Sort of embarassed to realize that since my standard writing type is "ADHD sprinting and/or improv" I don't actually know how to outline a plot. I know how to wiggle a tangled ball of yarn around in my head, and I know how to Write Out The Entire Story (at least in theory) but an outline solid enough to use without just being The Entire Story? I am in the search engine mines, sweating profusely, trying to find advice. I am not liking what I find. I am open to suggestions.
Thinkin' about animals....
- 🐟/🐠/they/them
*tiny furry cheeps*
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in reply to @wobblegong's post:
I'm not a writer but you might think about writing a less detailed story faster and then treating that as an outline that you add the detail to.
that's kinda how I write my very long form stuff
What's funny is that in this specific case that's where I started! I wrote out a disjointed, slap-dash "audience feedback is welcome" version for a friend's entertainment, and liked it so much that I keep circling back to it. But while that is hastier and less detailed than The Actual Story would be, it was enough for me to squint at and declare "this needs some fixing up" because... well, it does. Too many curlicues and cul-de-sacs, tons of superfluous characters and places and events– as defined by, no fun for me to write AND don't advance anything– that do nothing to improve the story but would obligate me to write sooooo much more. So I am ITERATING. I am IMPROVING.
But doing another slap-dash "hey friend, wanna see some of the weird shit in my head?" fiesta doesn't feel fitting– the fun the first time was the novelty! "The same thing but like, way less" isn't fun enough to foist upon my longsuffering buddy's eyeballs. I could just do that style of typing into a private document but then we find out the brain demons have Opinions and that's not gonna happen. (This is how it be sometimes.)
I think for now my plan is to return to one of my longstanding comforts: boxes. If I do the same ADHD zig-zag unload but put it in boxes this somehow pleases the demons. Silly, but as long as it means I have all the "how to get from point A to point B (improved ver.)" where I can refer back for writing later, I am happy.
I do a chaotic mess of bullet points; it's the only thing that works for me. Then you can kind of go as detailed or barebones as you want with nested bullet points and all that. So like:
[header]
[bulleted list]
Where "header" could be like "chapter 1" if you're being very structured and you already know how you want this thing divided into parts, or it could be something like "at the lake" and you start listing all of the things that are going to be happening at the lake scene and sort out later if you need to break that up. For example, you have a "on the boat" bullet point but you end up with so many nested bullets that you decide actually, maybe "on the boat" gets upgraded to a new header because I've got a lot going on there etc etc.
I go as detailed or undetailed as I have stuff rattling around my brain. Could have a bullet that's "they get into an argument about something stupid" or one that's a fully-formed first draft snippet because I suddenly really wanted to write this part that's in the middle of the thing instead of starting at the beginning.
I think this is closer to what the neurotypicals call "brainstorming" than the outlines I was forced to turn in for grading in college but it's as close as I get without feeling like I'm a square peg being crammed into a round hole.
Ooooh I really like this... feels sufficiently organized without getting underfoot! And with a nice balance between "detailed when I have Inspiration, just fuckin' placeholder otherwise" that require. THANK YOU ♥