The Lazy Way to Outline a Story, Part Two

Okay, folks, we’re picking up right where we left off in part one. We’re going to take those plot points that we made in our basic outline and form them into individual scenes. We’ll start at the beginning. Remember that the three-act structure suggests that the intro and inciting incident together should be about 5-15% of your story, and the full beginning should be around 20-25% until you get through the first plot point. You may need to fiddle with this a little, but let’s see what we have to start with.

1) Jessica has just finished working on a client at a luxury salon. She spins the chair, and the client starts screaming at her. Jessica assures the woman that she looks great, but the woman refuses to pay, and Jessica leaves in tears.

2) Jessica is throwing her things together in the salon break room, still crying. A coworker assures her that her client was crazy and she got exactly what she asked for. She tells Jessica that she’s one of the top stylists in the city. Jessica says she thought the woman would look great in anything, not like her. There is a set-up here. It is mentioned that the client is the daughter of some moneybags mogul type.

Below is an optional shift to the opposing character. Make sure that their life is no bowl of cherries either.

3) Brad is in a tense board meeting that erupts in conflict. Maybe there is a suggested merger with Brad being for, and everyone else against. He has a headache when he leaves and just wants to go home and have a beer. He says this to his secretary.

4) He goes out and hails a cab. On the way out of the building, he has all sorts of obstacles. His secretary says he has too much to do to leave yet. He leaves anyway. A coworker argues with him on the elevator. There is construction on the sidewalk that blocks his way, so he has to leave from another entrance. He is exasperated, but he finally gets into a cab.

5) Jessica has difficulty hailing a cab. The construction workers are in her way. She spots the nose of a cab on a side street and runs toward it. She gets there, and the ‘vacant’ sign is still on. The driver hasn’t had time to flip the meter on. This is Brad’s cab, but Jessica is flustered and doesn’t see him. She gets into the cab and sits on Brad’s lap. There is a lot of screaming, and then things settle down. Jessica apologizes, starts to get out. Brad grabs her sleeve and says, ‘there’s no reason we should both have a bad day, we’ll share. ’ Brad and Jessica get into a long conversation. They get to her stop, and she gets out. They have an awkward goodbye.

This is the end of the inciting incident.

Inciting Incident to First Plot Point

6) Jessica’s life at home. Her place is full of bridal magazines and a vision board, but there is no man in sight. Her mom calls her and nags her about ‘getting out there and finding a husband’. She eats Spaghettios right out of the can and goes to bed early.

7) Brad is home now. He has his beer, plays darts, but keeps missing. He is distracted, tries to think about the merger and how to win the rest of the board over, but his mind keeps wandering to Jessica, decides that he is stupid for not asking for her number. Decides that maybe he doesn’t deserve to succeed in his career because he is so stupid. Reminds himself that he was always a C student.

8) Jessica goes to work, is pulled into her boss’s office, and gets a lecture about ‘losing it’ in front of a client. Jessica argues back. Things get tense.

9) Brad gets pulled into his own boss’s office and gets yelled at for ‘working with the enemy’ and supporting the merger. Brad argues back. Things get tense.

Remember to build tension and conflict in every scene of your outline.

10) Brad is frustrated after the meeting with his boss. He wants to talk to someone, and thinks of Jessica, who was so easy to talk to. He makes an appointment at her salon. (Make sure that Jessica mentions her salon in the cab.)

11) Jessica cuts Brad’s hair. They have some verbal sparring. She asks if he’s stalking her now. It’s witty. Work in Brad saying ‘I know where you live’, in jest. He asks her to dinner. She says no. She’s busy and doesn’t date. (She is really too down on herself to go out with a man like Brad.)

12) Brad is dealing with a work crisis. The idea of the merger is ever-looming. The crisis ebbs, and he finds himself telling his secretary about Jessica. She tells him not to give up. She says her husband had to ask her out fourteen times.

13) Brad ‘girds his loins’ and shows up outside Jessica’s apartment with flowers. She arrives and tries to walk past him. He blocks her way. He makes a speech and talks her into going out with him.

