Outlining Your Novel

Giving a character a motive (which inevitably extends to a goal, which hopefully inspires an immediate obstacle, which fortunately creates innate conflict) is vital.

Orson Scott Card points out that a “character is what he does, yes—but even more, a character is what he means to do.” In Behold the Dawn, I made a list of the main characters and their various motives for their various actions: Annan wants to die on the battlefield, because he feels the guilt for his crimes is too great a burden to go on carrying.

Your character’s motive is what fuels his desire for something, and his desire is what gives him a goal to strive toward.

One of the easiest ways to raise the stakes is to create a tight timeline for your story.

Creating a solid, memorable character arc requires several important ingredients: Start out with a clear idea of who the character is at the beginning of the story. What does he care about? What does he believe? How does he behave in certain situations? Open with the character beginning from a place of imperfection or incompleteness. Usually (but n

Middle Trap the MC in a spiral of events outside of his control. Set the line of dominoes in motion. Force the MC’s original goal out of his reach. He can still see it and certainly still wants it, but he can’t reach it. Give the MC new goals. The MC’s primary goal shifts to the background as he struggles to stay afloat with all the complications c

He should have one strong goal, usually inspired directly by the inciting event and often motivated further by strong beliefs or past experiences, that will carry him throughout the book, probably right up to the end (although sometimes it’s necessary for characters to completely change their goals at some point in the story).

How can you keep the stakes as high as possible for your readers? Watch for lags. If you find your character happy or at peace, chances are good he’s not too frustrated. Unless you’re using a temporary lull in the storm to emphasize the disasters to come, avoid these quiet, happy scenes. Not only do they interrupt the dramatic flow, they also tend

Every scene must include the outer battle (the physical reaction to conflict) and the inner battle (the psychological and emotional reaction to events).