StoryCraft Novel Challenge Day 16: It’s time to start your outline with Narrative Structure!
If you’ve never outlined a novel before, don’t worry, we’re going to start small and then build on. Part of the StoryCraft Process is strategically planning the writing process into smaller, bite-sized chunks to make the entire project more manageable and more fun.
A Narrative Structure outline is the first step toward building the actual frame of the house that is our story. It’s taking the core elements of narrative and deciding how we’re going to place them in the book. Remember, this process is never finite, so even if it’s not perfect, try to come to a decision for now, and if it changes later, it’s super easy to adjust an outline.
Our Narrative Structure Outline looks like this:
Hook | How do we pull the reader into the story in the most interesting way possible?
Introduction | Who are our characters and how do they begin the story?
Inciting Incident | What is the moment of change and how does it set the story in motion?
Rising Action | What are the obstacles that get in the way and how do they drive conflict?
Midpoint | What is the big, emotional moment in the middle?
Climax | How does all the conflict peak?
Resolution | How do our characters change, and how does the story resolve?
This is also a great exercise to do before we start writing because it contains the structure of a synopsis. That’s right, you’ll be able to use this later on when it comes time to submit your book to agents, editors, or competitions. The more often you write a complete overview of your story, the easier it gets.
If you’re struggling to make decisions, try to avoid perfectionism and embrace being a little messy. The first version will never be perfect, but we can’t get to the final draft without some trial and error. The Hook you write now might not be the one you decide on eventually, but having something to work with will give rise to more inspiration and more opportunities as we continue the process.
Looking for more StoryCraft? Our foundational online course, StoryCraft: Writing Your Novel, is now in Beta, and you can join for $150 with SCBETA.
Use hashtag #StoryCraftNovelChallenge to connect with other writers and share your progress!
Happy Writing,
Jess and Theo