This week, we’re going to take your time line and make it into a chapter outline. Now, this isn’t an outline with Roman numerals and letters. This is a paragraph about each chapter and what will be happening in the chapter. I really love chapter outlines. When I start writing chapter outlines I feel like I’m finally getting to the meat of the book. And for those of you who are struggling to do an outline because you’d rather pants it, this is the final step in the outlining process. Once we get the chapter outline finished, I’ll explain how I combine pantsing and outlining. Of course, what works for me might not work for you. As a beginning author you will have to experiment, try, fail and try again to find what works for you. I have been doing this for a number of years and I still try and fail, and then modify and try again. The key is to keep trying.

Now you will be using the colored index cards you purchased a few weeks ago. I know that a lot of people recommend that you do this part using a marker and the colored index cards, but I like to use a computer on this part. I’m a bit impatient and when I get to this point in the outlining process, I just want to write my hook sentence and get started.

Take your timeline and type up each point. Once that’s done, change the formatting so that each point will fit on one of your 3 x 5 or 4 x 6 cards. Pick one color for your plot, then cut out each point and glue it on the card. I number my card in pencil, because you may discover once you start your novel that you want to rearrange the plot. Once the cards are done, you’ll want to set up a story board.

You can use a bulletin board or the wall. I know that some authors use a notebook. I don’t like this method because I can’t see my plot at a glance. I wanted a big bulletin board so I ordered a 5 ft x 8 ft bulletin board for WalMart. That was a bad idea. The first board came and it was bent. So they sent it back and ordered a replacement. When it came it was in worse shape than the first board. So I went down to Staples, although any office supply story will do and ordered 2 three (3) foot by five (5) foot boards. I had my husband hang them together the long way so I now have a 5 ft x 6 ft board and I love it. Then get some inexpensive ribbon or string and divide the board into either 3rds or 4ths. The first third is the first act of your novel. The second third is the second act of your novel. And the third third, is, you’ve got it, the third and final act.

Some authors prefer dividing their storyboard into fourths. The first fourth is the first act. The second fourth is half of the second act. In this section, you build to your first climax. This is where your hero looks like he’s going to win. The third fourth is downhill all the way to the fourth fourth which is where you start building to the finale.

I have several colors of index cards on my story board. I use pink for the plot. Then (and this is where the pantsing part of the outline comes in.) if I come up with something that isn’t on the outline, I plot it in orange.

In Sheba’s Gambit, I wanted my hero, Debbie, to be more sympathetic (see Blake Snyder’s Killing the Cat). So I decided to have her rescue a blind woman who had lost her seeing-eye dog. Then later on in the plot, I needed someone to help Debbie find her kidnapped nephew. I decided to use the blind woman, Helen, to help Debbie. I thought it would be an interesting plot twist, if the Helen was the sister to the hit man who had kidnapped Debbie’s nephew. This made for some interesting scenes in the middle of the book. I made Helen’s cards orange. The bad guy’s cards are green.

I hope you have fun with this part of outlining.

Next week, we’ll actually start writing the elusive novel.