Mizhines

It’s stuff like this that keeps me up at night…

For whatever reason I remembered this post aaaand my brain went nuts.

With this post I listed 10 outline techniques to help writes move their story from a basic idea to a complete set of arcs, plots, sequences and/or scenes. Or to simply expand whatever you have in hands right now.

If you have a vague story idea or a detailed one, this post is for you to both discover and organize. A few technique will work perfectly. A few won’t. Your mission is to find the one that works best for you. That said, I advice you to try out as many techniques as possible.

So, are you ready? Open your notebook, or your digital document, and let’s start.

1. Snowflake method: Start with a one-sentence description of the novel. Then, develop this simple phrase into a paragraph. Your next step is to write a one-page summary based on the paragraph, you can write about characters, motivations, goals, plots, options, whatever you feel like. From this point on, you can either start your book or expand the one-page summary into four pages. And, at last, four pages into a brief description of known sequences of scenes. Your goal is to make the story more and more complex as you add information, much like a forming snowflake.  

2. Chapter by chapter: List ten to twenty chapters, give each chapter a tittle and a brief description of what should happen. Then, break each chapter into three to five basic sequences of scenes. Give each sequence a title, a brief description and a short list of possibilities (possibilities of dialogues, scenarios, outcomes, moods, feelings… just play around with possibilities). From this point on, you can either create the scenes of sequences with a one-sentence description for each or jump straight to writing. Your goal is to shift from the big picture to a detail-oriented point of view.

3. Script: This might sound crazy, but, with this technique, you will write the screenplay of your story as if it’s a movie. No strings attached to creative writing, just plain actions and dialogues with basic information. Writing a script will take time, maybe months, but it will also enlighten your project like no other technique. Your goal is to create a cinematic view of your story. How to write a script here. 

4. Free writing: No rules, no format, no step, just grab a pen or prepare your fingers to write down whatever idea that comes up. Think of possibilities, characters, places, quests, journeys, evolutions, symbolisms, fears, good moments, bad moments, clothing, appearances. Complete five to ten pages. Or even more. The more you write, the more you will unravel. You can even doodle, or paste images. Your mission is to explore freely.

5. Tag: This technique is ideal if you have just a vague idea of the story. Start by listing ten to fifteen tags related to the story. Under each tag, create possible plots. And, under each plot, create possible scenes. Grab a red felt pen and circle plots and scenes that sparkle your interest.

6.  Eight-point arc: With this technique you will divide your story into eight stages. They are Stasis, Trigger, Quest, Surprise, Critical Choice, Climax, Reversal and Resolution. The Stasis is the every-day-life of your main character. Trigger is an event that will change the every-day-life of your character (for better or for worse). Quest is a period of your main characters trying to find a new balance, a new every-day-life (because we all love a good routine). Surprise will take your character away from their new found every-day-life. Critical Choice is a point of no return, a dilemma, your character will have to make the hardest decision out of two outcomes, both equally important. Climax is the critical choice put to practice. Reversal is the consequence of the climax, or how the characters evolved. Resolution is the return to a new (or old) every-day-life, a (maybe everlasting) balance.

7. Reverse: Write down a description of how your story ends, what happens to your characters and to those around them. Make it as detailed as possible. Then, move up to the climax, write a short scenario for the highest point of your story. From there, build all the way back to the beginning. 

8. Zigzag: Draw a zigzag with as many up and downs as you want. Every up represents your main character moving closer to their goal. Every down represents your main character moving further from their goal. Fill in your zigzag with sequences that will take your character closer and farther from the goal.

9. Listing: The focus of this technique is exploring new ideas when your story feels empty, short or stagnated. You’ll, basically make lists. Make a long list of plot ideas. Make another list of places and settings. Make a list of elements. And a list of possible characters. Maybe a list of book titles. Or a list of interesting scenes. A list of bad things that could happen inside this universe. A list of good things. A list of symbolism. A list of visual inspiration. A list of absurd ideas you’ll probably never use. Then, gather all this material and circle the good items. Try to organize them into a timeline.

10. Character-driven: Create a character. Don’t worry about anything else. Just think of a character, their appearance and style. Give them a name. Give them a basic personality. Give them a backstory. Develop their personality based on the backstory. Now, give this character a story that mirrors their backstory (maybe a way to overcome the past, or to grow, or to revenge, or to restore). Based on your character’s personality, come up with a few scenes to drive their story from beginning to end. Now, do the same thing for the antagonist and secondary characters.

So, when is it time to stop outlining and start writing?

It’s called Raising Dion

Will 100% watch and support this show #RepresentationMatters

Here’s where you can purchase the comic book in book form or digital copy:

Original Team Arrow: Favorite Underappreciated Moments - and a Fic Request | Arrow 2x02

So we’ve all seen the gifs of this scene including HBIC!Felicity, Girl Wednesday, 3-2-1, Secretarial Arts, can I get you a cup of coffee? Etc, etc.

