Fillable NOVEL (City of Oakland)

Fill Online, Printable, Fillable, Blank NOVEL (City of Oakland) Form

Use Fill to complete blank online CITY OF OAKLAND (CA) pdf forms for free. Once completed you can sign your fillable form or send for signing. All forms are printable and downloadable.

NOVEL (City of Oakland)

On average this form takes 22 minutes to complete

The NOVEL (City of Oakland) form is 64 pages long and contains:

0 signatures
55 check-boxes
63 other fields

Country of origin: US
File type: PDF

U.S.A. forms for City of Oakland

BROWSE CITY OF OAKLAND (CA) FORMS

Related forms

CUSTOMER VALUE JOURNEY THE 8-STEP FRAMEWORK FOR TURNING (City of Oakland)
Petition for Reactivation Agreement to sponsor/Acceptance of leadership (City of Oakland)
Ratios And Rates Worksheets | Worksheet 1 (City of Oakland)
SECTION 504 INDIVIDUAL ACCOMMODATION PLAN (IAP) (City of Oakland)
Range Hood Systems Report (City of Oakland)
RANGE HOOD FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM REPORT CUSTOMER ADDRESS (City of Oakland)
Form 5: Homework a b x v and (City of Oakland)
Fractions On A-number Line Worksheet 1 (City of Oakland)
Shipping Release Form (City of Oakland)
Perimeter Area And Volume Worksheets | Worksheet 1 (City of Oakland)
Perimeter Area And Volume Worksheets | Worksheet 4 (City of Oakland)
Perimeter Area And Volume Worksheets | Worksheet 3 (City of Oakland)
Re-Engage Model A bank account was debited $100 (City of Oakland)
Form 30: Model Re-Engage The temperature at night (City of Oakland)
ACH CREDIT AUTHORIZATION FORM (City of Oakland)
LANDLORD PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT (City of Oakland)
Homework 1. 18 and 24 Unit 4 Lesson (City of Oakland)
Form 5: Homework s Example: Rewrite using the (City of Oakland)
Re-Engage Model Distributive Property Commutative Property Associative Property (City of Oakland)
Homework 1. Rewrite using the distributive property and (City of Oakland)

Fill has a huge library of thousands of forms all set up to be filled in easily and signed.

Fill in your chosen form

Sign the form using our drawing tool

Send to someone else to fill in and sign.

find another form

Redo

Arial Font

Arial
Calibri
Roboto
Open Sans

AFont color

AB
A.B
A..B
A...B
A....B

Remove Field

ADD FIELDS



The Lady Writers League

NOVEL

OUTLINE

WORKBOOK

Sample novel plot outline, synopsis,

character guide, world guide & more!

The aim of this workbook is not only to provide you with a ready-made plot, but

also to help you explore how outlining can work for you.

To this end, please remember to take notes as you go! Rephrase the lessons,

write down any ideas or questions that occur to you, and DO the exercises. Your

future self will thank you!

If your PDF software supports forms, you should be able to click on the pale

purple spaces and input text. Don’t forget to SAVE frequently so you don’t lose

any of your work! You can also send this PDF to your tablet or phone and

scribble wildly all over the page. I really like the Notability app in iOS for this!

Or, of course, you can always print it out and have it next to your computer as

you write.

You can also view the outline in this Google spreadsheet. If you prefer writing in

Scrivener, I have a blank template that you can download here.

All set? Good luck!

Eva.

OUT10

Wait, what’s that?

A secret code?

Hmm… I wonder what it unlocks?

 INTRODUCTION

 PRELIMINARY TITLE: The Wishing Star

 GENRE: Science ﬁction (or anything you want…)

 TAGLINE: Be careful what your parents wish for.

 SYNOPSIS / BLURB

Estella Harmon thought she knew exactly what she wanted: to rebel against her

parents. Even if it meant training for the most dangerous job in the Confederacy

and becoming a pilot in a war-torn galaxy.

But when she ﬁnds out that she’s adopted, and that her ambition to become a

pilot might have more to do with her real parents’ dying wish… her life is turned

upside down.

