How do you plot/outline a novel? DO you start with characters or plot? Do you write paragraphs about it, or dot points? Do you do it on the computer, or on paper?
^_^ This is the way I do it, may it be helpful to somebody.
Starting off
A good story isn’t about the conflict, it’s about the characters. We follow them, listen to their minds, cheer them on, love them, hate them, and laugh with them and at them. They are the life and strength of every story.
I think there are two ways to find a story: either you start with the conflict, or you start with the characters. Personally, I start with the characters because I know that conflicts are about and between characters. But, usually when you want to write a story, you have a plot/conflict in mind. So in reality, you start with a concept.
An example of a concept: “Diary of a Villain”. It’s the title of my current novel, but it’s actually the concept phrase that started the whole thing. I told myself I wanted to write a story where the protagonist was one of the bad guys, and from there it evolved. You’ll notice, my concept phrase has a character in it. But even ‘a magical gem that can turn plants into people’ can be a concept phrase.
Find a concept. It can be more than one phrase, but it’s easiest to start with something short—think of it as the ‘conceptual title’ for your plot. It should resume the big idea behind what you are trying to accomplish.
Next, find your characters. You might start with just one, or you might start with the whole cast. Do a character sketch of this person, detailing as much as you can about them so that when you finally go to build your plot, you know who they are and how they tick.
Then, the plot. Everything that happens in your novel, should (as far as I am concerned) be in some way a result of a choice a character makes. If only because you’re not going to spend ten pages explaining how the volcano erupts—you’re going to spend ten pages explaining how your hero escapes the lava flow while managing to save the town at the same time.
Now you get to pick your conflict, asking yourself: “Why is my character going to be involved in this?”
In short: Concept characters and plot—though your concept can be a character. I know I sometimes think up someone super cool and want to find a plot just so I can show them off. XD
cat4prowl recently did a nice post on building charatcers (and conflict from them): topic25204.html
Plotting
Different people have different ways of approaching plots. It's all very subjective and depends on each person's thinking process.
When it comes to writing down your plot, I like to start with a skeleton. First off I write a little bit about the initial situation, putting down all the important factors to keep in mind. From there, I write down the events in point form, adding any details that are relevant that I might forget later (motivations, health condition, unexpected twists). These events aren’t always in perfect order, I often write the events I know I want to happen and figure out what comes in between later. The ending, I usually have in mind right away—which can be frustrating if you can’t figure out the middle.
Someone mentioned this site on YWS, and I looked at the little plot outlining course. It’s short, but I think it explains really well how to go from a character to a plot, and then how to fill in that plot when you might only know a few of the things you want to happen. It’s something I do a lot, so I recommend it if you have trouble plotting: http://hollylisle.com/fm/Workshops/plot-outline1.html
As for typing vs. scribing…I tend to write the basic plots down by hand during class (=P) and then type them up when I want to start actually writing the story. For DoaV I have a whole stack of papers with the book’s basic plot, and then as I hit a chapter I type of the plot for that chapter and then write the story following the plot outline. Things change along the way—but it works well for me.
^_^ Keek!
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