Regarding outlining & novel design, in David Morrell’s chapter on The Tactics of Structure from his book, Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing: a novelist looks at his craft, he talks about using the beginning, middle, climax, and conclusion in terms of a modified triangle, which you’ve probably seen before (ignore “-” I used so spaces wouldn’t be collapsed; any trick to this?).
-------C
------/–
A___B/----D
where the novel time from A to B is 1/7, B to C is 5/7, and C to D is 1/7. Morrell says that John Barth notes, in Lost in the Funhouse, “AB represents the exposition, B the introduction of conflict, BC the ‘rising action’, complication, or development of the conflict, C the climax or turn of the action, CD the denouement, or resolution of the conflict.” Morrell goes on to say, “Most narratives have a structure that can be represented in this fashion. Something about the logic of stories demands this approach. We can violate the convention, but we better have (as Barth does in this story) an awfully valid reason for doing so.”
What are your thoughts on this or similar structures? It seems easy to use Scrivener to achieve whatever structure we please.
As a new owner of Scrivener, I am very appreciative of it’s capabilities. Now if I can just do my part. 
I learn from all the comments on this board. Thanks.
I’ve been writing most of my life, starting sometime back in the Silurian, and never took classes or made a serious attempt to learn from the many excellent guides to good writing. (Sole exception: Strunk/White.) But I did read, and do read, a lot of stuff in various forms and genres. So – apparently – when I began trying to write novels, something about the structure had been implanted in my brain. (Or perhaps we all have it, part of the inherent story-teller in each of us.)
But to the point. As I’ve looked back over recent manuscripts, I’ve appreciated how my story lines do follow that a-b-c-d structure, a structure I identified only after writing, not before.
When I was teaching English composition (high school and college) I told my students to ignore the once-traditional outline system, which required them to draw up a schematic for an essay before ever beginning to write the thing. What I told them was, “Write the thing, then go back over it and see how it’s built.”
Their first efforts usually were dull, but by the end of the year they were writing pretty well, and much more confidently than otherwise.
Phil
Indeed there is; use the “code” format, found in the buttons above the editing window when you post. “Code” is equivalent to “pre” in HTML - it uses a monospace font, and keeps all spaces and carriage returns as you typed them. Thus:
C
/ \
A___B/ DRegarding this “ABCD” structure, the problem is, as PJS points out, that everyone pretty much already know this instinctively, and even if they don’t, it won’t really help them outline a story. The hard part of outlining is filling that ABCD with events that are logical, compelling, and entertaining. And that’s something no-one, not even Robert McKee, can help with much, beyond pointing out examples.
To go to the original request a bit, Robert Sawyer (a very popular writer of very good SF) has posted the outlines for a number of his novels at:
http://www.sfwriter.com/ouindex.htm
I found them quite helpful when I was trying to get the “feel” of a novel outline.
- krf
Now that I’ve actually gotten through my first draft, I have to heap kudos upon the Snowflake method (thanks again, Hugh, for bringing it to my attention) for keeping me on track and saving me from that dreaded midnovelitis. Comparing this work to the previous four unpublishable novels I’ve written, it seems much tighter, more consistently energetic and with a waaaay more satisfying ending (which is nothing to compare to the actual satisfaction of ending the damned thing! 
). Of course, the fact that I gave up writing for over a decade may have helped as well. 
Now that I’ve been led down the garden path–too much time on my hands these days–by a discussion elsewhere comparing the virtues of Things vs. OmniFocus, I’ve come across OmniOutliner, and I wonder if it might be a nice adjunct to the Snowflake method, as a substitute for the recommended spreadsheet.
I know, too much time on my hands. But the list of projects that surround me (and that have nothing to do with writing, and everything to do with a house in total disarray, mail unopened, and children and spouse woefully unattended to) warrants some external organization. There’s method in my procrastination.
We mostly deduce structure after the fact, and not while drafting. Many writers claim to work from a preordained plan, but on closer examination, the result seems to resemble a trip itinerary: a succession of plan and accident, two days going forward and three days going off track to watch the sheep-dog trials.