How can a mysterious tutor, a cryptic letter, and a strange new weapon help her

succeed in uncovering the truth about her past? And can she save her home

planet from being destroyed by her foster planet… Earth?

 THEMES

- Wishing vs. Desire vs. Action

- Communication & miscommunication

- Taking risks & leaving home

- Acceptance & family

- Rebellion vs. Conformity

 TIMELINE: See spreadsheet.

 STORY FILE

CHARACTER PROFILES



 ESTELLA HARMON (STEL)

- Trainee pilot, working on the crew of

The Rigel, a small mail-carrying star-

ship.

- Possibly named after the Great

Expectations character?

- Orphaned as a baby when her

Thirrhonian parents died in the war.

Fostered by Mr. and Mrs. Harmon

on Earth (which is part of the Calen

Confederacy). She’s unaware of this

until she returns to Thirrhon.

- Her biological parents wished for

her to return to Thirrhon.

- Possibly because of this, she

rebelled against her foster

parents and began training as

a pilot, even though, with the

w a r , i t ’ s a d a n g e r o u s

occupation.

STASIS STATES: Doesn’t enjoy her

work, rebel without a cause, lone

wolf.

RESOLUTION STATES: Doing fulﬁlling

w o r k , u n d e r s t a n d s h e r

rebelliousness, has a companion she

trusts, values teamwork.

What the plot demands of her as a

character:

- Good piloting skills

- you may want to consider the

subset of skills this requires.

- Rebelliousness

- c h o o s e s a d a n g e r o u s

occupation that her foster

parents don’t approve of.

- sides with the rebels.

- Lone wolf

- needs to learn to work with

others, to trust them and ask

them for help.

- you might also want to

consider why she’s a loner in

the ﬁrst place.

NOTES ABOUT ESTELLA 

 MINOR CHARACTERS

CREW OF THE RIGEL

Osie - Captain

Estella - Pilot

Alba

Fletcher

Poll

THIRRHONIANS

Quinn - pilot and tutor

Arvilla - pilot and pupil

Kameron

Elders:

Eumbrike

Nym

Euphia & Obaeus (Estella's

biological parents)

CREW OF THE HESPERIA

(REBELS)

Floyd

Dillard

Ros

MEMBERS OF THE CALEN

CONFEDERACY

Commander Sahn

The Inspector?

Mr. & Mrs. Harmon?

(Estella’s foster parents)

 QUINN

- From Thirrhon.

- Pilots a Thirrhonian ship.

- Tutor to Arvilla.

- Working with the rebels.

What the plot demands of him as a character:

- Ability as a teacher and mentor

- Skill as a pilot

- Fighting ability?

- Thirrhonian map-making / map reading?

NOTES ABOUT QUINN 

OTHER CHARACTER NOTES 

GENERAL

Intergalactic space travel is the norm, and

humans have long colonised far-ﬂung planets.

There are many "planet confederacies" all

warring for key locations.

CALEN CONFEDERACY

An alliance of planets (including Earth) with

possible imperialist tendencies. They want to

control Thirrhon because of the wishing star,

even though their previous conﬂict (which left

Estella orphaned) resulted in defeat. How? You

decide.

THIRRHON

Thirrhon is the only (habitable?) planet with a

view of the wishing star, which they call Leirrhia.

The people of Thirrhon are renowned stellar

cartographers and explorers of the universe, and

they’ve been using their skill to try to bring the

power of the star to other people. However,

making wishes takes great mental control, both

conscious and unconscious, so the Thirrhonians

are trained from a young age in the art.

Although generally peaceful, some (mostly

younger) Thirrhonians join the group who are

rebelling against the Calen Confederacy.

SPACE SHIPS

The Hesperia - a craft belonging to the rebels.

The Rigel - the post ship that Estella is serving on

at the beginning of the story.

 WORLD INFORMATION

WORLD NOTES 

Thirrhonians have special space ships that are

piloted by two people, possibly using the power

of the star to direct them telepathically.

OTHER

You may also need to make some notes about the

rebel base planet and the hideout planet,

although their description isn’t central to the

plot.

TIME

I provide a rough timeline in the spreadsheet. It’s

always useful to sketch the passage of time into

your outline to avoid obvious inconsistencies,

especially with a story (like this one) that involves

a lot of travel.

