OUTLINE YOUR NOVEL IN 30

MINUTES
c. 2014 by Alicia Rasley

This is a quick exercise designed to sketch out the major events of your
novel. It only gives you a map-- you have to make the drive yourself!
Get a kitchen timer or set your alarm. You're going to free-write for three
minutes on several questions. (If you want to cheat and write for five minutes
on each, go ahead. Just be warned the exercise might take you an hour then.)
In free-writing, you put your fingers to keyboard or pen to paper and write,
without regard to grammar, spelling, sense, or organization, for a specified
period of time. The trick is-- you can't stop till the bell rings. If you can't
think of anything to say, you just write your last word over and over. Pretty
quick you'll get bored and think of something else to write. But remember,

turn off the editor. This is exploration, not real writing.

Type or write the question, then set the clock, read the question allowed, and
go. I’ll give an example for each, just to give you an idea of how basic we
can get and still get deeper!

1. At the start of your book, what distinguishes your protagonist from

other people? What central strength does he/she have? How does this
strength get him/her into trouble?
Strength: Sue's really good at problem solving. Trouble: She's always
being brought in at the last minute to clean up other people's
messes. CHARACTER STRENGTH

2. When the novel opens, what is s/he on the brink of doing? Why does
he/she say she's going to do this? What does this action represent for the
protagonist?
She's just moved into a new town and has volunteered to do the stage
managing for the community theater. She says that theater work is fun,
and she'll get to make new friends. This represents her attempt to
become part of the new community. INCITING EVENT
3. What external situation will require the protagonist's participation throughout the course of the
book? How does this connect with #2? Does it help or interfere? Can you build in a deadline for
extra tension? STORY PROBLEM
The community theater's director absconds with all their money. If they don't somehow pull off
an economical but successful Hamlet performance in a week, the community theater will go
bankrupt.

4. What is the protagonist's goal for the time the book covers? How does
this connect with the external situation? Or does the external situation
divert the protagonist from his/her goal? Why does the protagonist SAY
he/she wants the goal? Is there a deeper motivation as yet unknown to
him/her? GOAL AND MOTIVATION.
She wants to participate in a successful theater presentation. She says
it's because it will be good for the community. A deeper motivation is
that she needs to be part of a cohesive group or she'll be lonely and lost.
All the problems in the external situation will be obstacles to
participating in a successful presentation.

5. What problem (external conflict) does the external situation present?

How can the protagonist eventually resolve that conflict? EXTERNAL
CONFLICT.
She is dragooned into taking over direction of the community theater's
performance of Hamlet one week before the first show, and she's never
directed a play before. She's a good problem-solver, and she will use
these skills to tackle all the theater's problems.

6. List at least three obstacles in the way of her resolving this conflict.
Make one an internal obstacle/conflict. EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL
OBSTACLES
· There's not enough money for costumes.
 · None of the other actors think Sue can replace the gifted Stockinsky,
the former director.
· The actor playing Hamlet is a drunk.
· Five days before the performance, her mother announces she hates
her nursing home and wants to move in with Sue.
· The theater's roof is leaking and rain is predicted for performance
night.
· Internal—Sue needs to be part of a group and be loved makes it hard
for her to take charge and say no.

7. How will the protagonist grow because of confronting these

obstacles? CHARACTER JOURNEY
When she has to fire the drunken Hamlet and replace him with a young
inexperienced understudy, she learns to trust her judgment, assert her
authority, and risk alienating her fellows. That is, she becomes a leader.

8. What do you want to happen at the end of the book? CLIMAX

SCENE
I want the production to be successful despite some last-minute
problems, and I want her to accept her position as leader.

9. What will have to happen to the protagonist against his/her will to

make your ending come about? INTERNAL RESOLUTION
Sue will have to get the courage to fire the popular Hamlet actor and
still use her people skills to rally the shocked cast. She'll also have to
inspire the understudy to a great performance.

Okay, half hour's up. As you can see, this set of questions will outline a plot
driven by the protagonist's motivation and interaction with the world. Please
note, not all books rely so heavily on the protagonist's personality. This
works best with popular genre novels or novels with a "quest" structure. But
the answers to these questions can help you determine where you're going
and how you're going to get there.
Most important, this will help you connect the plot to the character, and so
individualize the story, and deepen the reader identification.
Outlining the Story
Now how do you make a story out of these free-written answers? First, read
over your responses. They came “off the top of your head” but are really
from your subconscious, the part of the brain that is best at imagining and
connecting.
Think of the answer to Question 1 as your introduction to the CHARACTER
STRENGTH. That also can reveal the CHARACTER PROBLEM, which is
often the obverse of the strength: “What makes us great brings us down.”
What does this strength/trouble dynamic tell you about her? What does that
make you imagine about her past? What sort of life would make a person
good at this?

