Beginnings

 

Beginnings are a popular topic among writers. Take, for example:

“Begin at the beginning, ... and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” –  Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start." –  Rogers & Hammerstein, Do-Re-Mi

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” ― Plato, The Republic

And, my personal favourite:

“Everything starts somewhere, though many physicists disagree.” ― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

My stories usually begin as ideas, stewing quietly in my head for a while. But when I'm ready to put pen to paper, I begin with an outline.

Wait! Don't comment yet! This is not going to be 500 words of "use my new and brilliant outlining method". Instead, I want to show you how I took inspiration from several methods, and how you can do something similar customise your own outline.

Avoiding outlines on principle? I've got an upcoming post for you on the eighteenth: Outlines: Love 'Em or Hate 'Em? 

My brain likes patterns, so outlining has always appealed to me. But even after many years of experimenting, I couldn’t seem to find “the one”, the perfect outlining method for me. Many writers at this point tend to do one of two things: Give up on outlining, or invent a brand new method of their own. I don’t have the right kind of brain for the first, or enough confidence for the second, so I had a problem – until I realised that I didn’t have to pick just one method, nor was I actually obliged to use every part of any given outline. No-one was looking over my shoulder to make sure I was using their method “correctly”.

After a lifetime of being constantly “put right”, this realisation was something of a bombshell. But after the shock wore off, and I’d done a bit more testing, I finally had my own, home-brewed outlining method. As promised, I’m not going to share it here, or anywhere else, because that’s not the point of this post. The point of this post is to encourage you to develop your own method. 

I like top-down outlining, so the Snowflake Method and the 3/9/27 method appealed to me most. The Hero’s Journey and the Heroine’s Journey were interesting, but too specific for my style. I found the Plot Embryo to be the best fit in the end, especially with the tragic and heroic patterns having so many parallels.But you might find that you prefer a more linear, discovery-type of outlining, such as the Pixar method. Or a method more focused on the world-building, asking what would happen given a particular set of circumstances. 

The array of outlining methods out there offers near-endless combinations to suit every taste. Spend a bit of time exploring, and refine your plan to fit your own story and style. But remember:

Lesson Two: A plan is only a plan

Plans that change are still worth having. It’s always a good idea to have a direction in mind when you set out, even if you change it later.