I created some other, less frequently seen ones. It’s what I think could be going through Oliver’s mind. And then I wondered, what led up to this? When did Oliver decide that this was necessary (and a good idea)? He MUST have consulted Digg, and I’m sure Digg KNEW Felicity would lose her sh!t when she found out. (The way he doesn’t bail Oliver out - and even piles on - and then SMILES speaks volumes).

Is there a fic out there describing something like this? The car ride over? I would’ve LOVED to see some sage Diggle wisdom. He’s smart enough to know how it will “look”. I wonder if he shared that with Oliver (and judging by Oliver’s cluelessness at the “only everyone at Queen Consolidated” comment from She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, I doubt it).

I want more of this in Season Four. This scene just crackles.

In honor of the fourth anniversary of “State V Queen” - the first episode I consider the writers created with the clear intention of turning Olicity into Arrow’s main romantic relationship - I believe we should celebrate our amazing OTP!

How will we do it? With an appreciation week, of course! 

Schedule: November 20 - November 26

Day 1 (November 20) - Favorite Underrated Moment(s) Day 2 (November 21) - Favorite Happy Moment(s) Day 3 (November 22) - Favorite Sad Moment(s) Day 4 (November 23) - Favorite Touch(s) Day 5 (November 24) - Favorite Kiss(s) Day 6 (November 25) - Favorite Parallel(s) Day 7 (November 26) - Favorite Quote(s) *Bonus Day (November 27) - Everyone Loves Olicity Bonus day is supposed to include your favorite quotes/moments from crew and/or cast about Olicity love story.

Tags: #olicityweek #ofaw

I don’t believe I need to point it out, but it’s good to remind everyone that the whole fandom are welcome to participate and not just fanartists or graphic makers. Meta, fics, videos, rambles and any other way the fandom can express their love for Olicity belong to the appreciation week. So, just let your love for them be heard and/or seen!

Let’s start with the obvious: the whole film Nux has wanted to establish his life has some meaning by dying “historic on the Fury Road.” Of course, all his previous efforts were attempts to continue things the way they were–in Immortal Joe’s terms. Thus, those deaths would not have really been historic. They would have been forgotten, just another blip in the status quo. In crashing the rig and allowing the wives to return to the Citadel, Nux does in fact fulfill his wish to die historic–without his actions, the wives likely would not have been able to return to the city and enact the changes they inevitably do. His death matters in a way none of the other deaths in the film do–it matters to changing the future, and thus becomes an important part of the future Citadel’s history.

Nux only knows how to do that in his own terms, though–the terms of the War Boys. Thus, his death only gains significance if it is witnessed. For Nux, the action itself is not as important as it being seen and acknowledged. This makes a lot of sense in terms of Immortal Joe’s world and its patriarchal structure. Individuals are not important, actions don’t matter unless they are showy and seen–all life boils down not to meaningful actions but to showing off.

But here’s why this film is a feminist masterpiece, and why this scene in particular cements that: Capable’s reaction.

Capable does witness him. She locks eyes and acknowledges the significance of his action, of his inevitable death. But she doesn’t respond like one of the War Boys–when the War Boys die asking to be witnessed, the others respond yelling “Witnessed!” This answer does say, “I have seen your action, it matters,” but hollered with usual the War Boy bravado, it also acts as an attempt for the witnessing War Boys to build up their own importance by making themselves part of the action.

Capable does not yell “Witnessed.” She responds with a gesture–holding her hand out and pulling it toward her heart. This is the Vuvalini’s gesture of mourning–a beautiful gesture that essentially mimics pulling the lost soul into one’s own heart. Capable has only just learned this gesture, but she seems to innately understand its significance. Thus, while she witnesses Nux’s death, she refuses to “witness” him in the sense of the War Boys and instead mourns him in the manner of the Vuvalini. Nux likely sees this–the editing implies he doesn’t turn the rig until after he’s seen the gesture. Thus, he knows he is witnessed, but more importantly, he knows that he will be mourned and remembered. With that knowledge, he finally has the strength and the worthy reason to sacrifice his life for a cause that matters.

And here, this lost War Boy looks into the eyes of the first person who spoke to him with kindness and compassion, and she is the only person he cares about in this moment: she is the only person he wants to witness him, because she is the most important person to him.

But as is usual for me it’s the smaller, personal scale that gets to me, because here’s the other thing about Nux: 

He’s already dead when we start the film. He’s a war-boy, he has access to the best of the medical care they have at the citadel, but he’s sick and he’s going to die young. He has tumours closing off his airway, probably already pressing on his nerves, he has something neurological going on with the fevers, his chances would be low with a fully staffed world-class state-of-our-art hospital and care team. 

