I always had the biggest problem with outlining until I read Lennon & Gerant's "Writing movies for fun & profit." The book is ok, and there are some good stories, decent advice from busy, commercial writers and sincere mea culpas about the crappy movies they've written/made. However, the outlining section is *gold*, and they have a number of good examples. Basically a key scene outline, in screenplay format, pretty detailed, that runs to about 20 pages, with action and important/key dialog. I find I get a pretty consistent 5:1 expansion ratio from my outline to 1st draft, right down to the scene level. Furthermore, this format allows me to spot any serious structure problems up front (acts that are too long/short, action points/beats, etc...). The only downside is that it doesn't give me any sense of pacing or the ability to create a detailed beat sheet ahead of writing the script.

I hate outlining. I hate it! But man, it's so nice to have a roadmap. I do it differently every time. However, I usually start with the three act breakdown. Very simply: 1) This happens 2) This complicates 3) This exemplifies + Denouement Then I try to write scene breakdowns, get pissed off, and just start typing the story in two or three pages with notes to myself. From there, I go to page one.

Ugh. I just half-broke a feature and it was like pulling teeth. I started from a pre-writing document in which I filled in the blanks of narrative throughline, hero's journey, and save the cat with scene ideas that fit those structures, not to mention a pile of character q&a's. Since it's a genre hybrid, I did a series of short outlines -- what are the main action beats, what are the main romcom beats, what are the antagonist's main beats, what are the various subplots' main beats. That didn't add a lot of scenes but it helped me see the structure. Then I started a new document in which I went in order, pasting in the scenes I'd thought of in the pre-writing process and adding connective scenes. My outline is now three and a half pages long, detailed on the first act, sketchy on the second act, and minimalist on the third act. There are 30 scenes listed out. Some scenes are broken down into as many as seven beats and include lines of dialogue. Others have important questions written in all caps with abusive language directed at myself. It's not exactly the whole story, but since the pre-writing and outline process was coming on six months, I figured it was time to start drafting. I don't have enough outlined to make it all the way through, so I'll probably hit a wall and try to expand the outline by another page before too long.

I like to use cards. It's not "true" outlining, but I like the visual representation of the story. I've tried prose and it's just too dense for me. Nick: what is the "exemplifies" stage of your breakdown? I've never seen that used as an example. Could you elaborate?

I also go the card route. Mainly because I spend so much time before that "writing" in my head so I just need the cards as reminders. I would like to try to write a true outline but haven't worked up to it yet. Maybe a New Year's resolution.

i believe in obsessive outlining, and then just before you start the script, you lock the outlines away and forget them and crank out pages as quickly as possible.

I have been a lousy outliner in the past- except I had outlined the hell out of my best (first) work - a TV series where every character had an arc, every beat of every arc was plotted for every episode etc etc etc. And the result was very good (not just my opinion, but people in the industry - though not quite good enough for people to say "hell yeah, let's make it"). Then I think I got cocky. And stopped outlining, apart from definitely knowing where the story was going - I always know the end. And I've written five features that way and they're "okay". I tried to write a web series like that - that's a commission. It was awful. Then I did a page one rewrite, and it was still pretty awful. Then I thought I'd take a look at the Sequence method, and realised I could write the webseries as an eight-parter, one sequence per episode. So I planned it, thoroughly outlined the whole thing. And started another page-one rewrite. But more than that, when the story I was writing inevitably deviated from the outline, I went back to the outline and reworked it so I could still see how I was going to get to the end. And that works. Then I ran into a problem: my proposed outline for the 7th and 8th episodes were too thin, not enough meat, I started to write ep 7, generated one paragraph and realised it couldn't work. So I went back to the outline, mulled over things, figured out the solution - which made the story vastly better, and removed some things I was worried about. And wrote the last two episodes. There is no question the result is a thousand times better than the previous version. So now I think should go back to those five features, apply the Sequence method to them (seems like a good way to build scripts) and see if I can come up with something better. I'm still not a fan of outlining - I really prefer to be just writing - but I can't ignore the fact that it really is the best thing to do.

Once I've got through the random notes stage, I move onto index cards ( there are some great virtual ones for iPad). But my secret weapon is a piece of software called StoryView. It's an incredibly flexible outlining tool that lets you outline by sequence scene and or beat. Can't praise it highly enough. It's a real workhorse with none of the silly features that often come with some of the "so you want o be a screenwriter" type programs. I do this for a living now and I'd be lost without it.

In case of use, there's a timeline app esp for writers available only on Mac (haven't used), may still be in beta, Aeon Timeline: http://aeontimeline.wordpress.com

Alex, that's generally my approach as well. And interestingly enough, after spending a week immersed in all things Pixar, that is absolutely their process as they will spend up to one year in the outlining phase. Most screenwriters and all TV writers 'break their story' in prep. Get the hard work done there as that not only gives the writer confidence they won't get lost during the page-writing part of the process, it also allows us to focus on the more creative aspects of character nuance, dialogue, atmosphere, tone, and all that when we work on actual pages. That is the primary reason I created the Prep: From Concept to Outline course at Screenwriting Master Class.

I've really grown to enjoy outlining, when it goes well. I'm working on one right now. I do it all in Open Office, usually start by constructing a simple beatsheet and then flesh it out from there. The project I'm working on now is inspired by real events and there's a fair amount of research involved, so I have a section for GENERAL tidbits which includes basic notes, ideas for sets, snippets of dialogue, etc. All in an effort to better my understanding of my characters and their world. Then I have a CHARACTER section which is just that. As I work, some characters come, some go, some become deeply developed. Then there's the actual OUTLINE, which is what springs out of the beatsheet. I'm big on bullet points here, a good way to subdivide elements of acts, sequences, scenes, etc. and see them in an orderly sort of way. Then after that I keep a REFERENCE section with links to sites that I've used for my research, and legal issues that might have to be explored (since it's partially based on real events). All-in-all, this process takes about two weeks, and I'm balancing it with a rewrite for another project. It can be hard as hell, but if it goes well, it's miraculous watching the story unfold before me. Then when I sit down to go to script it's a breeze. I'd much rather have to change a bullet point on an outline than rewrite an entire bunch of scenes and remap the whole script.

I agree, the outlines are by far the best feature of L & G's book. I think their format strikes the best balance between a dry, purely structural approach and an outline so detailed you might as well be writing the first draft. They're not in screenplay format IIRC though - they're effectively treatments.

My mistake... what I meant to say is that the way I write *my* outlines follows their basic pattern, but I try to keep mine in screenplay format. What does that mean? First of all, I write my outlines in celtx screenplay mode, just like my screenplays. All my scenes are delimited by proper slug lines (to which I attach all my notes), any dialog is properly formatted, and while my language might be a little looser, I try to write my scene descriptions the same way I would a screenplay (short paragraphs, characters first appearance capitalized, etc...) When I get to write, I treat my outline as if it were in fact a first draft, and add all my new stuff in revision mode, so I can see what's changed very easily. The upside of doing this, is that all my outline description is right there on the page while I'm writing, which is immensely helpful for me, and if I've done my job right, when I'm finished, the only things left intact from the outline are the slug lines.

And any "bible" type docs I write in LyX, which is a fantastic editor for writing books and any substantial scholarly type docs. http://www.lyx.org

It's simply my way of saying, "Third Act." There needs to be a twist or surprise with emotion or actions or both, built upon the complications from Act Two.