Writing a book is an invigorating venture. Making your mark on the world, sharing your creativity or expertise, recording history — these are all momentous reasons why many people strive to write a book.
But it can also become arduous at times when thoughts don’t flow, time is limited, doubt creeps in, or inspiration lags. If you’ve felt this way about writing your book, you’re not alone. Most people who dream of writing a book hit a wall at some point — or sadly don’t finish at all.
I have the solution, and it’s a simple one — begin your book by writing a book outline.
You might think that writing a book outline is a daunting task — or even an unnecessary one. But allowing your creative thoughts to flow and seeing where your ideas lead you might be the necessary step to your next best-seller.
As a top-selling author of more than 80 books, I can tell you that knowing how to make an outline for a book has been the cornerstone to my success as a writer.
After writing dozens of books, you might think I could skip the outline stage completely and simply start sharing my thoughts.
What I’ve found instead is that creating even a rough outline first helps me organize my ideas and pull together takeaways for my audience to create a better end product.
So let me help you become an author by getting your book started, written, and published. I’ll show you what a book outline is, why you need one, how to create one, and some helpful templates to streamline the process.
In its most simple form, a book outline is a set of directions that you’re giving yourself — a roadmap of sorts — that allows you to hone the concepts you wish to present during the process of writing.
Once you’ve completed a few outlines yourself, you’ll find there are certain aspects or ways of outlining ideas that are more successful for you personally, and that’s great. Outlines are meant to give you a kick-start and improve the flow of your thoughts.
Creating a book outline can take a variety of forms, everything from a color-coded Excel sheet to a few scribbled sentences on scraps of paper.
The most successful outlines tend to include at least an introductory or overview paragraph, broad headlines for the content, and a few sentences describing what you would like to cover in each particular chapter.
The goal is not to pre-write your book; instead, you’re simply creating a memory prompt for what you would like to say in particular areas of your book.
Learn How to Become a Successful Author
Sign Up for My Free Webinar Today
Creating an outline for your book provides you with organization and structure that you’ll be able to utilize at the beginning, middle, and end processes of writing your book. By writing an outline first, it will also:
A bonus aspect of knowing how to make an outline for a book is that you’re less likely to finish your project and realize that you’ve omitted something crucial — that might require you to rewrite a significant portion of your project.
Want to know a secret benefit or by-product of writing a book outline?
Confidence.
Once you start the process of jotting down your ideas, you may be surprised to realize exactly how knowledgeable you are about a topic.
Getting started on anything as weighty as writing a book can leave you feeling overwhelmed, but getting a clear outline in place can make the task of actually writing your book feel a great deal more achievable.
You can create an outline for any type of book you want to write, both fiction and nonfiction. Regardless of your subject matter or genre, you’ll need to start by choosing a book topic.
Next, ask yourself some basic questions about your book, starting with crafting the premise for the project:
When you’re writing an outline, don’t be afraid to make the outline work for you, in fact, it can eventually become the table of contents for your book. Whether that means detailed bullet points that are multiple levels deep or only jotting down a few words to describe each chapter and then going back later to fill in the details.
It’s all about finding a way to use outlining to work with your creative process.
Now that you have the basic foundation laid out, let’s look at how to outline a book that’s either nonfiction or fiction.
Outlining a nonfiction book is slightly different than a fiction novel, as you’ll need to start with creating a compelling reason for your audience to accept what you’re sharing.
To achieve this, be the thought leader for your audience on the topic in your book. Share your experience and expertise.
And if you’re writing the book from a place of learning alongside the reader, let them know upfront. It may even serve to make your writing more approachable.
Consider these questions when creating your nonfiction outline:
Nonfiction book outlines are fact-based and have a teachable storyline, as opposed to a character-oriented fiction book outline. When you’re making your nonfiction book outline, think about what the purpose of your book is and what message you want to offer.
Determine the structure of your book as well. For instance, is the basis of your book problem-solution, compare and contrast, timeline-based, how-to, or another type of structure?
Identifying this will help you to efficiently create your outline.
As you write your outline, identify the main points of your book and organize them into chapters. Then, add specific details to each chapter, writing down as much information as comes to your mind.
A novel book is fiction-based. For a fiction novel, many authors prefer to begin with the characters that they’ll be introducing and make extensive notes on their motivations and how they relate to one another.
Another popular fiction outline begins with defining all of the various locations where (or when) a story will be set.
Consider these questions when creating your fiction outline:
And then make sure you include these items in your fiction book outline:
Outlining your book should be a flexible process.
The goal is not to tie you down to create the exact order or format that fits your outline. Instead, outlining gives you the flexibility you need to shift items around as your project develops.
Use the following steps to understand how to outline a book. I’ve included tips for each step that will help you complete your outline so that writing your book is a smoother and more successful process.