1. At the start of your book, what distinguishes your

protagonist from other people? What central strength does
he/she have? How does this strength get him/her into trouble?
CHARACTER STRENGTH

Question 2 can give you the start of the plot action, the INCITING EVENT.

2. When the novel opens, what is s/he on the brink of doing? Why does
he/she say she's going to do this? What does this action represent for the
protagonist?
INCITING EVENT

Use Answer 2 to craft an opening scene that involves the reader right away.
A character on the brink of some action provides a lot of forward momentum.
Consider, for example, Sue's desire to join the community theater group as
stage manager. What scene can you imagine that gets her into contact with
the theater, and gives a hint of why this is a step she wants to take?
Notice that using Question 2 to start the plot means you don’t start much
before that! That is, I wouldn’t start Sue’s story two months earlier when her
boss informs her of the transfer to this new town, or a month earlier when
she’s renting a U-Haul truck to move her possessions. Those might be good
places to start the book…. But the plot starts here, when she takes the action
that brings her into the story’s external conflict (the theater’s need for a
successful Hamlet performance). For a fast-paced book, this is a good place
to start Chapter 1.
Question 3 tells what the STORY PROBLEM is, what’s wrong in the
situation that will have to be fixed. This will start the process of getting the
character motivated to commit action, and a motivated and active character is
helpful in the invention of a compelling story!
3. What external situation will require the protagonist's participation throughout the course of the
book? How does this connect with #2? Does it help or interfere? Can you build in a deadline for
extra tension? STORY PROBLEM

This is the “call to action” which will start “Act 2” of the novel, when the
main character gets fully involved and motivated. That action can involve the
reader in the external situation described in Answer 3 (the former director
absconding with the funds), and/or be in pursuit of the goal you defined in
Answer 4. If it happens, what unforeseen consequences does it have? (For
example, she might start as stage manager and only then realize the director is
a fraud.)
If it doesn't happen, what has prevented it? (Maybe she wants to be stage
manager, but arrives just after the director scarpers, and because she has some
theater experience, they make her director instead of stage manager.) Now
what is the protagonist going to do?

4. What is the protagonist's goal for the time the book covers? How does
this connect with the external situation? Or does the external situation
 divert the protagonist from his/her goal? Why does the protagonist SAY
he/she wants the goal? Is there a deeper motivation as yet unknown to
him/her? GOAL AND MOTIVATION.

Answer 4 gives the protagonist's intended destination in the GOAL AND MOTIVATION.
Consider why the protagonist wants to achieve this goal, and how pursuit of it will involve him/her
further in the external situation described in 3. (She wants a successful production enough to agree to
be director.) How is the goal related to answer 1, whatever sets this person apart from everyone else?
(Her reputation as a "hands-on problem-solver" has been established in her job as a trouble-shooter for
a local software company, so she knows she can be a good stage-manager.)

The goal will be related to the external situation in Answer 5, but the
motivation probably include some internal component too (she wants to
become part of the community quickly so she won't feel lonely and lost). The
obstacles too might arise from the external situation as well as from within.
5. What problem (external conflict) does the external situation present?
How can the protagonist eventually resolve that conflict? EXTERNAL
CONFLICT.

Answer # 6 lists obstacles to the resolution of the conflict. Which are

external (the drunken actor, mom's sudden and disruptive arrival)? Which are
internal (her inability to say no, her guilt over mom)? How do these relate to
the external situation?
6. List at least three obstacles in the way of her resolving this conflict.
Make one an internal obstacle/conflict. EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL
OBSTACLES
Think about sketching at least one scene around each of these -- or toss a
couple out and have a single obstacle repeatedly plague the protagonist.
Show the protagonist encountering each obstacle, taking stock, and acting or
reacting. Probably the obstacles will win at least once. See if you can make
these ascend in order of emotional risk– that is, make taking on the first
obstacle (no money for costumes) less of an emotional gamble than the next
(having to ask the carpenter she kind of has a crush on to fix the roof for
free). The last obstacle should require her to make a huge emotional gamble,
one she couldn't have made at the beginning of the story but must do now that
she has so much invested (she risks alienating the entire cast and the
community by firing the popular actor).
Then what? The special quality you defined in 1 should come into play here
(problem-solving skills)-- and the issue/problem you have noted in this
character (overwhelming desire to be liked). What will cause self-doubt and
failure? What will bring back confidence? Can you show a gradually
ascending level of achievement, as small defeats are overcome to bring on
small victories? What's important is to make the interaction with the obstacles
individual to this character, and the success or failure have some effect on
him/her-- the growth (positive or negative) you described in Answer 7.

