge to open a new book must have had this experience, and the editor-in-charge will ask you to submit an outline. And many writers will point their fingers at this point and answer: I am incompetent in outline.

In fact, there is no can't write, only don't want to write. The reason for not writing is mostly because I don't know how important an outline is to the writing of a work.

Many new authors, including some old authors, are enthusiastic and inspirational when they open their articles, which is enough to sprinkle tens of millions of words. But after writing a few thousand words, I found that I had no passion, and I couldn't write tens of thousands. This is mostly due to inspiration and no outline. To put it bluntly, in fact, you don't have a good idea of what kind of story this is, but suddenly you have a flash of inspiration, you feel that this character is very loving, this ability is very special, this element is very fresh, but in fact, inspiration is just an idea, creativity is only a point, not enough to support the whole text; only by stretching the idea into a line, expanding it into a surface, and enriching it with a developmental plot, can it form the basis of the story.

There is also a situation where some foreshadowing and certain characters are lost while writing, and even the author himself does not know what was written in front of him. So remember to write an outline, write the main line and side lines into the outline, and look back to find out.

There are also many authors, who are biased when they write, originally a sweet text, written as a family fight, originally a court text, ran to the rivers and lakes, originally farmed, and became a little white. This kind of author is still a very thoughtful author many times, but because he doesn't have an outline, he can't control what to write, so he writes crookedly, and if he is crooked, he disappoints the reader. Writing needs to be done from the beginning, and if you have new ideas, please use them again in the next book.

To sum up, what is an outline? The outline is not for others but for the writer himself, which is an overall idea before you start writing, the basis for your writing, and the yardstick in your writing process. It will tell you at a critical time: children's shoes, you are crooked, hurry up and return to the right path.

So how do you write an outline?

In general, a complete outline includes three elements: background structure, character setting, and main storyline.

The background structure refers to the relevant settings of the main story scenes, including the political and social systems of the dynasty, the customs, the family rules, interest groups, etc., and if it is a text with a sense of upgrading, it also includes the upgrading system and upgrading methods.

Character setting refers to the character's identity, status, personality, hobbies, appearance characteristics, character relationships, etc. Of course, when writing a new article, it is estimated that the author does not know how many characters will appear in the end, but the setting of the protagonist and important supporting roles should be there.

The main story line is the main story development route, which is summarized according to the order of the plot, what happened first, what happened next, and what the ending will be (if you already have the ending in mind).

There are also some precautions for writing an outline, the story background and character settings are easy to understand, and the point is that when writing the main story line, many people always write plausible. Give a counterexample to explain (the heroine is always replaced by Xiaobai, please do not sit in the opposite number):

1. A chance marriage broke Xiaobai's tranquility, her fate began to change, she could not choose to be born, she firmly believed that she could choose her own life, the Three Kingdoms, the wind and clouds changed, what really determines the fate of her life is a person's heart, when a person can be like a mirror, when a person can stay awake in the chaotic world, she has the power to decide her own destiny.

Comment: In terms of the way I did reading comprehension in middle school, this is called the central idea, and the main story line refers to the main content. The content is a real plot, taking this paragraph as an example, what changes did the marriage make Xiaobai's fate change, how did she control her own destiny, who she met, and what happened. This is the plot, this is the content, this is the main line.

2. Xiaobai was born with special abilities, it will rain in the sky when she cries, her mother is a goblin who has cultivated for thousands of years, and by chance, she followed Xiaobai's father to live in seclusion in XX Village, and later left together to go to XX Valley in the Nine Heavens in order to cure the disease. Xiao Baisi was sincere, in order to find XX Valley, he went through hardships, slashed demons and demons, climbed the ladder step by step, and turned into an immortal.

Comments: The whole paragraph is more than 100 words, about the first eight crosses are the background and character design, only the last sentence is the main line, but it is also vague, and it is almost the same as not writing. The background is the background, the character is the character, and the main line is the main line, which should be clearly distinguished.

Some authors will ask, there is no limit to how many words can be written in the big outline. Most authors don't have a complete idea at the beginning, and the general outline can be concisely summarized. Then while writing, increase your character settings, enrich your story line, and you can also write a detailed outline of different volumes. As long as you need it, a chapter and a sub-outline are fine.

The above is a rough introduction to the outline, as for whether the outline you wrote is correct, please contact the corresponding editor-in-charge. PS: The full outline is conducive to the editor-in-charge to give you targeted and useful guidance.

The solution to Calvin

There are three categories of Carvin:

The first category is plot cards.

