Kylie Day - How to Outline Your Book With Pre-Outline Questions

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2015 Kylie Day

Cover Design 2015 Kylie Day

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Find Kylie online at TheWritingKylie.com

I really appreciate your comments, corrections, and suggestions. You can send me a note at . Thank you!

Dedication

To all aspiring authors around the world.

Why I've Written This Book for You

Ive dreamt about becoming an author since I was a child. Creating stories, worlds, and characters are one of the best things I know in life. Reading does not come far behind. I believe you feel the same way, since you have picked up this ebook.

However, I have often gotten stuck in the process of creating my projects in one way or another. Why? Because of a few reasons. Do you recognize any of the following statements?

• Have you ever bought several books on writing, thinking they will make you write better and/or faster, but instead you read and read and push away the time your should spend writing?
• Have you ever felt overwhelmed of how much information and how many full-length books there are about writing, so many that you dont know where to start reading (or where/when to start writing, for that matter)?
• Have you ever felt frustrated over how many extensive books about writing there are, but none that could give you the solution to a problem youve had at a moment of struggle or writers block?

I have felt it all, and I believe there are more people like me who have this problem. The fact that you have picked up this ebook makes me believe you are one of us. The overwhelmed, frustrated, and struggling writer was the reason I created The Busy Authors Guide -series in the first place.

Are you a struggling writer? If you are, then The Busy Authors Guide -series might be the solution for you.

I dont want you to waste your time wading through yet another full-length book when you should be writing the thing you want and/or need to do most. I want to provide you with bite-sized help, inspiration, tips, and creative exercises because I believe small steps are easier to tackle than giant leaps.

As an incurable reader with a BA in literature I have studied a lot of books (both fiction and non-fiction). I understand what it takes to create a written work (whether fiction or non-fiction). With that knowledge as a base, I have created easy exercises and questions for you to do and answer to work on your writing-project.

I also wrote this book (or more likely the whole The Busy Authors Guide Kindle series) because I want to help others who have that same dream of becoming and author as I do. I want you to write the book (or books) you cant stop thinking about.

If you are someone who wants quick and useful tips on how to develop your written work so that you can spend more time writing and less time with writers block, this book is for you. If any of the descriptions above apply to you, I urge you to read on.

What You Will Learn in This Book

The Busy Authors Guide -seriesis a series of short ebooks meant for all kinds of writers who wants to take their writing seriously. I am aware that not all authors want to outline or plan their work. However, you can use these books as sources of inspiration as well as practical tips on how to create your work. If you are stuck in your creative process or starving for inspiration, you can read one of these ebooks in less than an hour and then get back to writing with newfound energy and inspiration.

In this book, How to Outline Your Book With Pre-Outline Questions , you will find several questions you can ask yourself before you begin writing your work (whether its fiction or non-fiction). These questions can be used to brainstorm ideas or topics as much as to get to the essence of your work.

Answering the pre-outline questions will help those of you who write fiction to establish what you want with your story, what you want your story to be, in some bigger strokes what kind of plot you will have, what kind of characters you want to write about, etc. You will also get the opportunity to think about what you dont want your story to be, because sometimes you can get more out of your work that way.

For those of you who write non-fiction you will, in some rough strokes, find ideas for your niche, think about several topics you can divide into several books, etc. Here you will also get the opportunity to think about what you dont want your book to be. Also, if you realize you have topics for more than one book but dont know which book to write first, there are some instructions (after the questions) on a ranking system I have developed. The PERT ranking system helps you see which book you will benefit from writing first(or want to write first).

I hope you will find this book useful. Now, you snatched up this ebook to get some help, inspiration, and/or great tips, so here we go!

Exercises

First and foremost; if you want to know more about what an outline is, you can read about it on my website in the blogpost called An Introduction To Outlining Your Story .

Secondly, please remember that the questions that follow have no right or wrong answers. They are meant to help you find an idea for a project or develop your existing idea. Your answers are not set in stone either, so keep evaluating your responses look for those that offer meaty possibilities or intriguing ideas until you feel youve exhausted the angles for the time being. You can always go back and change or develop your answers whenever you want, so dont limit your creativity by thinking you need perfect answers.

If you dont yet know the answer to some of the questions, feel free to skip them and return to them later in the process of discovering your work.

Now, lets get to business.

Pre-Outline Questions for Fiction Writers

Book

Question 1: What kind of story do you want to write, and what genre will your story fit into? ( Examples : fast-paced action adventure, supernatural thriller, epic fantasy with a medieval setting, etc.)

Question 2: What feel and tone do you want to present in the prose? ( Examples : romantic, magical, dark, mysterious, etc.)

Question 3: Will you write in past or present tense?

Question 4: What point of view will you write from? ( Examples : first-person, third-person, from one character or several, etc.)

Question 5: Will this be a long or a short story? Why?

Question 6: What do you not want your story to be?

Audience

Question 7: What kind of audience are you writing for?

Question 8: How old is your target audience?

Question 9: What gender is your target audience?

Question 10: What religious beliefs does your target audience ascribe to?

Question 11 : Where geographically and virtually speaking can you find your target audience?

Question 12: What kind of experience do your want your target audience to get from your story?

Characters

Question 13 : Who is the hero/heroine?

Question 14: What is his/her goal?

Question 15: What is his/her motive ( i.e. his/her reason for going after his/her goal)?