My Writing Guide

Writing A Novel Outline

1. NOVEL SUMMARY + GOALS

A. Novel Summary

Your novel summary is a short overview of the plot of your story. Typically between one and five paragraphs, the novel summary highlights the main points of the action according to your plot structure, including the resolution. If you are having trouble writing this, you might want to wait on drafting your Epic Novel Plan and go back to figuring out How to Choose a Story Topic.

B. Themes/Motifs

A theme is the simple subject or message of the story, such as "love conquers all" or "there's no place like home". A motif is a recurring object or idea that acts as symbolism in the story. A popular example would be the green light across the bay in The Great Gatsby.

Both theme and motif are essential because they are used to convey something of importance to the reader. Writing them down will help you focus on incorporating those items while writing the first draft.

C. Mission Statement

Business plans have mission statements to help a company declare the purpose of their existence. Your novel should have a mission statement as well. It doesn't have to be long; just a sentence or two will suffice. Here are some questions to ask yourself while writing your novel mission statement.

Why are you writing this novel?What is your novel's theme(s)?What issues are you highlighting in the story?Do you plan on publishing your novel?Who would be your ideal reader?

Your novel mission statement should be concise and effective in stating your intentions for the novel. An example of a novel mission statement might be, "Undeclared highlights the importance of self-discovery in education for college students through the eyes of freshman art student Amy Smith, a self-declared 'hippie child' and lover of all things off the beaten path."

D. Ideal Reader

Who are you writing your story for? What is their age and sex? Where do they live and work? How much of an education do they have? Take the time to paint an image of your ideal reader so that you can focus of reaching similar people as you write.

E. Publishing Ideals

What are your plans for your novel? Is this piece just for you or are you looking to get it published? Will you self-publish or seek out a traditional publishing house contract? Do you plan to use this book to launch a writing career or was this just for fun? Identifying your publishing ideals will help you create goals and expectations for your work that will help you improve as you write.

2. NOVEL BASICS

A. Genres

Your novel can be categorized into three different types of genre. The first is broad-term. These are umbrella genres like fantasy, romance, science-fiction, thriller, and horror.

The second type is your genre niche. These are sub-categories under the umbrella genres that include cyber-punk, magic realism, psycho thriller, police procedural, etc. The third and final type of genre is your age genre, also known as your age market. This is typically broken up into children's (12 and under), young adult (13-17), new adult (18-25), and adult (25 and above).

Knowing your novel's genres will help you adapt certain elements in your book to better attain specific publishing goals. I suggest doing a little research into your umbrella genre's publishing market to see which sub-genre books sell best and how books in your own sub-genre are selling.