Welcome to Writing Tips, where I place my subjective opinion with sometimes objective facts. Whether you're writing a fan fiction with ocs or your story with copyrighted characters, tips and tricks are always helpful.
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Outlines contain what's necessary to know about the story. Simply put it, it's an outline. I'm pretty general with my outlines. Last time I went with a specific outline, Tales of Eylisia's condensed and short storyline happened. I'm not dumb enough to do that again.
Here's what my outlines look like:
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Yours can be whatever you need them to be. All they do is give a general look to what the story is. Now, keep this in mind, ideas can change over time. All my stories have changed. Ascensions of Celestia was completely different when it started. What happens, is that the idea stays in my head and changes into something new. Whether it's by dream or when I'm just thinking. The ideas shift and change.
This is why I'm okay with people using the same ideas. Hash out the "purely original" speech all you want but I don't care. Nothing is original anymore, but, they can be unique. That's a word I like much better.
Here's a short process of how I work. I get an idea, most of the time inspired by a dream or series I like. I write that idea down and let it "incubate" for some time. During that time, I write down scenes, I make characters, I get a general idea for the direction I want to go. And sometimes the idea doesn't change but grows. More ideas come that seem like they fit in and are added. Other times, the idea changes completely. This change is recorded on the outline, it doesn't have to be.
This is just me, this is mostly why it takes so long for me to create an outline and story. I wait for the ideas to come to me and for the changes to happen naturally. Whether you want to write about your idea immediately or wait is up to you. As long as you're proud of your work. Nothing is set in stone. Even if the story is out, remakes can exist to make changes. Tales of Innocence R and Tales of Hearts R anyone? Final Fantasy 7 remake? All the Kingdom Hearts final mixes?
Ideas change and the outline is there to hold onto the ideas as they change. Some people have memories that last for a long time and don't need to write down an outline. To that, I say this, wow.
I believe that outlines can give the opportunity for the creator to get the most out of the story. Everything is laid out in a nice order and changes can be made and seen easily.