There are two types of plot cards, one is that there is no main line, and I don't know how the plot should develop below, and I don't know where the protagonist is going, and I don't know where to go;

For works that don't have a main line, I classify them as the product of "impulsive" creation (what is impulsive creation, see Bai Kaishui's post "Common Mistakes in Author's Creation [1"), and it is normal for this kind of work to have a stuck plot.

If you want to solve the Kavin problem, the first point is to think clearly about the main line and write a simple outline. Figure out the purpose of the protagonist, so that the whole text will have an overall development direction, and also figure out the protagonist's opponents and possible difficulties, so as to grasp the contradictions and unfold the plot.

If the author would rather be stuck like this, struggling to update it little by little every day, rather than sorting out the outline plot and bringing out the contradictions and conflicts, then I can only say that this is a terminal illness - a problem of attitude. For the situation that the whole text has a main line but will be stuck in the details, if the protagonist is in the middle of the event, it is recommended that the author return to the content of the first two chapters, put himself in the position of the protagonist, think about the situation at the time, how will the protagonist react; On the basis of the setting of the plot.

In fact, the details of this kind of card depend largely on the amount of information the author usually obtains, usually talk more about TV animation social phenomena, etc., to increase their own experience, and when you use it, you can take it out and use it at will. Don't think that the bridges are old-fashioned, and you will definitely not write them. There is nothing new under the sun, whether the bridge is old-fashioned or innovative and ingenious, how to arrange and describe it.

Besides, I usually carry a small notebook with me, and if some plot suddenly flashes in my head, don't care if it can be used or not, write it down first, and then say, there will always be a time when I can use it, and I am afraid that I will forget what I thought when I want to use it. Finally, there are more codes, and the author may have less communication with people, when Kavin, you might as well leave the computer, find a few friends to chat, talk, their words may make you stunned, the greater the difference in the field, the more this effect, to know how to keep their lives and novels fresh.

The second category, speech cards:

Some writers are sometimes able to get stuck for half an hour or even an hour in order to think of a suitable word to describe the appearance of the main character, and the first thing I want to say is that a novel does not succeed or fail because of a single word. There are many ways to express the same meaning, and there is no need for the authors to be so entangled in the beauty of the words, as long as they can express the meaning and keep it smooth.

Furthermore, learn to look up information. Tang poems, Song poems, historical biographies, idioms, dictionaries, etc., are now readily available on the Internet, and there is no need to run a library or bookstore. Find the right keyword, ask Brother Xia Du Niang Gu or Sou Sister-in-law, there will be a lot of relevant information. But here is one point to emphasize, absolutely, absolutely never directly transfer the information to the content of the novel! Let everyone learn to look up the information, so that everyone can enrich their knowledge and find their feelings faster. Digest the information into your own stuff, and then write it into a novel in your own words.

Finally, I want to say that you should not be gorgeous for the sake of gorgeous language, which will make it difficult for readers to read, and the content of the novel will become stiff. When the author is creating, if he can feel the state of mind of the characters in the novel, the words that will naturally spring up are the most suitable words, not the more beautiful the words, the better.

The third category, code word cards:

After a day of work, I'm so tired when I go home, I'm sick, I'm so miserable, I'm in a bad mood when I'm out of love, I'm in a good mood, and there are a lot of good excuses, but there is only one result: I don't want to code words, so I don't want to break it...... The plot is ready-made, the time is ready-made, only the mood is stuck, and I don't want to code words.

At this time, please think about the original intention of your codeword, think about your readers, think about sticking to it, and you may be a diva in the next stop...... If you fish for three days and dry your nets for two days, you are afraid that you will walk for a lifetime, and you will not be able to reach the day when you become a god...... When you are emotionally lazy, please remember that God rewards diligence and diligence can make up for the poor livelihood of the people!

Another kind of codeword card is that there is external interference. The most common interference is from QQ, the avatar in the lower right corner of the computer keeps jumping, the Didi in the headphones keeps ringing, and the group talks about topics of interest again...... In this state, intermittent codewords, slow writing speed is certain, the quality of the text may also be problematic, and it is possible to write the previous sentence and forget the next sentence, and it will take more time to revise it later. If you like spelling, you can find a friend in the writer's circle to spell, and if you don't like spelling, you can turn off QQ and write quietly. Habits are formed slowly, if you develop the habit of writing while chatting, then your mind will never settle down, if you develop the habit of writing for two hours a day, it will be easy to get into the state when the time comes.

There is also a kind of interference from real life, if there are children around to take care of, or there are guests to entertain, in front of this situation, it is extremely difficult to write, it is better to use two or three simple words, first record the plot of the thought, and wait to deal with the things in reality, and then wholeheartedly fast code words.