Tips for outlining your book.

A reader asks:

I struggle with outlines every time I sit down to write it out because my little goldfish brain goes in 16 million different directions. What’s some advice you have to create an outline that involves the main story along with developing situations between characters?

Alle sez:

With my WIP, I was stuck in a tricky situation: how to work in the backstory in a way that moved the plot forward.

Keeping in mind that I had a full draft ready for revision:

1. I wrote each chapter's title on a quarter of a page of paper.

2. Next, I backed the flashback chapters, using a different colors, for each character.

3. I taped the chapters all over the side wall of my office. A light taping allowed me to move them around as I needed, in order to figure it out.

4. Then, each chapter was given an additional two pieces of paper:

• one for the opening line of each chapter, and

• one for the final line.

With one glance I could remind myself of where the hell I was in this mess.

How this is Feng shui.

The characters for “wind” (feng) and “water” (shui)

Feng shui is not some Madonna crap done to actualize your aspirations. Translated as the not-entirely-helpful, “Art of Geomancy,” feng shui is the practice of bringing balance to your life by balancing your physical environment. There are five critical elements:

• Wood

• Fire

• Earth

• Metal

• Water

Each element has corresponding directions, colors, and life influences.

My office’s largest empty wall space was the south wall. I used that for taping up the new novel’s chapters. Check out which life element happens to govern the southern direction!

To more increase the feng shui around “fame” for this novel, I could have used various shades of red to colorize the backstory chapters. See how this works? You have what you have, in your environment. Then you do with it what you can.