7. How will the protagonist grow because of confronting these

obstacles? CHARACTER JOURNEY

Will the external conflict be resolved? Either way, the attempts to resolve the
conflict can be the climb up to the climax. The special quality and motivation
of the protagonist, the most difficult obstacle, an important event in the
external situation, and the goal, can all meet and explode in the climax (she
fires Hamlet and brings on the young understudy, whom she has secretly
coached, and faces down the cast mutiny).

8. What do you want to happen at the end of the book? CLIMAX

SCENE

The answer to Question 8 is your external plot’s CLIMAX (all subject to

change, of course!), the achievement or loss of the story goal.

9. What will have to happen to the protagonist against his/her will to make
your ending come about? INTERNAL RESOLUTION

In the Answer 9 RESOLUTION, however, your own ending takes over. The
resolution of the conflict can be fulfilling or empty– she can have a great
production and go home to an empty house. (Or one with a petulant mom in
it.) Or she can use her new-found "just-say-no" ability to gently guide mother
to another, more appealing nursing home, and her old "just-say-yes" ability to
start a new relationship with the generous carpenter. However you resolve it,
you want to make sure that the INTERNAL ISSUE you identified earlier (her
need to belong and/or matter) is resolved. That will make the ending
satisfying for the reader.

Just remember, your ending is going to help determine the message your
reader will retain after closing the book, so make it fit your theme. (In this
case, maybe, "Successful leadership sometimes depends on making the
appropriate but unpopular decision.")
And keep in mind, this is only an exercise, not a set of rules. Use what is
illuminating, discard everything else. Your novel should find its own path.
But knowing where you're going and some of the landmarks you'll pass can
make the journey a little less daunting.

The Synopsis
Here’s the plot summary I came up with after doing that exercise, the basic story outline, expressed as a
synopsis as I might send to an editor or agent.
Sue loves the theater and has always longed to be part of a Shakespearian production. But she’s not a
good actress. Her native shyness and reserve make her freeze with stage fright even during an audition.
When she is transferred to Shakespeare, MI, where there’s (natch) a once-thriving community theater,
she once again tries out for a part, the role of Ophelia in an avant-garde production of Hamlet. Of
course, she freezes halfway through the audition speech, and know she’s failed once again. But when in
the middle of the auditions, the lights go out in the theater, she finds her trusty penlight in her bag,
makes her way through the panicked crowd to the backstage, and quickly changes the fuse to fix the
problem.

That is what’s best about Sue. She’s really good at problem solving. Trouble is she's always being
brought in at the last minute to clean up other people's messes. And when the director asks her to take
charge of stage management, she agrees, even though she’s already noticed that the theater is falling
apart and the cast is full of divas and superstar-wannabes. She tells herself that theater work is fun,
and she'll get to make new friends and become part of the new community.
But shortly after she joins the group, the community theater's director absconds with all their money. If
they don't somehow pull off an economical but successful Hamlet performance on schedule, the
community theater will go bankrupt. “Shakespeare” will be defunct in Shakespeare, MI.
Sue has only been working there for a couple weeks, but already her competence is recognized. So two
weeks before the first show, she is dragooned by the city council into taking over direction of the
community theater's performance of Hamlet, though she's never directed a play before. A pessimist
might say that she’s being set up to be the scapegoat for the inevitable failure. But Sue is an optimist.
She knows she's a good problem-solver, and she can use these skills to tackle all the theater's
problems.
If anyone asked her, Sue would say that she has to help because she wants to participate in a successful
theater presentation, because it will be good for the community. But there is a deeper motivation: She
needs to be part of a cohesive group or she'll be lonely and lost as she was growing up in a rootless
“army brat” childhood.

But there are so many obstacles to making this a successful presentation.

· There's not enough money for costumes.
· None of the other actors think Sue can replace the gifted Stockinsky, the former
director.
· Many of the actors are territorial and resent even the most tactful suggestions,
especially from this “little girl” who has no experience.
· The theater's roof is leaking and rain is predicted for performance night.
· And there’s that internal obstacle too—Sue’s need to be part of a group and be
loved makes it hard for her to take charge and risk the opposition of her group.

