Outline Depth Level

This document explains the levels of outline depth, with each increasing in detail. We want to work from the lowest level to higher ones, building on top each time.

Outline Level 0 - Brainstorm

An unstructured dump of concepts, ideas and scenes. This is the initial ideation that needs to be converted into the outlines.

Outline Level 1

A high level conceptual overview.

Broken down, this is a collection of nested storylines and storyline coordination units. Level 1 is where the story line is explained at a high level, structuring the brainstorm in level 0.

The storyline is documented in a Brandon Sanderson Promise → Progress → Payoff format.

Examples of storylines may be a character's emotional arc, a specific journey, a specific sequence of actions.

A lot of focus on WHY each element is there, what we hope to accomplish with it, how the element fits into the whole meta roster of the story as a whole. This is intended to focus the story on matching the needs of the target audience and to keep the elements of the story entertaining and novel.

Translate brainstorm into an hierarchical tree of storylines.

• For every storyline: a paragraph that states its Promise, intended emotional journey, target audience payoff, and why it exists without labeling. Use a dense, detailed, concise writing style without complete sentences. The concision here is only in the writing style, the content should still be extensive, complete and without any information missing. This should be unlabeled, never start with "Promise:" for example. It is implicit upon reading that it's a promise.
• Tag the storyline in the title brackets as A/B/C/D/E this controls how often they should appear or is stressed, the cadence of the storyline. They refer to the importance to the immediate parent storyline. D/E/F can be mini-storylines that appear in only a couple of scenes or parts of a scene. Order the list of storylines by this Importance.
• A bulleted list of plot or character points, key things to watch out for, subtleties to handle. This is the Progress in the PPP structure. This is a list of the component storylines that make up this storyline, with story points drawn from the brainstorm if they're the lowest level storylines. Checkpoints are bullets, following continuing as the third+ bullets. Nested storylines use markdown headers.
• One “meta” paragraph that explains how this storyline interacts with others per the Coordination matrix (share stakes? provide comic relief? offer thematic counterpoint?).

Always use dashes and not stars for markdown bullets.

While all of these should be covered, it should not be formatted with headers or titled. Rather just put each dash-bullets that has all the information contained within. Use a very concise and direct writing style, don't worry about complete sentences.

The Level 1 storylines don't have need to be chronologically ordered, they go by importance. They are myriad threads which can be added to or removed from at any time. Level 2 gives the storylines more structure and chronology.

While the writing style should be extremely concise, the actual content has to be expansive and cover everything in detail throughout all the storylines.

Outline Level 1.1 (Structural)

Take a far overhead view of the whole story. Think about how to tell and pace the whole story.

Outline Level 1.5 (Temporary)

A temporary level, a "draft" of a Level 2. A less detailed version of level 2 that's designed for easy review and broad plotting. This 1.5 transforms into a level 2 with more effort and isn't intended to be kept permanently.

Execute the intertwined storylines by scheduling/mapping their progress into events and scenes.

• Title and number the Event.

• Tag the storylines covered at the start with a paragraph list: 3.2 Ego, 1.1 Main Char Development

• 7-15 detailed bullet points per event that really describe the essentials of the event, unlike the level 1 which is more about storylines, level 1.5 is more about chronology and the individual steps taken in storyline progression. Each event should progress multiple storylines at once.

• Broad scene ideas in descriptive form, character turns, key dialogue, world‑building moments, key setting descriptions, key feelings and motivations.

• Avoid focusing too much on a single storyline in a single event, make sure to intertwine the events in a sophisticated way and pace each storyline throughout the relevant space. Consider advanced methods like setting up a storyline early and only really getting into it in later events.

Outline Level 2

Execute the intertwined storylines by scheduling/mapping their progress into events and scenes.

• Title and number the Event.
• Tag the storylines covered at the start with a paragraph list: 3.2 Ego, 1.1 Main Char Development

Then:

• 20‑50 detailed bullet points per event that really describe the essentials of the event, unlike the level 1 which is more about storylines, level 2 is more about chronology and the individual steps taken in storyline progression. Each event should progress multiple storylines at once.
• Detailed scene ideas in descriptive form, character turns, key dialogue, world‑building moments, key setting descriptions, key feelings and motivations.
• Be very clear which character's POV the narration is from and if there are switches. Frequently you may be switching between characters, so make sure to note that. Limited head-hopping is encouraged.
• If needed, add an explanation at the end of the bullet: “deepening the father‑son motif, very subtle scene”
• Why and how and authors thoughts are still important here.
• You're making the final decision here, authoritatively, specifically, and confidently on exactly what occurs, character motivations, author motivations, and dialogue. Avoid adding unwanted headings or unnecessary nesting.
• Avoid focusing too much on a single storyline in a single event, make sure to intertwine the events in a sophisticated way and pace each storyline throughout the relevant space. Consider advanced methods like setting up a storyline early and only really getting into it in later events.

Tags

Tags should be used in the creation of the level 2. Put multiple tags into the same bracket, slash-separated. For example, [C1/T2/D3].

The full library is in the [Writing Style Overview - Tags.md]

Example

Event 1: First Meeting
1.1. Alice Seduces MC, 2.2. Developing Tensions, 2.5. Feelings,

- The rage of the machine breaks through.
- Deng Yu, looks beautiful, describes her meticulous clothing and hair. *Sets up a hot LI.*

Outline Level 2.1

Take a wide overhead view of the story.

• We make decisions about pacing, scene ordering, and narrative balance - which moments need expansion, which can be condensed, and what transitions are required between major story points.

Discuss and reason through these decisions. Think about techniques such as "Start Late, Leave Early" in screenwriting.

Outline Level 3

A scene-by-scene structural expansion with finalized ideation. The last detailed ideas and narrative flow are here.

• This level can have even more detail than level 2 depending on the bullet and its tags.
• All the [L/DL] length tags are to be removed, and replaced by the full expected expansions.
• The authorial intent, why tags are also removed, with detail filled in to execute on their intentions.
• Specific instruction tags such as [D] and [T] that are useful for the level 4 are kept.
• This level transforms the skeleton concepts from Level 2, informed by the level 2.1 into a complete body with meat.
• Do not let the words in the tags leak into the outline.

Level 4 - First Draft

A first draft of the story using the Writing Style Guidelines.

Fully flesh out the details in level 3 into the novel format. It should be fully in literary form but following the Writing Style Guidelines. No headings.

• Linear manuscript, no headings.
• Use Level 3 as an unbreakable backbone: scene order, POV assignment, and promise/payoff integrity cannot drift.
• Feel free to invent micro beats or tighten pacing, but never violate a PPP contract unless you loop back and revise Inputs & higher levels accordingly.