Beginning with Aristotle, critics said that works have parts that follow in a particular order. Most of these formulas focus on character development and action. I think a sounder way to analyze structure is to attend to patterns in space and time. When is this happening, and where? If you track those two elements, you can generally see or plan a narrative structure.
I certainly think so, and use it for that purpose.
Reading your first sentence, Droo, I was prepared to disagree. The stand-off between “structuralists” and “sculptors” is ancient. But in reality I suspect the gap is not that wide. Even a plan for an itinerary has an intended destination, almost certainly some stopovers on the way, and probably a desired theme, all of which will probably be reached or followed in the course of the trip - so, “a beginning, middle and end, though not necessarily in that order.”
I agree with this post:
As a digression, I always believed that the least outlined programmes on TV were wildlifers - “furries” in the trade. Until I worked on one. Of course Sir David Attenborough and his teams have the resources to go away for six months and wait till the pod of whales or the rare frogs appear. But on the programme I worked on, every shot was precisely pre-planned. (Those of a sensitive disposition should look away now.) An owl was required to swoop down in front of the camera and catch a lizard in a field. So an “owl man” was hired with a trained owl that swooped on command, and a “lizard man” with a lizard that wasn’t camera-shy. The camera rolled and the owl did the deed. Sadly for the lizard the outline failed to leave any scope for unexpected plot or character development.
H
Ouch. Poor lizard. 
Hugh, I’m interested that you use Omni Outline for Snowflake. I ended up just making a separate Snowflake Project for my book, which was useful–I created a document for every scene and just transferred stuff in there, then used the documents as guidelines. I could see an overview in Scrivener’s outline mode, but could not print it up, which was frustrating. Tell me what you like particularly about Omni Outline, if you have a minute. I would probably end up combining the two–a Snowflake Project, plus an Omni Outline as well–in future work.
Druid, I kind of get what you mean, and as Antony pointed out, I did use my outline as a guide rather than a bible, and did go off track in a couple of substantive directions, but overall, having a map, so to speak, of my destination was a huge asset. I’m a little foggy minded (my kids’ term is “flakey, MOM,”) and I have a terrible memory, so it’s very easy for me to end up wandering around aimlessly in the wrong direction. As my husband once exclaimed in a fit of exasperation, “Zoe, when they were passing out brains, you were off somewhere having a gin and tonic.”
A traveler’s guide to the galactic barroom is always a welcome addition to the toolbox. Suitcase. Cocktails handbook. Whatever.
Cheers. 
Really interesting discussion–thank you.
I thought I’d add a couple of suggestions from my process of outlining, as I’m a member of the difficult-time-with-outlining club. Now, my experience in wrestling with outlining is with academic writing, so this may or not be helpful.
I like to use mindmapping programs, and free ones include freemindhttp://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/19325/freemind, MyMind[/code][/code]http://www.sebastian-krauss.de/software/, and XMindhttp://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/24921/xmind. Another good one, though with fewer drag-and-drop options, is Cmaphttp://cmap.ihmc.us/download/–I like it because it forces you to come up with a “linking phrase” ([taste] --classifies-- [the classifier]). (This can be overriden…) I like XMind because it has a fishbone diagram option, useful for diagramming anything with a trajectory. MyMind is also excellent–watch out if changing fonts and node positions and lock nodes, or it’ll rearrange everything.
I like to use these programs to brainstorm and rearrange ideas and topics, whether it’s to dump thoughts out randomly or to see what connections I can make. I also really need to work with pen and paper–I’m convinced this uses a different area of the brain–and use post-it notes, index cards, or revise printed mindmaps… I also scan drafts, circle topics, cut apart drafts by paragraph and write topics on post-its and then collect them into similar sections. (repeat, revise mindmap, develop new one, repeat …)
I’m also dabbling in fiction writing (ack, I said it, aloud!) and I’ve often thought of diagramming a (short!) book to see its structure. Has anyone done this? (Geez, I’ve thought about this so often I just need to do it–I’ll report back. Don’t bait that breath, though. )
I hope this has been a little helpful and not too off-topic.