The idea when writing anything is that there will be a flow of a beginning, a middle, and an end. Before a writer can even go that far, though, they much first write an outline for a story. I will list a few reasons why writing an outline is incredibly important to assist a writer in their work.
The outline of a work of writing is an organization of the most important events that will make up the story. This is especially helpful for writers to stay on the proper track to know the order in which to write the story, to keep the voice and message coherent throughout their work. This can apply to nearly every kind of writing, although it is much more commonly used when someone plans on writing a chapter story since there will be multiple plot points to keep track of.
While writing the outline is the first major step in writing a story, that doesn’t mean that writing an outline is easy. In fact, at times, it can seem more difficult than writing the story itself because not everyone always starts out knowing how their story will end. It is also difficult to keep following due to the fact many writers want to write plot points not in chronological order, which can become an issue on keeping a proper and well-flowing story.
The way to write an outline is to understand the major events you plan to include in the story. Then, you organize the story in the way you see the plot points unfolding. There are a few basics such as:
*Introduction
*Chapter 1/Plot Point 1
*Chapter 2/Plot Point 2
*Chapter 3/Plot Point 3
*Chapter 4/Plot Point 4
*Chapter 5/Plot Point 5
(and so on)
*Conclusion
This isn’t an uncommon formula for other writings, such as thesis papers or even short stories. (Obviously, those chapters in those case would rather be paragraphs than full-blown chapters.)
The truth is writers are incredibly creative people whose minds tend to wander a lot, constantly having their brain going a mile a minute. This is great for brainstorming, but not for staying focused. The best way to accomplish staying on task is to organize a proper outline before beginning their writing, giving a solidly set plan into how the writer will succeed in presenting their story to the rest of the world.
The Golden Pen 