Different Outlines
In school you probably learned an outline structure similar to this one:
But that’s not the only way to outline. Unless this method works for you, it doesn’t need to be that structured or you can use other templates that are the same just different starting letters and numbers.
Personally, I am not as structured in my outlines as above. That just happened because I copied those rules from a webpage (https://en.japantravel.com/guide/shrine-temple-etiquette/20924 ) as a quick reference. Most of the time my outline just looks like this:
Each line starting with a capital letter is a different thought. It is just a rough sketch of what I want/need to happen in that chapter without being fleshed out. These quick notes are faster to write so I don’t forget anything. I also don’t have to worry about if I’m putting things in the right level of the outline structure or agonize over where it needs to go if it can fit into two or more categories.
Then it’s right below the words I’m typing and can see where I am headed with the story and the notes change into an actual story. The words above have been fleshed out from other notes, and those below are still needing to be applied.
Then because I am very forgetful, instead of deleting the notes I’ve used I highlight them in black and move them to the end of the chapter’s notes. So if I need to go back and look at them, they are still there.
This is just a trick that helps my writing process go smoother than keeping thousands of notebooks stashed all over the house (admittedly still have those too) and keeps my thoughts better organized than I have been able to do with pen and paper (probably because I use pen and hate pencils with a passion). You can use any color you want, I just chose yellow for notes and black for redacted because I use other colors for other color coding that I tend to do to help remember different characters.