End of Plot Point One

First Plot Point to Mid-Point

14) Jessica and Brad finally go out. It’s magical. But there is friendly conflict between them, of the witty banter type. He tells her she’s beautiful. She says, ‘I know I’m not. ’

15) The day after Jessica finally goes out with Brad, she comes into the salon and gets fired right off. She has been downsized. Remember the client form scene one? Her father has bought the salon and made his daughter the manager. Her father is the same one who is trying to work on the merger with Brad’s company. He’s trying to buy up everything in the area.

16) Jessica goes home to have a good cry, ends up flipping through bridal magazines, and sees an ad for a makeover. She says, ‘what the heck, I deserve it, ’ and goes to get a makeover.

17) Brad gives a speech in front of the board, wins most of them over to the idea of the merger.

18) Jessica comes home with bags of cosmetics, an armful of clothing, and some Jimmy Choo shoes. She has overspent to help lift her spirits. She starts cooking dinner. The lights go out. She’s neglected to pay the bill.

19) Brad comes to see Jessica, wants to celebrate his success. He doesn’t know she’s lost her job. He doesn’t notice her makeover. Remember, he always thought she was beautiful. But Jessica gets mad about it. Brad is confused.

20) Jessica maintains her new look. She finally tells Brad about her job loss. He commiserates, offers to help. Jessica says no. She is looking but can’t seem to find any openings. She has been blackballed.

21) The merger starts to move forward. Brad is commended.

It’s fine to let something good happen to your characters, so long as you snatch that goodness away in the next scene of your outline.

22) Jessica gets desperate for work. She starts driving for Uber in a rented Tesla. She doesn’t tell Brad.

23) Brad takes Jessica out, asks why she’s so tired. She snaps at him, tells him what she’s been doing, the hours she’s been working, tells him he only ever thinks about himself and his stupid merger. She’s a little irrational (lack of sleep), and asks Brad what he sees in her anyway.

24) Jessica is driving for Uber in full makeup. She gets scouted by the photographer for a model agency. She reluctantly agrees to a photo shoot.

25) The photographer says she is photogenic but has some rough edges and suggests coaching. Jessica says she can’t pay for it, and why would she invest in such a long shot? The photographer assures her that she has promised. Offers to loan her the money.

26) Jessica is busy in her new modeling world, has less time, and starts pulling away from Brad. He tells her that he loves her, that he doesn’t want to lose her. She says she doesn’t know how she feels, but she does. She just doesn’t want to invest herself in such a long shot.

27) Brad finds out that the company they are merging with is going to basically strip-mine his own company and destroy it. He now tries to stop the merger.

This is around the Mid-Point. Notice how the last couple of scenes sent things in a new direction?

Now I think we have a low spot for tension here between the mid-point and plot point three. How do we resolve that? Easy. Make life awful for your characters. What if the woman who had Jessica fired is actually psychotic and starts coming after her? We can complicate things for Brad at work. We can ruin Jessica’s burgeoning career as a model. Brad and Jessica’s relationship will be trashed.

Remember to tie in everything to the character arc you are working towards. Every hurdle you place in front of your character in some way makes them confront something about themselves and gets them closer to emotional catharsis and change.

I think this is more than enough to give you an idea of how to turn plot points into scenes. We’ve added a sub-plot, but if you’re only writing a short story or novela, the sub-plot may not be required. Also, if you are a wordy writer, you may not need a sub-plot. I keep my storytelling very tight, and so I need subplots galore.

My Lazy Outline Secret

Here’s the lazy secret: I don’t really write out all of the above. I did all of that for your benefit. I keep most of it in my head and just write a few words on my digital index cards. So the first three scenes would say something like: 1) Jessica with unhappy client. 2) Jessica reaction. 3) Brad intro, work drama, etc. 

You, of course, should feel free to use as few or as many words as you need to keep on track. I love my sparsely worded method because I feel it gives me maximum flexibility when writing, in case I want to change something or get rid of it. Without a framework, on the other hand, I feel rudderless, and my story ends up with no point or purpose. 

There are other methods of storytelling, and other methods of outlining, and I’ll go over a few of those in future articles. For now, happy writing! (And join us on Facebook!)