Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

[mithen]

crookedspoon asked if I would take a week to bring up outlining as a topic and see if anyone wanted to share an example of their outlines! I usually label mine "plot beats" more than an actual outline and then break it up into chapters and list what emotional beats and/or plot things need to happen in each chapter. Grabbing a non-superhero example from a recent finished work:

24. Fight with IQ. Gandalf sacrifices himself. Thrain comes upon them but Thorin can't kill him. They flee through the chaos and meet up with Pallando's group. Farewell to Samur and Bachai. Note that this ceases Easterling aid to Mordor. Strike off south toward the desert.

25. Travel through the desert. Camels. Reach the oasis. Hints that Gollum is following them.

26. Turn west through the desert to Nurn. Description of slave community. Meet the leader. Aragorn asks for royalty, gets laughed at. He rallies them. Elephants around here or last chapter.

27. The big split. Denethor has his freak-out and gets through it. Thorin and Bilbo strike off for Mount Doom. Everyone else organizes a guerrilla war against the back of Sauron's army. Farewells.

28. go meta and explain that Thorin or Bilbo can't narrate this part. Follow the guerrillas to the west (the competition starts), then switch to Thorin. They reach the base of Mt. Doom. Bilbo is beginning to have doubts he can do it. Thorin promises to throw him in.

Which is mostly a list of reminders of what Chekhov's Guns need to be put on the table for later plot purposes! The main characters are saved by elephants at the very end, for example, so I knew it was important to mention early on that there were elephants in the area. Gollum had to be there at the climax, but I didn't want him to just suddenly appear out of nowhere, so I had to remember to leave hints that he was around earlier. Some of these points shifted as I wrote them (for example, I decided it was out of character for Aragorn to just stride in and ask "Who's king around here?"--it fits the way he's written in the books in some ways, but not so much the movies, so that disappeared). Chapter 25 was clearly a little thin on plot, so as I wrote it I asked myself "What emotional/relationship themes haven't cropped up for a while, and can I fit them in here?" This led to some reminders about the worries that Thorin and Bilbo don't share an afterlife, and reminders that Thorin was there to support Bilbo with the Ring--things I hadn't mentioned for a while and needed to be there.

I'd love to see an example of an outline for your work, or just to hear how things are going for you!