{"id":4439,"date":"2023-01-30T18:13:59","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T18:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-365-life-hacks\/?p=4439"},"modified":"2024-08-27T05:31:07","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T05:31:07","slug":"how-to-plan-and-outline-your-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-365-life-hacks\/writing\/how-to-plan-and-outline-your-novel","title":{"rendered":"How to plan and outline your novel"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"main-content\" data-grid=\"col-12\">\n<p class=\"c-paragraph-3\">Whether you are writing your first book or your tenth book, planning and outlining a novel can be tricky. While creating an outline may seem like an unnecessary extra step, it can help you write your novel much more easily. Explore how to create an outline that will serve as the blueprint for your novel.<\/p>\n<p>The first step to writing your novel isn\u2019t writing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-365-life-hacks\/writing\/first-draft-writing\">first draft<\/a>. It should actually start with planning and outlining the novel. Creating a solid outline will make your story consistent, powerful, and enjoyable to read. It can also help relieve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-365-life-hacks\/writing\/beating-writers-block\">writer\u2019s block<\/a>.<br \/>\nFollow these steps to outline a book and write a novel. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"full-bleed-image\">\n        <picture class=\"c-image\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/m365contenthub.wpengine.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/131-how-to-plan-and-outline-your-novel-1600x600-1.jpg\" media=\"(min-width:767px) and (max-width:1600px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/m365contenthub.wpengine.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/131-how-to-plan-and-outline-your-novel-1600x600-1.jpg\" media=\"(min-width:540px) and (max-width:767px)\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/m365contenthub.wpengine.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/131-how-to-plan-and-outline-your-novel-1600x600-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/m365contenthub.wpengine.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/131-how-to-plan-and-outline-your-novel-1600x600-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n    <\/picture>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before you write your novel, it\u2019s wise to create an outline first. Creating an outline can help you develop your characters, prevent writer\u2019s block, and iron out any plot holes. Discover how to create an outline for your novel today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-4439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-writing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to plan and outline your novel \u2013 Microsoft 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Outlining the plot and characters before writing your book can help prevent writer\u2019s block. Explore the five simple ways you can plan and outline your book today.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"How to plan and outline your novel \u2013 Microsoft 365\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Outlining the plot and characters before writing your book can help prevent writer\u2019s block. Explore the five simple ways you can plan and outline your book today.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/m365contenthub.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/131-how-to-plan-and-outline-your-novel-800x550-1.jpg\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to plan and outline your novel \u2013 Microsoft 365","description":"Outlining the plot and characters before writing your book can help prevent writer\u2019s block. 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Explore the five simple ways you can plan and outline your book today.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/m365contenthub.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/131-how-to-plan-and-outline-your-novel-800x550-1.jpg","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-365-life-hacks\/writing\/how-to-plan-and-outline-your-novel","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-365-life-hacks\/writing\/how-to-plan-and-outline-your-novel","name":"How to plan and outline your novel \u2013 Microsoft 365","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-365-life-hacks\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-01-30T18:13:59+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-27T05:31:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-365-life-hacks\/#\/schema\/person\/55ca651b2ccce6c95ad8d20feac4e8fd"},"description":"Outlining the plot and characters before writing your book can help prevent writer\u2019s block. 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