# Novel outline template

From "How to outline a novel, scene by scene" by the Feldar team:
https://feldar.com/guides/how-to-outline-a-novel

Free to use, copy and change. Fill in what you know, leave the rest blank,
and come back to it after every chapter you draft. An outline is a plan you
are allowed to argue with.


## 1. Premise

Working title:
Genre and target length (words):
Point of view (whose, how many, first or third):

Logline (one or two sentences: who wants what, what stands in the way,
what it will cost):

Want (what the protagonist chases, visible from outside):
Need (what they must learn, accept or give up):
The lie they believe at the start:
What they stand to lose:
The question the book keeps asking (theme, as a question):


## 2. Ending

Do you know it? (yes / a direction / no)
The final choice the protagonist makes:
The final image:
How it mirrors or answers the opening image:


## 3. Cast

Copy this block once per main character.

Name:
Age and role in the story:
What they want:
What they are hiding or refusing to see:
How they help or block the protagonist:
How they have changed by the end (if at all):
One concrete detail (a habit, an object, a way of speaking):


## 4. Places

Copy this block once per important setting.

Place:
What happens here:
One sensory anchor (a sound, a smell, a light):


## 5. Spine

Rough positions are guides, not rules. Move them to fit your book.

Opening state (what normal looks like):
Inciting incident (about 5 to 12 percent):
First doubt or complication:
End of act one, point of no return (about 20 to 25 percent):
First pinch (the opposition shows its strength):
Midpoint reversal (about 50 percent; what the protagonist learns that
changes the meaning of the want):
Second pinch:
Crisis or low point (about 75 percent):
Climax (the choice only this character could make):
Resolution and final image:


## 6. Chapters

Copy this block once per chapter.

Chapter number and title:
Act / part:
Rough length (words):
The chapter's job (what it must do for the book):
Scenes in this chapter (numbers):
The question it leaves the reader with:


## 7. Scene card

Copy this block once per scene. The "What changes" line is the test:
if you cannot fill it in, merge the scene into another or cut it.

Scene number and title:
Chapter:
POV character:
Setting (where, when, one sensory anchor):
Summary (one sentence):
Goal (what the POV character wants in this scene, concretely, now):
Conflict (who or what is in the way):
Turn / outcome (yes, no, yes but, no and):
What changes (the value that shifts, from what to what):
Planted or paid off (clues, threads, set-ups):
Rough length (words):
Notes after drafting (what you actually wrote, what moved):


## 8. Drift log

Keep this while drafting. One line per change.

Date | Chapter | What changed in the draft | What it changes in the outline