3 Best Tips to Help You Outline Quickly

Identify your story beats, save your time for writing and tighten your story structure by using these best tips to outline quickly.

By Matthew Hart

Here are 3 Best Tips to Help You Outline Quickly

1. Write Your Story on One Page

Gain these two benefits that help you outline quickly by writing your story on one page: 

FIRST: You will gain a greater overview of your story idea.

That's how it starts; an idea.

It's been rattling around in your head for weeks, months, maybe even years. You know you want to write it down, but you just don't know where to start.

This is how you get started.

Write it all down. Yup. That's it. Just write everything you know about your story from beginning to end. But, make sure you do this in one writing session and write it down as quickly as possible.

This draft is meant just for you. It's basically, you just telling you the story.

Write all the details you want. Character descriptions, and even that one scene you keep playing over and over in your head. It all counts.

Now, TRIPLE SAVE IT! I'm talking internal hard drive, thumb drive, and a printed copy. This first draft is the seed of your inspiration, and it's irreplaceable.

So, now what do you do with it? You condense the entire manuscript down to a single page.

This will force you to remove all the fluff. Don't worry, you can always get it back, that's why we saved it. Ah-ha!

At this point, you will begin to get a clear overview of your entire story.

Ask yourself, "Is there a clear beginning, middle and end?" If the answer is, "Yes" then you've got a novel-worthy story.

If it has a sagging middle, or a weak ending, that's fine, too. It just means you might need to work on it a bit more. That's the whole point!

This step will determine if you're story is worth spending a year or more to write.

If you're able to make your story work, then be sure to incorporate those fixes back into your single page synopsis.

Now, go celebrate, because you've got enough of an outline to start writing!

SECOND: You will quickly be able to identify the major beats of your story.

Once you've got your one page synopsis, you can create an even more abbreviated outline known as a beat sheet.

A beat sheet is a list of all your major plot points described in a few words or a sentence.

Chances are, in your once page synopsis, you already have most of those plot points described in a single sentence because of the one page restriction.

Now, you simply copy them into a point by point outline.

At this point, you might notice some plot points may be a little less clear. FANTASTIC!

This is the time to focus more on them and clear them up. It's much easier to change plot points on a beat sheet than it is to rewrite or toss out entire written pages or chapters, after the fact.

If you're able to create a beat sheet from your one page synopsis, you're fishing with dynamite!

2. Use a Template

Using a template will help you outline quickly in two ways:

FIRST: You will save time.

Human beings have been telling each other stories for thousands of years.

In fact, there are many very intelligent people in this world who have studied these stories and have discovered common story structures.

You can bypass years of research by simply using their discoveries to your advantage. This is called, standing on the shoulder of giants. Or, learning.

Once you web search story structures, you may find that there are really only a few, and you can experiment with them, using your beat sheet.

Simply, plug each beat into the story structure to see if it fits.

Understanding what genre your story is will speed this process up as well, as you will just web search, (your genre) + story structure. And, experiment with what you find.

Chances are, you can find a pre-established story structure, (or formula) in five minutes or less. No need to waste anymore time reinventing the wheel.

SECOND: You will gain confidence.

One of the best advantages of using a pre-established story structure is that it has already been proven to work.

At this point, you might not have all the details for your story in mind. That's okay.

If you are able to plug all your beats into an existing structure, you can start moving forward knowing that you're exploring a well-trodden path to success.

Keeping this in mind will give you the confidence to keep writing.

Writers already, as a group, have enough self-doubt to contend with, that it's a relief to have the confidence in knowing that you're heading in a proven direction with your story.

Once you establish your rules, it's really up to you whether you want to follow them or break them. But, at least you will understand what rules you're breaking and why.

3. Use Therefore & But

Understanding how to use the words Therefore & But between scenes will help you outline quickly in a couple of ways:

FIRST: You ensure that each scene causes the effects of the next scene.

This is a story structure technique popularized by the creators of, South Park; Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

The technique applies the words therefore or but between descriptions of each scene.

By doing this, they were able to ensure that each scene would cause the next scene to happen, thus making a story that must take place in a specific sequence.

The problem with using the word and between scenes, is that each scene just kind of floats around.

By using and, you end up just describing a series of events that could be placed in any order and have no effect on the outcome of the story.

The word and makes for boring storytelling because it limits the stakes and reduces the conflict.

By using the words, therefore or but, you force the plot to go in only one direction.

The word therefore forces a reaction to it in the next scene, and the word but raises the stakes and/or conflict of the next scene.

Raising stakes and conflict are what make for interesting stories because each scene  becomes a moment that will chance the outcome of the ending.

SECOND: Your story structure will be tight.

When you keep a tight story structure, every scene becomes necessary to the outcome of the story.

