The Ten Day Outline
A Writers Guide to Planning a Novel in Ten Days
Lewis Jorstad
The Ten Day Outline: A Writers Guide to Planning a Novel in Ten Days
Copyright 2019 Lewis Jorstad
The Ten Day Novelist Book One
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form, or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher and copyright holder except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or educational work.
Though the author of this book has done their best to ensure its accuracy at the time of release, neither the author nor the publisher assume liability for any errors or omissions, regardless of cause.
Published by The Novel Smithy, LLC.
Printed in the United States of America.
1st Edition, 2019
ISBN (print): 978-1-7332079-0-4
ISBN (digital): 978-1-7332079-1-1
https://thenovelsmithy.com/
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
Antoine de Saint-Exupry, French writer and poet
Contents
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Where It All Begins
Nearly all aspiring authors will face a similar strugglethey want to write a novel, but they dont know where to begin.
Its undeniable that such a project is a major undertaking. Not only do you need to build a story, but then you need to populate it with a meaningful cast of characters and conflicts. Creating these elements is a huge task in its own rightnot to mention writing your story as well!
Unfortunately, far too many writers never reach the writing stage at all.
You see, not only is writing a novel intimidating, but its complex. Your story will dictate how you create your characters, but without characters to live and act in your story, how do you know how the journey begins? Worse still, you may know exactly what needs to happen in your novel, but youre at a loss for ideas on how to make it happen.
When faced with these difficult realities, many writers simply give up, while others put off writing their novel for so long that they lose the drive to write at all. This unfortunate reality marks the end of the road for far too many writers.
However, theres a remedy to this problem: outlining.
While the word outline might bring up visions of bulleted lists and school essays, a truly well-built outlineone designed specifically with a novel in mindgoes far beyond these.
Before ever sitting down to write your first draft, creating an outline lets you add depth to your ideas and discover unique ways to expand on your story. It gives you a bird's-eye view of your novel, helping you weave all of its elements together into something cohesive and meaningful. Most importantly, your outline becomes a roadmap, guiding you past writers block, comforting you when you doubt your storys potential, and encouraging you as you complete those final few chapters.
The simple power of a well-built, cohesive outline cant be understated.
Of course, for something to be so useful, it probably isnt the easiest to create. Your outline needs to do a few important things to help you prepare for writing your novel.
It should:
- Organize your ideas in a cohesive way.
- Provide critical details about your story.
- Give you space to brainstorm and experiment.
- Push you to explore every angle of your ideas.
- Come together quickly, before you lose the spark that got you excited to write in the first place.
This is why so many writers give up on their stories. Not only is writing a novel intimidating in its own right, but planning and preparing for one is complex as well. Their core idea may be strong, but expanding that idea into a fully fledged story without anything or anyone to guide them is simply too much.
Thats where this challenge comes in.
The Ten Day Outline is exactly what the name suggestsa ten-day challenge meant to guide you through every step of outlining and planning your novel. Even if youre starting with just a single idea, this challenge will help you build on that initial inspiration and expand it into a fully realized story, complete with a compelling cast of characters, scenes, and settings.
Thanks to a series of easy-to-follow goals, you wont have to wonder if youre missing something and you wont have to spend months struggling through a first draft you never had a plan for. By the end of this challenge, youll be one step closer to becoming an author!
All you need are ten days and the passion to create a novel all your own.
Your Questions
How should I use this book?
Because this book is designed to be a step-by-step guide, youll likely be referencing it a lot as you work on your outline. To try and make that process easier, I have a few tips and recommendations.
For starters, I encourage you to read each chapter and then complete its goals before moving on to later days. Every day of this challenge is designed to build towards the next, so you wont want to jump around out of order. By reading each chapter as you work on its goals, you should find the whole process is much more organized and easier to follow.
Of course, you may occasionally need a reminder of what your goals are for each day. In those instances, you can either flip to the goals at the end of each chapter or to The Complete Ten Day Outlining Process at the very back of the book.
How much time will I need to dedicate to the challenge?
To complete this challenge, you should only need to dedicate one or two hours each day to writing. However, there will be a few days later in the challenge that will require more timespecifically Days Seven and Eight. If possible, complete those days when you know youll have extra time to spare.
Do I have to complete this challenge in ten consecutive days?
I strongly encourage you to complete this challenge in ten days. When at its best, outlining is a quick process meant to capture the original spark of inspiration that got you excited to write in the first place. As more and more time passes between days, you may find yourself losing steam.
Completing the challenge over ten consecutive days will also help immerse you in your story. Youll come up with new ideas while doing the dishes, driving to work, and walking the dog, simply because you've tuned your creative subconscious into your story.
While you can certainly split the challenge up if neededlife does get in the way, of courseyour story will benefit the most from doing each day in order, one after the other.
Will this be difficult?
I wont lie to youthis is a challenge for a reason. Some of these days, especially the final few, will have you asking tough questions about the story you want to tell.
However, by the tenth day Im confident that work will have paid off. After completing this process over and over while testing and iterating on it, I cant say Ive reached Day Ten a single time and still had reservations about the story I had just created.
