Seven Methods for Outlining Novels: Which One is Right for You?

Whether you prefer to plan out the details of your stories, or only like to pre-plan the bare bones of your plot, there is an outline method right for your writing style, and the story you want to produce. Writing a novel is a lengthy project but having the right outlining method can make the process of getting your story down on paper much smoother. In this post, we’ll discuss seven different methods for outlining a story. The synopsis outline, chapter by chapter summary outline, the snapshot method, the index method, the snowflake method, the bookend method, and the agenda method. More specifically, we’ll dive into the pros and cons of each method and what types of plots and writers each method works best for. If you’re unsure about what type of plot your story is, visit a list of types in this article.

We’ll also discuss methods that work best for planner writers or pantser writers. Planners, meaning authors that prefer to plan out the plot and all of the details of their novel, and pantsers, meaning authors that prefer to have looser outlines or even no outlines at all.

Synopsis Outline

According to MasterClass, the synopsis outline “involves the creation of a short document, usually one or two pages long, that gives you a rough idea of the novel’s structure but also leaves room for flexibility.” This outline method works well for writers that want to get all of their ideas down on paper at once but don’t want to organize their ideas in a particular manner. The synopsis outline is like writing the shortest possible version of the novel itself, it leaves out the finer details but fleshes out the plot of the novel and goes over all of the most important characters in the story. This outline isn’t specific to a planner or a pantser writing type because the content of the outline is up to the author, it can leave room for flexibility when writing, or not at all, depending on the person.

Snapshot Method

The snapshot method is one of the simplest methods of outlining and is definitely one more geared towards the pantser type of writers. It involves more storyboarding than it does planning of the novel’s plot. This method is done by creating Pinterest boards or scrapbook pages of exactly what its name states: snapshots. This can mean quotes pulled from other books or from people, drawings of what you want your characters to look like, or even pictures of celebrities that your character’s looks are based off of. This can also mean creating maps of lands in your story, or of the settings. It’s a crafty chaos method of outlining a story, and it’s a whole lot of fun.

Snapshots serve as inspiration for what the direction of your story will take but be sure to remember when making your snapshot outlines that they cannot be used instead of your own original ideas. They are meant to be inspiration, not the actual pieces of a story.

Chapter-by-chapter Outline

If you like to have everything worked out before you begin writing your novel, then the chapter-by-chapter outline is a great way to do that. This method of outlining a novel is for the more intense planners. This outline involves writing a summary of each chapter and scene in the book, which requires much more time, effort, and in-depth planning than many of the other methods of outlining do, but it ensures you know your task for the day every time you sit down to write. This is best typed out or written in a notebook since it’s going to take up a lot of space.

Chapter summaries specifically work well for novels that have large climax build ups or lots of foreshadowing. Also, this method is tried and true, being a favorite of many bestselling authors. Most famously, the chapter-by-chapter method was the way J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series.

Index Method

This is another crafty method that works well for both planners and pantsers, and it’s also cheap in regards to materials. Dollar General and Dollar Tree have packs of multi-colored index cards you can use for this method, so go grab some if you don't alreayd have them on hand. Then, you can use the cards to catalog or even categorize parts of the story, depending on how much you’d like to plan out the plot. You have the option of using the index cards to categorize your protagonist and antagonist characters by card color, and keep track of their backgrounds, personalities, and looks. You also have the option of using the cards to write out different parts of the plot, making it as loose or specific as you choose.

If you’re an intense planner, you can even utilize the chapter-by-chapter method discussed above and write out each of the chapter summaries in your book on the index cards. This is one of the more fun methods of outlining, and I would definitely recommend it to those who prefer a more creative and hands-on approach to their novel.

Snowflake Method

The snowflake method is a way of outlining that works extremely well for stories with more than one main character or more than one perspective, and is a method suitable for everyone since it’s optional how in-depth you’d like the outline to be. The snowflake method is also best done on a whiteboard or a poster board to ensure that you have enough space for all of your information. If that’s not going to be enough space, then I would recommend an e-document for each step of the process.

It begins with a single sentence summary of the book. This is just a beginning thought or general idea. From there, write a paragraph description of the book with your one sentence summary as inspiration. Then, write several paragraphs as character descriptions, noting your character’s personalities and backgrounds. The process can continue to span outwards with storylines for each character in the story, noting their progression throughout the length of the story.

Bookend Method

Pantsers, and those who despise intense novel planning, listen up! The bookend method is the perfect outline for those who want to leave some things to the imagination and chance. This outline involves only planning out the beginning and end of the story, like bookends. Everything in between is left up to the moment. This method is best for those who already have a strong idea of the story that they want to tell.

The Pen and the Pad states, “The bookends technique is a device used in magazine writing, screenwriting and novels to create a satisfying narrative structure by placing the setup of an anecdote or short scene at the beginning of a piece and the resolution to that anecdote or short scene at the very end of the larger piece.” This can be done in the form of a single sentence summary of the beginning, and a single sentence summary of the ending, or it can be done in the form of paragraphs describing the scenes at the beginning and end of the book. If you would like to add more detail to your planning of the beginning and ending, it is also possible to literally write out the beginning and ending scenes.

Agenda Method

The agenda method is another crafty idea that works for everyone, since it’s up to the author how in-depth they’d like to go in their planning. The agenda method involves grabbing a planner from the store, or even an old one that’s already been used. Then, to plan out the story, write down what your character is doing on each day, or what events are happening in the book. This is a great way to plan out your plot, and also to visualize timelines in your story.

If you’d like to leave most things up to creativity in the moment when you’re writing, focus on only jotting down the major events when they occur, but if you’d like things more planned out, you can write down even the smaller scenes day-by-day. This is a great hands-on approach to building a story.

Putting it All Together

There are lots of ways to outline a novel, there are more straightforward and detail-oriented methods, and there are those that focus only on the bare essentials of your story. In this post we’ve discussed different types of methods that work for different people and stories, so you should be able to find the one that works for you. Of course, many types of outlines work for everyone and every story simply because the outcome of the outline is based on the content preferences of the author, specifically these were the index, agenda, snowflake, and synopsis methods. For the planners, we have the chapter-by-chapter outline, and for the pantsers, we have the snapshot and bookend methods. Outlines aid in creating successful novels, and now you're well on your way to creating a great story of your own. Now that we’ve reviewed plenty of types of outlines, have you chosen yours? It’s time to start working on your next project!