You might want to write out an entire chapter of your protagonist's hike through the woods near the castle of their objective. But, if they are no closer to reaching their story goal by the end of their hike, cut that scene out!

"But, I want to show how beautiful nature can be. And, I already spent last week learning all the Latin names for the flowers and trees that I want to describe and don't want to have wasted all that time!" You say to me, as spittle crests the chapped ridge of your lower lip.

"Well, that's fine." I reply, "Just make sure that your Protagonist discovers some secret hidden passage during their hike, or something, and make sure that they use that knowledge in the story in some way to gain their story objective. Done!" 

With this example, you will see the difference between writing a floating and scene sequence and one with the therefore & but sequence. 

The first example shows:

The Protagonist finds the castle of their desire.
and 
Goes for a hike in the forest nearby.
and 
Storms the castle.

In this example, the Protagonist could easily storm the castle, then go for a hike in the forest nearby. The hike through the forest is inconsequential, and therefore, is a waste of your reader's time because the scene does not move the story forward.

The second example shows:

The Protagonist finds the castle of their desire.
but
Goes for a hike in the forest nearby.
therefore
Discovers a secret passage that could lead to the castle.
but
Uses the passage to storm the castle, giving them an unexpected advantage.

Using therefore & but have now made all three scenes connected and raise the stakes of the story. The Protagonist must go on the hike in order to find the hidden passage they will use to storm the castle.

Once you start using these 3 best tips to help you outline quickly, you will be able to identify your story beats, save your time for writing and tighten your story structure.

And, everybody knows, us writers, just don't have enough time for that! Now finish that outline already and get back to writing your book!

I hope you use these 3 best tips to help you outline quickly.

Do you outline or write by the seat of your pants?

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON OUTLINING IN THE COMMENTS BELOW

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3 Core Practices for Your Daily Writing Routine

Crush writer's block, meet your deadlines and avoid burnout by adding these core practices to your daily writing routine.

By Matthew Hart

Here are 3 Core Practices for Your Daily Writing Routine

1. Digest Your Goals

Gain these two benefits when you break down your large writing goal: 

FIRST: You will stop feeling so overwhelmed when you want to write. 

You sit down to the keyboard to type. You're going to write the next great American novel, and...nothing happens. You're too overwhelmed to even begin. WRITER'S BLOCK!

But, here's the great news!

You've just made the hardest decision already. You've decided to write a novel. That's your Main Goal.

Now, all you need to do is to break your Main Goal into smaller goals. A great way to do this is to outline your novel.

You will break down your whole novel into beats. Each beat is then broken down into chapters, and each chapter breaks down into a series of scenes.

Now, your scenes become your new daily writing goals.

This time, when you sit down to write, all you have to do is write one single scene not, "The next great American novel."

And, here's the best part...

Because you already summarized what will happen in that scene, you'll already be prompted to write. Good bye writer's block!

SECOND: You will have deadlines to keep you on pace and motivated to finish your writing project on time.

Once you determine how many scenes are in your novel, you can now set a realistic final deadline for your novel's first draft.

But, that final deadline might be a year away! That's okay.

By meeting, and celebrating, shorter deadlines, you will keep yourself motivated throughout the project until you actually FINISH YOUR BOOK!

Also, be sure to keep a record of when you've reached each deadline.

Showing yourself that you are meeting your daily, weekly, and monthly writing goals will help to pull you through those times when you're less motivated to write.

2. Sprint Through Your Daily Word Count

Writing sprints help you achieve your daily writing goals in two ways:

FIRST: You shut off your inner editor.

Our writing time is valuable. Most writers, in general, can agree that we don't have enough time to write as it is. So, why waste what little time we can get?

Does this scenario sound like your writing session?

You've finally managed to write a sentence or paragraph, but quickly find yourself going back to read what you've just written or fiddle with the arrangement of the words in your sentence.

That's called editing, my friend, and there's no room for it in your writing session.

Put your inner editor at bay by writing so fast it can't keep up. I've found this technique to be the best way, at least for me, to JUST GET THE STORY ON PAPER, ALREADY!

SECOND: You might infuse more emotion into your writing.

Once you've committed yourself to writing faster, you will notice that the best way to do this is to write from your stream of consciousness. 

You may find that it's easier to make your readers feel something, just by doing this one thing.

By writing from your stream of consciousness, you can bypass your analytical senses, which tend to make your writing emotionally sterile.

Writing more quickly allows you to tap into how you are feeling about what you're writing about, and you will naturally start using words and phrases that can trigger the same emotional response in your reader.

Just be sure to save this draft as we writers also have a tendency to over-edit after the writing is done, and you'll be happy to have that emotional first draft to fall back on.

3. Designate a Writing Activity for Each Day of the Week

Knowing exactly what you're going to do today benefits you in a couple of ways:

FIRST: You will get started right away.