That’s part of the power behind the war-boy enterprise: so many of them are already dead. When you know you are already doomed the kind of reckless, thoughtless charge towards death they do in everything they do gets much, much easier. When you cannot hope for anything better, then it starts sounding really good when some crazy old man says that if you just die this way then you will get eternal life and he, personally, will make sure you do. 

Even better when he seems to be able to give a downpayment on that promise by making your life here, while you die, a bit better. Better nutrition. Better care. Blood transfusions. Access to little luxuries. If he can do that, then it becomes a bit more plausible that he can actually take you to the glory beyond death. 

And even if he can’t, if you’re big enough, if you’re wild enough, if you do enough - well. Maybe your story will live even as you die. Maybe the survivors will tell the story of your glory and it’ll get passed on to the pups and you’ll live that way. 

The thing about all of the above is that it’s true. That’s the pernicious, poisonous thing about Immortan and the war-boys, and their equivalents in real life: it’s true. Nux is the walking dead. So are most of his comrades. They can’t be saved, and there comes a point where they can’t even be helped much. 

It’s possible that Nux could have done what he actually described to Capable: gotten out, rigged the rig and followed her across. But for what? So he can die slowly, the growing tumours crushing his windpipe, or whatever else his body’s going to do to him? This isn’t here, and now, where what we can do for almost everything is huge in terms of allowing comfort and support even in times of terminal illness. They can’t even keep blood-reserves fresh without resorting to keeping it in bodies. 

He tried to give Immortan his soul, and it failed - multiple times. And Immortan abandoned him. When he was imperfect, when it broke, Immortan abandoned him. 

Capable saw him at his most imperfect, crying and afraid and broken, and she curled up beside him and was kind. She defended him from the others. And then the others accepted him, let him do what he could. Trusted him - to drive, even, when needed, the ultimate expression of power in this verse. When they had every reason just to cut his throat and leave him. 

Immortan promises to carry his soul to Valhalla. And then abandons him because of bad luck. He tried to give Immortan his soul (as he understands it) and in the end Joe spat on that gift. 

Here he does what he’s always meant to do. He doesn’t want to die choking and spitting and shivering in the night, he wants to die like this and here he offers Capable his soul, the offering Joe spat on. 

And there’s Capable. Who, until Angharad falls under the wheels, is always at her arm. Who maybe doesn’t believe in the Green Place but she believes Angharad believes and she believes in Angharad. 

Angharad is the first one who saves Nux’s life, forbids Furiosa to kill him - no unnecessary killings; he’s just a boy at the end of his half-life - and then, in part because of this boy, Angharad dies. Capable loses her. And then, when she finds the boy hiding and crying in the rig, she gets down beside him and talks to him. He’s just a boy. She listens. 

And it turns out the Green Place is dead, just like Angharad, and only a few Mothers remain, and their only tiny sliver of hope is to go back through death and even the Mothers kill, even the Mothers throw anti-seed. The Dag is the one who snipes about it, but the Dag spends the whole time on the edges of violence, shuddering back and forth, and she’s the one who snipes about it as “be above all that”. But Capable is always next to Angharad and Angharad is the one who says no killing; my baby won’t be a warrior. 

(Now it turns out her baby won’t be anything.) 

And yet even the Many Mothers kill; even the many mothers are warriors. They have to be. It’s hard to imagine what that would be like to struggle with. And to know that you might have a chance at the Green Place again but you’re still going to have to get there over a sea of blood - that there’s no way out of this. That you can’t, as Angharad so desperately wanted, just run far enough and get away from death and bringing death. 

And the boy is still going to die, and he’s still made the choice to die this way, and the boy is offering her his soul. The way he knows how. The way she hates, and Angharad hated, but not only can’t she stop him, she can’t offer him any reason to stop, to try that little bit harder to get out of this alive too - she can’t offer him life. She doesn’t have that power. Nobody actually has the power to make death stop, to put them above it. 

There is only one thing she can offer him, that she can do for him, and it’s what Joe didn’t, and wouldn’t. Not even couldn’t: wouldn’t. 

She can carry his soul. 

She can pick up the gesture from the Mothers - who aren’t perfect, who also know death on both ends, who plant anti-seed as well as seed when they have to - and she can accept the sacrifice from the boy who is going to die for her (and hers) and she can carry his soul. 

Somewhere. Maybe to the Green Place. Who knows? But she can carry it. 

The most important part of this for me isn’t the big connections to societies and beliefs - people make up societies and beliefs to answer the needs we have, and sometimes we do it well and some times we make them out of poison that just takes a while to destroy us, but we make them for us. For what we need. 

But Nux is going to die for Capable. He’s made that choice. Her choice is whether or not to carry him. And she does.