Action!
Today, we are taking a more cinematic approach to novel outlining as this method has roots in screenwriting. It focuses on writing the novel out in the progression of scenes that make up the plot. Why 60 scenes you may ask?
That’s because 60 is generally the number of scenes in a screenplay. And your novel can obviously have more or less, but this number fits nicely when working with a 3-act structure (which many screenplays also follow).
- Acts I – 15 scenes
- Act II – 30 scenes
- Act III – 15 scenes
If you’re a fan of Save the Cat, this method complements the story beats quite nicely. In fact, you can use the 15-story beats of Save the Cat to map out your 60 scenes. And since the 60-scene method often uses index cards or post-its, it is often referred to as the index card method. But use any material you’d like to write down your scenes.
What is a scene?
I suppose it makes sense that before I ask you to come up with about 60 of these things, I should define exactly what is a scene.
A scene is defined as a unit of continuous action that moves the story forward. Action can be anything as dramatic as explosions and battles to simple conversations or moments when a character stands alone, staring at their reflection in a lake and asking the universe “why me?”
Here’s how it works
- Get out 60 index cards (or other paper or digital equivalent)
- Write out one scene per card. (Feel free to include subplots, story questions, POV, or other notes; and you can get organized with different pen colors for characters/plotlines)
- Arrange them in the order of your story (and shuffle around as needed to build tension)
Story (theme) vs. plot
When experimenting with your novel’s plot, it will be important to understand the difference between the plot and the story.
The story is the message, the moral, and the theme. This is sometimes called the B-storyline. It is the journey of the character as they transcend their arc and transform down to their core.
Plot is the sequence of events that happen. This is sometimes called the A-storyline or the “promise of the premise.” This is obviously the memorable and unique situations your characters find themselves in.
The plot, therefore, drives the story. This means the scenes you’re thinking up should be relevant to that deeper emotional arc your character is undergoing.
Getting stuck? Try this!
Rapid Ideation Brainstorming
Plotting is a beautiful time when no idea is a bad idea. It’s helpful to have rapid ideation sessions where you brain-dump all of your ideas, without passing judgment. If you’re having trouble coming up with 60 concrete scenes, try to brainstorm 200! Obviously, not all ideas will be brilliant and you shouldn’t try cramming each of them in your novel. But our brains do this magical thing during rapid ideation. When our judgments drop our creativity stretches and we can shake loose a few golden nugget ideas.
Once you have your surplus list of ideas, you can then switch from a brainstorming hat to a critical one. Then you can narrow down and refine your list of ideas. This could also be a moment where ideas can be combined to accomplish multiple objectives in a single scene.
The Questions Method
Yup, this is a method within a method. You’re welcome.
Story questions are the questions that readers will ask themselves while they read, which inevitably piques their interest and gets them to continue reading at full speed ahead. Your story will have a leading story question (i.e., will he find love? Will she save the world? Will they solve the murder?) But each scene should address questions, both big and small.
In other words, your story is one long chain of questions and answers.
Look at the obligatory scenes in your genre
Each genre has its own typical tropes and scenes that readers grow to expect. Murder mysteries will have a discovery of a body followed by a sequence of clues. Romances will have meet cutes, breakups, and grand gestures. If you’re writing in a specific genre, use those expected beats to come up with scene ideas.
I have my 60 scenes! What do I do with them?
Your next step is to start refining, exploring, and outlining those scenes. As you wrote on your note cards or bullets, you may have started writing details about subplots, character relationships, POV, etc. We’re going to expand upon the preliminary notecard, which is probably best done on a separate document.
Every scene in your story requires something to happen
This should be a no-brainer, right? Yet, it’s easy for writers to fall into the trap of merely putting their characters into scenes that simply walk them through the motions of an activity without a direct impact on the character or the progression of the story. Therefore, you should be able to identify the following for every scene:
1. A change that is created by conflict
2. How the character reacts and responds to pressure (internal/external)
Which scenes do I keep?
Ditch the scenes where you can’t identify the two points from the last section. Also, think about which scenes work to transform your character over the course of the novel. Your character should change (irreversible so) from the start to the end of the story. The scenes that accelerate and intensify this transformation are going to be the most compelling.
The plot events you choose should work to drive the character to your final objective for them and reinforces your story’s themes. So, don’t send your character on some random side-quest; make sure that each event forces the character to grow or face their fears.
What’s the best order for the scenes?
The great part about writing scenes on notecards is the ability to shuffle around the order. It might be easiest to start by ordering scenes chronologically. If you have different scenes that could be swapped in the timeline, try putting the less intense scene first. That way the scenes can naturally build momentum. There should be a sense of acceleration as the story continues.
As you work on your story’s structure and continue to refine the story outline, you may see areas to break chronology. This is when writers will use flashbacks or flash-forwards to reveal information in the most intriguing way possible.
Still unsure of the right order? Identify the questions that your reader might have while reading. Then, organize your scenes in an order that prolongs answering those questions directly while still raising stakes and tension.
Okay, so now what?
With these well-defined scenes, your next logical step is to continue to develop this into a super detailed outline or (if you’re like me and enjoy the plantsing life) I think you’ve reached a point where you can start writing!
You don’t have to write chronologically if you’re not feeling it. I’d recommend reviewing your list of scenes and writing the one that is most exciting to you at the moment.
For this article, I’d like to help attribute a decent amount of my research and super awesome chart to the writing craft book Plot Perfect by Paula Munier.
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Newbie to Novelist 