You may have struggled with what to write about before, but once you put this core practice into effect, your daily writing routine will pull you towards it like a magnet!

No more staring at a blinking cursor or blank page, because you've got work to do!

Get the most out of your writing session by splitting up your writing tasks and assigning them to their own day of the week.

There are a lot of elements that converge into a rewarding writing career.

Researching, writing sessions, editing sessions, building a writer's platform, reading, learning, or even just daydreaming, visualizing, and, don't forget personal care!

By giving each task it's own day of the week, you will be mentally and physically more prepared to get it done and done well.

If Monday is your writing session, all you have to do is write. Someone asks, "What are you doing today?" You say, "I'm writing. Leave me alone! I'll see you on, Friday."

Even your pesky Editor will get their own day of the week. Your alarm clock goes off at four AM. What are you getting ready for? "I'm editing. Get me coffee and a red pen. Stat!"

By segmenting these aspects of your writing career, you can avoid burn-out and still have an enjoyable social life.

SECOND: You will be more focused.

Once you start using this core practice for your daily writing routine, you might notice that your productivity will also improve. This is because you are more focused on what you're doing.

Knowing what needs to get done right now, helps you to buckle down and just get it done.

But, finishing a task and doing it well can sometimes be two different things.

Like, when it comes to writing, I advise, don't edit. Dividing your focus between the two activities degrades the effectiveness of both.

This simple trick allows you to generate the raw material you'll need to finish your project, which is more difficult if you're distracted with other tasks.

The same concept goes for all the other aspects of your writing career.

To stay focused on the task at hand, keep in mind the rules surrounding each task.

If you're task is to write today. Unplug the internet. Don't think about social media or research. These rules will trigger your mind to focus only on the task at hand.

If you feel the urge to get distracted, just tell yourself you can go all crazy making Instagram posts, tweets and feeds on that designated day, but right now, it's all about the word count, or editing, or research, or whatever.

Without so many distractions, you may even see the quality of your work improve.

Once you put these 3 core practices for your daily writing routine into place, you will crush writer's block, begin to meet your daily writing goals, and avoid burn-out.

Building an effective writing routine is all about establishing effective habits. It will help you to keep in mind that each aspect of your writing career deserves it's own established habit. Be sure to give each habit a day to express itself and you will avoid burn-out.

I hope you use these 3 core practices for your daily writing routine.

Do you have an effective writing routine already?

SHARE YOUR WRITING ROUTINE IN THE COMMENTS BELOW

Continue your journey:

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FIND: Your Truth and Pain

FIND: Your Truth and Pain

By Matthew L. Hart

Humor Writer/Comedian

Author of:

Uncle Matty's Halloween: Jokes, Bits & Anecdotes

What were you really into when you were a kid?

I used to play POGs a lot.

POGs are these little cardboard disks with cool graphics on them. Just a huge dumping ground for pop culture imagery.

In my school, the most popular POGs featured an 8 Ball, from billiards.

I would learn later that was actually a drug reference.

I'm sure my parents might have been worried, cause I had a bunch of them.

The game is played when each player selects a POG and stacks them face down on top of each other, and the object was to flip both POGs over with a Slammer.

A Slammer is a heavy, plastic or metal disk that you threw on the POGs to get them to flip.

You could play for Slammers, too. Same rules applied.

If you flipped over both POGs or Slammers, that person got to keep both. So, your collection would grow that way.

When I was in elementary school, POGs became this huge fad.

And, there were these plastic tubes you would store all your POGs in and they became these status symbols in the halls.

I think the ultimate tube was called a 'Lava' tube, it was like, six feet long or something. And, these POGs are only a couple of millimeters thick.

Whoever had a lave tube, was stacked.

Anyway, it only lasted a year in my school because too many kids were crying about losing their POGs and parents pressured the school to shut it down because they considered it a form of gambling. "The children are gambling! Good heavens!"

Eventually, my group grew up into the marching band in high school and we played "High/Low," mixed vodka with our Poweraid and followed the football team around on a co-ed bus. "Good heavens! The geeks are fornicating!"

Maybe they had a point.

The Official Pog Milkcap Collector's Guide (Pog)

FIND: Your Truth and Pain

A joke seeks to tell the truth, just before it kinks the outcome. 

Have you ever heard someone say, "It's funny because it's true."? This is what I'm talking about.

We want to discover what is true, so that we can make fun of our pain.

I FOUND THE TECHNIQUE IN THIS BOOK:

• The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not

Truth and pain is said to be the theme of a joke.

Similar to the topic, a theme has the ability to carry across an entire show, giving us a way to relate to an entire group of people. 

Once we establish a commonly held truth with the audience, it's just a matter of adding punchlines to our jokes that will diffuse our pain with laughter.

When we are trying to find a truth to explore, it's very important to understand our audience. 

