Step 2: Write a Step Outline
Topic · 1 minute
Tomorrow you’ll receive guidance for the 1st draft of your Wait List synopsis. To make that job less of a drag, we’re going to do some preliminary work.
When you develop your own stories, it is good practice to write an outline before you venture into the screenplay.
Personally, I’m a fan of the Step Outline (also called the Beat Sheet). Some use the Blake Snyder approach, but I prefer a list of all the scenes that will go into the script.
Today, you’ll have a look at the main story points – or beats – and organise them in a somewhat comprehensive list.
In the Writer’s Development Kit, you’ll find a detailed Step Outline for Avatar for reference.
If you summarised the segment you read every day from Wait List, you may end up with something that looks like that Avatar step outline, with a little less detail and without the act and sequence labels.
If the step outline is a little rough around the corners, that’s fine. You won’t show this document to anyone anyway.
What matters more is the synopsis. But that’s a worry for tomorrow.