{"id":676,"date":"2011-04-08T23:09:59","date_gmt":"2011-04-09T03:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/?p=676"},"modified":"2011-04-08T23:09:59","modified_gmt":"2011-04-09T03:09:59","slug":"writing-lesson-4-outlining-your-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/?p=676","title":{"rendered":"Writing Lesson #4: Outlining Your Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Writing a novel is tough work, but an outline can help you stay focused. Before getting flustered with dialogue and plot, it\u2019s important to create a basic roadmap for the story. I don\u2019t have all the pieces figure out for my new novel \u201cNight Place\u201d but I spent most of the week coming up with the following outline of what I want to accomplish with each chapter. Here is the only way you should ever outline a novel. (Spoiler alerts galore!)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline-811x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"808\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-677\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline-811x1024.jpg 811w, https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline-237x300.jpg 237w, https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline.jpg 1664w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>See the exciting conclusion after the jump. <\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline2-774x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"846\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-678\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline2-774x1024.jpg 774w, https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline2-226x300.jpg 226w, https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline2.jpg 1636w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline3-764x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"857\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-679\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline3-764x1024.jpg 764w, https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline3-223x300.jpg 223w, https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline3.jpg 1648w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline4-787x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"832\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-680\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline4-787x1024.jpg 787w, https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline4-230x300.jpg 230w, https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Outline4.jpg 1664w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now I have a clear idea of where my story is going. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Homework Assignment:<\/strong> Write two complete novels using a similar outline format. The first should be about a girl named Lisa who is of average strength. The second should be a word-for-word reprint of The Catcher in the Rye but printed in a hilarious font. Due tomorrow. <\/p>\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.laserfarm.com%2F%3Fp%3D676&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=80\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:80px;\" allowTransparency=\"true\"><\/iframe>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Writing a novel is tough work, but an outline can help you stay focused. Before getting flustered with dialogue and plot, it\u2019s important to create a basic roadmap for the story. I don\u2019t have all the pieces figure out for &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/?p=676\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wonderful","tag-writing-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=676"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":684,"href":"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions\/684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laserfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}