Outline and beat sheets

[voxel]

How do you all keep everything nice and consistent (story-wise) in your outlines? I'm having problems keeping tracking of all the nitty gritty details of every character and location.

ie. There's always plenty of backstory, but of course that doesn't go in the outline/beatsheet itself. Do you guys write character bibles or draw diagrams as reference?

[Dr J]

Do you guys write character bibles or draw diagrams as reference?

I actually do both. A character bio is a great way to keep track of small details and also helps you retain your consistancy.

[Timothy Miller]

I plot all my story beats as Cartesian coordinates on graph paper. If I don't wind up with a nice parabola, I know it's not a viable commercial idea.

Seriously, one method I've had some success with is using an Excel spreadsheet. One column holds all my story beats, another column for each character and HIS beats, whether on-camera or off, another for scene transitions, another for visual metaphors in each scene. And columns for Act and/or sequence breaks.

I won't pretend I have all those little cells filled in before I start writing. For me, outlining is an ongoing process, concurrent with the actual script-writing. It's a way of getting distance from the words on the page.

[Deus Ex Machine]

You might want to checkout the threads in the software section on outlining software.


I recommend Keynote.

[Timothy Miller]

I know you've mentioned Keynote before. It remains, alas, unavailable for the Mac (to the best of my knowledge). I'll keep trudging along with Excel.

[whistlelock]

Um. I just keep it straight. I have to admit, I never thought of this as being a problem for anyone.


but, when it comes to math- what is clear and simple for most people is a continuous uphill battle for me.

Which just shows how deeply personal outlines are. Mine would probably be next to useless for you.

[BottomlessCup]

How do you all keep everything nice and consistent (story-wise) in your outlines? I'm having problems keeping tracking of all the nitty gritty details of every character and location.

I don't put much of that in my outlines or step outlines.

And I try not to worry too much about it in the first draft. It bogs me down too much and I need to maintain momentum at all costs.

Once I've got a first draft, I go through and try to ferret out these inconsistancies and details. It can be frustrating to find a major continuity error and have to change things, but for me it's easier to let the first draft really fly and worry about the rest later.

[odocoileus]

A second vote for Excel. You can size the cells as you like, try different sizes to see what works. You can also use the color functions to help distinguish data elements. Color the background of cells a different colors based on what they are or where they fall in the timeline.

[nickj]

I used to plot like crazy, now I spend more time on the characters. My outlines are a lot shorter and my character bios a lot longer.

[English Dave]

How do you all keep everything nice and consistent (story-wise) in your outlines? I'm having problems keeping tracking of all the nitty gritty details of every character and location.

ie. There's always plenty of backstory, but of course that doesn't go in the outline/beatsheet itself. Do you guys write character bibles or draw diagrams as reference?

If you cant keep track of the nitty gritty details of character and location then perhaps you have too many nitty gritty details? Not being funny.

Actually forget that. I don't really understand the point. My bad.

[kidcharlemagne]

One extremely laborious but effective tool I found when developing character is to write the main character's stories in the first person from childhood all the way to the end of the movie. That way I know exactly what a character is feeling in a scene and I have a better take on their inner motivation.

I don't do that in the beginning because I don't know have the full script but once I do I find this method gives me more character depth.