The Scene Book by Sandra Scofield
I’ve been reading about outlining and scenes recently. I read an article by Lazette Gifford about phase outlining. Now, I’m reading The Scene Book: A Primer for the Fiction Writer by Sandra Scofield.
Lazette Gifford defines a phase as:
Phases are written out as key phrases that will bring the next set of lines — the next action — into focus. This is not a scene-by-scene outline, but something worked out in much shorter sections. A phase can be clues to dialogue, if that’s what the section’s focus is centered around, or it might be a little bit of description, or a set of actions… anything that will make the story move another few hundred words. Usually a ‘phase’ will only run from twenty to fifty words in the outline.
Sandra Scofield defines a beat as:
small units of character action and reaction
Somewhere between these two ideas of outline and scene, I’ve started to think about my own work in progress. I thought phase outlining might be related to Agile Storytelling, so I’m going to try that as well.
How do you outline your story and write your scenes?