Finally, however, she is too good a director to let the Hamlet actor’s drunken misbehavior ruin the
performance. However popular he is with the rest of the cast, she knows she has to make the tough
decision and fire him and replace him with the inexperienced yet talented understudy. In this crisis
moment, she learns to trust her judgment, assert her authority, and risk alienating her fellows. That is,
she becomes a leader. Then she must use her people skills to rally the shocked cast and inspire the
understudy to a great performance.
Finally, on opening night, despite several last-minute crises, the production is successful and Sue
accepts her new role: Leader.
As I turned the outline into a synopsis, I focused on two things: Urgency (only two weeks to go!) and
coherence (her reason for joining the group—to be accepted—is what creates the conflict later when
she must risk alienating her new friends). Free-writing fast made my subconscious take charge, so now
it’s all there in the outline, and my conscious problem-solving brain can take over to make everything
fit.
In fact, my conscious mind, ever revising and scouting for more intensity, has created an expandable
outline, because all the basics of her journey to leadership are laid out. Now I can add and subtract plot
and subplot elements as I write. For example, I added more about her past (army brat childhood) and
got rid of the Mom-moving-in conflict because I couldn’t figure out how to make it fit (though I’d keep
it in reserve just in case). If I wanted to add a mystery subplot, I could expand to have one of the actors
killed by the real estate developer who wants the theater to fail in order to get its location downtown for
a new shopping plaza. If I wanted to add a romance plot, well, that roof has to be fixed, so why not by a
handsome bachelor roofer?

As long as I have the basic external plot interwoven with the character journey, the story will be
coherent and focused, no matter what other complexity I add.

Have fun plotting!

Alicia Rasley

About the author:

Alicia Rasley is a RITA-award winning Regency novelist who has been published by major
publishers such as Dell, NAL, and Kensington. Her women’s fiction novel The Year She Fell has been
a Kindle bestseller in the fiction category. Until Death, a mystery, was released in 2013 by Bell Bridge
Books. She is also the author of the Writer's Digest book, The Power of Point of View, and The Story
Within Plotting Guide. For more information about her books, booklets, coaching services, and
workshops, contact: rasley@juno.com

If you find this article helpful, you might benefit from the in-depth but inexpensive Story Within
plotting series. And don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter, which will have information about
plotting, characterization, and prose, and notices of my upcoming articles and books.

Rasley’s Amazon Author Page.

If you're a character-driven writer in search of a plot, or a plot-driven writer

in search of characters, this is the book you've been waiting for. The Story
Within Guidebook helps you explore your own story and connect your plot
directly to your characters, and vice versa. Using the exercises, you'll be
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For a comprehensive journey through plotting a book, try The Story Within Interactive Plotting
Guide.
 The Story Within Elements of Writing Booklets

Motivate Your Characters

Motivation is where character and plot meet. It fuels the character as conflict
fuels the plot. Use these exercises and examples to find the motivations that
will drive your characters through the story... and help them come out alive.

Activate Your Story

Readers today want exciting, fast-paced, vivid stories. So what do you do if
your story just limps along? These exercises can help you activate your story
and revitalize your prose-- without ever losing the voice and tone that make
it your story.
 The Character Interviews
The best way to learn who your characters are is to ask them. These three in-
depth free-writing exercises will prompt your characters to speak for
themselves... and to tell you who they are, what they want, and what they
need from your story. One interview looks for plot connections, another
investigates their secret lives, and the third explores how they have been
shaped by their pasts and families.

The Heroic Alphabet

Alpha, Beta, Delta, Theta... it's not a nursery rhyme, it's an exploration
of the new heroic archetypes. Is your hero a leader? An outlaw? An artist? A
charmer? Use these exercises to explore his personality and his conflicts...
and if you have a romance, to match him up with the heroine who's right for
him.
No rules, just tools.
The Power of Point of View

The No-Rules Guide to Character Viewpoint

If you've been writing a while, you've probably heard all the rules. Don't
switch point of view. Or switch only after you leave a few blank lines. Or
switch whenever you like, as long as it's a weekday.
The problem is, such rules tell you almost nothing about using the writing
element of Point of View to develop your characters and individualize your
narrative. Rules are about confining your writing-- this book is about
liberating you to discover your characters' unique perspectives and to
experiment to find the best narrative for your story.
The Power of Point of View presents POV as an interaction of the writer,
character-- and reader. POV is, in fact, the reader's vehicle through the story,
and the writer can experiment to make that a more entertaining ride. So if
you've been thinking there's got to be more to POV than first-person/third-
person, single and multiple, this is the book for you. A conversational format
guides you through the purpose, history, types, and levels of POV, with
exercises help you develop POV in your own story.

The Power of Point of View: Make Your Story Come to Life, by Alicia Rasley. Writer's Digest Books.
For a signed hard-cover copy, just $15 and free US shipping, email rasley@juno.com.
No rules, just tools.
 Table of Contents
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