We’re running a two-part series on outlining by Screenwriters Network member chidori. All members are welcome to submit articles on relevant screenwriting topics! Learn more about joining or submitting an article.
“What is this outlining nonsense? I’m making it all up anyway so I’ll just do it as I go along. And an outline is just going to box me in, I need room to find the story and characters as I write. Pfft, I don’t need no stinking outline!”
I’ve been there. I’ve made the excuses and I’ve known they were excuses. I just didn’t want to take the time to learn to outline. I wanted to feel like I was making progress. I wanted to hit those page count targets and outlining was only going to slow me down. Yes, I’m aware of the cognitive dissidence there when with an outline you will write the pages faster.
If you don’t want to outline, that’s fine. My first few screenplays where I didn’t aren’t bad for the lack of outlining (possibly because of everything else). What the lack of an outline certainly did do was make my rewriting task much longer. I could only see when I was much deeper in that things didn’t work. Rewriting is writing, right? Yeah, I’m not a fan. Outlining then can save me from additional pain in the rewriting process.
But… but… but…
Let’s put to bed the “find my story/character” argument (or tell it it’s bed time anyway). I still do like to find more story and more character “stuff” as I actually write. Since I’ve been outlining, I’ve still been able to do that. Your outlining process is going to be like your writing process; something you have to find and develop for yourself. So if you want to leave it loose, you can do that. If you want to outline to an almost scriptment degree, that’s up to you too. I’m going to share my current outlining process which is, like my writing, a work in progress. You can take any bits you like and totally ignore any bits you don’t.
Warning: I will unashamedly use my own scripts as reference. Self promotion goes against the grain in media circles I know but I shall do it nevertheless!
General ideas
If I have a scene, conflict, set up, kills, dialogue or even a rule. I’ll write it down under an ideas title. It can be a few words to a couple of sentences. It’s just, surprisingly, general ideas! Great or small write it down. Some examples of general ideas I wrote down from A Killer Love Song:
- Build to a kill (or kill discovery) every 10 minutes.
- When they get their phones the SIMs have been removed. “What psycho removes the SIMs?” “Probably one who KILLS PEOPLE!” After they get a SIM they discover there’s a blocker in place and any number they call gets answered with a message from the Slasher. A meme perhaps?
- A fake cat on a spring. (A jump scare that makes fun of the cat trope.) OR, someone wearing cat ears sneaks up on someone says “meow/nya”.*
* Going against the grain again; I want to say I still think this is genius (I did a girl with a cat ear headband) and the fact that no one has commented on it in feedback in no way diminishes that. (I’m totally not miffed by it!)
Going back to these as I outline I can find places to put them or remind myself of my original intentions. It’s easy once you start to outline a completely different script, having anchor ideas can keep you on track. It may not be a bad thing though, it may be a better script but being reminded of your original intentions can keep you from derailing.
Write the story or write the character?
How you start your outlining can depend on multiple factors. A big one for me is am I coming at the character(s) to fit in the story or a story to fit around a character. To help with that and just the idea in general, I will write (bad) loglines. I’m not going to get married to any, it’s just to help me figure out what this story wants to be. My initial logline for A Killer Love Song:
On a secluded band camp retreat a group of teenagers must fight their personal demons and a serial killer.
As I outlined the story changed quite a bit from the above and my logline became:
When a masked killer strikes a cabin resort a final girl must buck expectations, endure gruesome (and oddly comic) murders, sing therapy and romance to make it through.
You can see from the very first logline to the last how much outlining helped to nail down and focus the story.
Character first
If I’m going at things with a character first I’ll write a sentence or two about the character. Stuff such as wants/needs, goal(s), obstacles they could face, a short pertinent part of their history for the story. I’ll throw in an arc idea as well. I do the same if I start with my story first but where I would stop here, I’d go deeper. Plan out the journey I want the character to take emotionally. I will, of course, add to it as I outline when/if new traits arise etc. later.
From A Killer Love Song:
Todd (Slasher) – Todd is good looking (well of course, he’s a “teen” in a horror film!) with an easy charm that those who don’t have hate him for. He runs the resort “It’s Inside You”, this session by himself as his assistant didn’t turn up. As spoilt by the brackets, Todd is indeed our slasher killer. He likes nothing more than long walks in the forest ending with bloody, stabby murder. Todd will have an “I am” type song where he sings about the possible reasons why he’s like he is. In an against type cliché he doesn’t murder animals, he loves them. He’s even worked at an animal shelter.
Arc: Wants to kill, realises needs love. Falls in love.
Story first
If I’m starting with the story I will have already done some “mind work” or “thinking time” as lawyers call it (and charge you for). Usually this will be the opening and some sort of idea for the end. To help cement this a little better I may write a short synopsis, a mini-outline. Half a page or less to treat it like a pitch. If I can’t make that interesting then what hope do I have for a full script? Again, I’m not wed to it, it’s just to help start forming the story.
Partial except from A Killer Love Song:
A horror, comedy, slasher, (book) musical, romance set in a deep forest retreat for stereotypical teenagers (in their twenties). Like any retreat worth the exorbitant cost they have their own unique therapy: Singing! Yes, you sing your feelings. Who has time for subtext when you can have your characters sing their innermost thoughts? Even our slasher will join in. But what about the romance I so long for in my horror film I hear you ask?! Just because you’re a person with a stabbing addiction it doesn’t mean you don’t want love. Love in this case in the form of a final girl who herself has trouble finding the right kind of love. […]
Tomorrow we’ll be back to dig into the actual outline.