The Ultimate Guide to Outlining Your Book

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Watching a book is a lot like taking a road trip. You start at point A, have several adventures, cover some miles, sometimes have trouble with police (though not as much as you claim later on), and at the end you've reached point B. Also like taking a road trip, that process can get messy in the middle. When you write your book it's okay to begin the journey with just the start and end points in mind…but without planning that journey can also get messy in the middle.

By contrast, a road trip where are you plan your route, your rest stops, the roadside attractions, and where you'll stop to sleep each night that is faster, easier, and better. For your book, that plan is your outline. Just like with the road trip, an outline can save you from numerous bad turns, lost opportunities, and having to stay in really sketchy hotels that were the only place available when you got too tired to drive any further.

In this Ultimate Guide to outlining your book we will look at the following topics:

  • What an outline is and is not.
  • Things to write down before beginning your outline
  • 3 common outline methods you can use
  • How to turn a finished outline into a finished book

Ready? Let's get started!

Image by ErikaWittlieb

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