To do this, we want to identify situations that our audience would be familiar with, either by first hand experience, or at least something they have been exposed to.

And, unless you want your microphone cut off mid show, try to discover truths that your audience will agree with. 

This is what it really means to know your audience:

The truth is, that people are much more comfortable laughing at situations they feel superior to and, the pain is, they aren't always right but, might be right now.

For working Comedians, 

I always say, "The Majority wins."

My goal is to entertain as many people as I can in the room. The audience will tell me what they like with their laughter.

Hecklers are typically the minority of the room. And, when I say minority, I mean, typically, there's more people in the room that understand the jokes.

 And, out of respect for your audience, you must address hecklers swiftly, so that the rest of the room can enjoy the show they came to see.

Remember, you have the microphone, you are in charge, and you are expected to do the job you where hired to do. 

Don't back down, but be professional. 

Not every heckler deserves to be traumatized and humiliated. 

If you can pull some improv humor out of a heckler's truth, you might even make them laugh and get them back on your side.

It's at least an opportunity for some crowd work.

Once you know the age group of the people you are trying to entertain, you will want to figure out, what general situations they find themselves in.

You can niche down even further by focusing on gender, race, or even income level, but, I would caution you from niching down too far.

If you niche down too deep, you will be excluding segments of your audience. 

Unless this is your goal, to alienate your audience, which has been done successfully in the past, I suggest going as broad as you can.

Set your intentions for this session now. You can always change your mind later, but let's get focused. 

My intention is to reach the most people possible. So, I will be using the broadest situations for my target audience that I can find.

GET FOCUSED

If you discover that your audience is made up of 9-13 year olds, what situations are they most likely to be in?

What about a demographic made up of hormonally charged High Schoolers?

How about that awkward 19-25 group in college, at home, or starting their careers? There's lots of niching down you can do with this audience.

I would even ask the question, "Which one of these segments has the money to buy a ticket to my show or purchase an album or, a DVD?" 

Unless you're doing charity work or maybe just enjoy the art of comedy, you should always ask this question when you're targeting an audience.

A good place to start before writing is to ask, "Which demographic has the most disposable income?"

Then, "How can I relate to this group of people in an authentic way?"

To answer the authenticity question, you will want to discover what they do with their time.

A great way to do this is to find people in your target demographic, and talk with them.

Ask them:

• What are your hobbies?
• What kind of jobs, if that applies, do you do for money?
• Where do you live?
• What do you read?
• What do you watch?
• How do you entertain yourself?
• What is important to you?

Once you get an idea of what your target demographic does at work, for fun, and their home life, you can start to figure out what universal situations they may find themselves in.

For example:

A 78 year old man just got dumped off in an old folks home.

General situations might be:

• Watching TV all alone
• Sadistic Nurses
• Feeding times
• Bed times
• Soul-crushing loneliness

As you can see, once we have identified our target demographic, we can start picking apart the truth of their situation.

You begin to see an entire show developing before your eyes.

You even have a place you can perform with an audience that will relate to your material. 

How about, AN OLD FOLKS HOME?

Talk about a captive audience!

I'll leave it to you to discover a way to get paid.

Now, let's discover the truth and pain of these universal situations of our post-retired demographic.

Let's pick apart the topics of their situation to identify their truth and pain.

The truth about watching TV all alone is, that it's boring.

The pain about watching TV all alone is, that it's all your body has the energy to do.

The truth about Sadistic Nurses is, that you rely on them for your survival.

The pain about Sadistic Nurses is, that they won't let you die!

The truth about Feeding Times is, that you need nourishment.

The pain about Feeding Times is, that you're not hungry when food is served.

The truth about Bed Times is, that the power is turned off.

The pain about Bed Times is, you aren't tired enough to fall asleep.

The truth about Soul-crushing Loneliness is, that you feel betrayed.

The pain about Soul-Crushing Loneliness is, you lovingly fathered twelve children every day of their life and now they won't even visit you on holidays.

Are you starting to see how discovering the truth and pain for your demographic practically writes the show for you?

Once you have your lists of truths and pains, you can pick apart the topic by making lists and churning over new ideas. 

Each one of these truths and pain will become a bit, but finding truth and pain will also help you identify the premise for a single joke as well.

For example:

Topic: Watching TV alone.

Truth: It's boring

Pain: You don't have the energy to do anything else.

You could ask some questions of the character in this situation.

"What are you watching?"

An answer might be, "Golf."

"Why would you watch golf?"

"Because, I used to play golf."

"What's your handicap?"

"I can't swing a club!"

Can you see how well this works?

Truth and Pain are a great place to start finding material, and relating your jokes to what your audience believes to be true will get most of them laughing to diffuse the pain of it all.

Discovering your truths make you more authentic.

Are there any painful truths about yourself?

SHARE YOUR TRUTH AND PAIN IN THE COMMENTS!

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