First, craft your story and its premise. Your premise is the basis of your story and this is where the ideas of your book come to life. Then expand on your thesis to generate new ideas.
Consider answering these questions as you craft your thesis:
Determine the time and place of your book while making sure it appropriately suits your story, characters, plot, and so on.
Get to know your setting well so your book is authentic for the reader. Do research if needed, or if you’re creating your own fictional setting, carefully craft it with detailed descriptions.
Also, steer clear of having an overabundance of different settings to keep your story targeted and make it more enjoyable for your readers to visualize the setting in their minds.
As you develop your characters, imagine what they look like, how they act and react, what their personalities are like, and what role they play in your book.
Introduce your characters in your outline by writing detailed descriptions of who they are and their backgrounds, interests, and goals.
Develop each character’s backstory and determine where they’ll start and how they’ll change throughout the story.
Unfold a timeline of events and outline what will happen from beginning to end.
Don’t worry about including all the details, but it’s helpful to answer the who, what, where, when, and why for each major event.
Also, outline how certain events will impact the plot and characters, and ensure there are no gaps in the story.
In your outline, it helps to write out specific scenes when you feel inspired. You can even include dialogue to bring your scenes to life.
Jot down as many ideas as you have when you’re writing your outline. Use the inspiration that comes to you, and don’t hold back.
Now that your first draft of an outline is done, review it and start to piece sections together. You can also condense ideas and remove any unnecessary thoughts.
Before you start writing, work through any remaining potential problems in your head or on paper. Once you feel you have an outline you can work with, you can begin putting it into action.
There are a variety of ways that authors choose to outline their books. Some like to use a more visual mind map that outlines the spatial relationships between themes and how they tie together.
Others prefer to go the route of defining their synopsis up front: all the various things that your audience should expect to learn in the process of perusing your book.
Yet another option is to create what you might consider a “true” outline or a skeleton of your upcoming book.
There are no limits: Authors can use a combination of any of the above or create their own outline ideas.
Be flexible as you write your outline. Remember, this is just the first step of writing your book.
Ask yourself questions throughout the process, and consider getting ideas from similar books.
If you’re stuck, don’t worry. Just leave blanks and come back.
Want a quick and easy way to make your book outline? Use a template to get started right away.
Everyone uses different writing tools today, so I’ve provided my free book outline templates on a variety of different platforms.
This template was created over a process of trial and error as I was writing my library of books — over several decades.
Grab one and let’s keep walking through the basics of writing your book outline.
Using a non-fiction or novel writing template in PDF form is a crisp, appealing way to outline your book. Use my editable book writing template PDF to write your outline on your computer, or print it out to handwrite your notes.
When you write a book template in Microsoft Word, you’re generally creating a piece of content that can be easily shared with collaborators — and the world.
You may also use the same book outline template which can be converted to a Word document after you download it, or you can transfer the information into your Word doc.
Google Docs is a free, online tool that allows for easy collaboration. It’s perfect when you need someone to read and add comments to a file that you’re still working on.
Added bonus: You can easily export your Google Doc book outline template into a Microsoft Word version that can be opened on that platform and edited or read.
If the thought of writing with a template that was developed for others doesn’t appeal to you, just keep in mind that a template is just that: one potential way that you can accomplish the task.
That doesn’t mean you can’t modify the template to work for you. A template is an easy guide for when you’re stuck on where to start.
Few writers are able to sit down and magically churn out a bestseller without some type of writing tool such as a book outline.
It’s simply a jump start to success that will help you create lists of topics that you want to research and explore, relevant examples, and lessons you’ve learned in the past.
Downloading my book outline template provides you with the basic framework for success as you prepare to write your next book. It encourages you to brainstorm the plethora of thoughts that you want to share.
Plus, you can use my book outline template as a professional to start sharing your work with others and receive feedback.
Whether that’s a current colleague or a former teacher or mentor, this type of interaction with others can help hone the message of your work and refine the tone you need to use to approach your writing.
Knowing how to make an outline for a book sets you up for success as an author.
A book outline provides you with the framework you need for a smoother, more complete writing process, and you can use an outline for any storyline or genre you plan to write.
For even more in-depth tips on how to outline a book, how to choose a book title, overcoming the fears that hold many writers back, making time for writing your book, and knowing exactly what to write about, sign up for my free “5 Steps to Planning and Publishing a Best-Selling Book” webinar today.
We all have a great book idea burning inside of us. In fact, most of us dream about learning how…
Becoming a great leader is more about the inner qualities you possess than the title you are given. While a…
You've heard the saying, “First impressions are lasting; you never get a second chance to create a good first impression” — right?…
Are you looking for effective strategies on how to develop a new habit? Understanding the differences in habit formation is…
You've written a book that's about to be published or an article that's going live online. Congratulations! But although this…
Did you know you can make your dreams and aspirations a reality by focusing on your own individual personal development plan?…