Science ﬁction writers have another problem

though: how do we measure time when our

characters aren’t on Earth?

In my timeline, I opted to ignore this question. It

might turn out to be important to your story, in

which case you’ll need to ﬁgure out a system. But

you’ll also need to remember that your Earth-

bound readers have an innate understanding of

Earth-time. Try not to confuse them too much!

Also remember to use a unit of time that makes

sense for your story. You might require a much

more precise hour-by-hour or even minute-by-

minute timeline in order to make sure your

events line up. You can also mix and match, of

course, but this does make it a bit more difﬁcult

to get an overview of your novel’s pace.

 STASIS

☐

Estella is preparing for her qualiﬁcation exam

to become a long-haul pilot. As part of her

apprenticeship, she's working on a post ship.

That morning, the Captain is acting a bit

strange. (1000 words)

☐

The ship is about to take off when they're held

up and inspection crew board. The Chief

Inspector is in love with E. He takes E aside

secretly and asks about smuggling. E doesn't

know anything about it. (1000 words)

☐

Inspectors are searching the ship when rebels

attack and force them to surrender. The

rebels assume command of the ship and

manage to escape Confederacy space. (2000

words)

☐

E and crew are kept in brig and made to sort

mail. (1000 words)

☐

E overhears rebels talking. They don't know

what they're looking for, but they have intel

that whatever it is is on the ship. (2000 words)

☐

The Inspector tries to convince E that they

can take the ship back, but she doesn’t think

he’s capable. She attempts it herself but is

caught. (1000 words)

 YOUR NOVEL OUTLINE

TAKE NOTES 



STEAL THIS PLOT

 TRIGGER

☐

Quinn ﬁnds a letter in Thirrhonian addressed

to E. Not among post, but in her room. E

doesn't know about it. It can only be read by

light of the wishing star. (2000 words)

☐

Rebels are angry with Quinn because they

expected to ﬁnd a weapon on board. He was

acting on info from Thirrhonian elders. They

weren't counting on ofﬁcials being on board.

(2000 words)

☐

Quinn convinces Estella that she needs to go

to Thirrhon to ﬁnd out who sent the letter and

what it says. (2000 words)

 QUEST

☐

They land at the rebel base. Estella meets the

other rebels and learns about the rebellion.

Gets to know Quinn and his pupil, Arvilla,

better. Not all the rebels are Thirrhonian. The

Confederacy has invaded other strategic

planets too. (2000 words)

☐

Rebels want E to use her inﬂuence over the

Inspector to inﬁltrate the Confed admin

building and copy the security codes for the

blockade ships. In return, they'll give her a

ship and a licence. Now that she's been with

rebels and involved in smuggling, she has no

hope of qualifying as a Confed pilot. (2000

words)

☐

The rebels manage to smuggle E into Confed.

Inspector convinces them to let him go with

her as a guard. She doesn't trust Inspector

and ends up getting captured. (3000 words)

☐

Quinn convinces rebels they need to save her.

The Inspector helps them break her out but

she won't leave without the codes and the

Inspector is captured (possibly injured or

killed) trying to save her. (3000 words)

☐

They can't get back to rebel base, so have to

hide on another planet. Can't transmit codes

to the other rebels. Quinn begins training E to

ﬂy a Thirrhonian ship, which is telepathically

controlled. (2000 words)

☐

E struggles with empyting her mind to drive

the ship. She and Arvilla bond over their

shared experience of being Quinn's pupil.

(2000 words)

☐

Meanwhile back at base, the rebels discover

what the Captain had been trying to smuggle

(for money, within the Confed): a special new

weapon. They use weapon to destroy one of

the blockade ships, but have their ship

destroyed in return. (2000 words)

☐

E and Quinn bond. He tells her why Thirrhon

is important to the Confederacy - the wishing

star is only visible from there. (2000 words)

☐

E has an argument with Quinn. She thinks

Thirrhon should share the star, but he says

that to learn to control wishes takes a lifetime

of training. (2000 words)

☐

She still wants to pass the exam. She steals

the Thirrhonian ship and surrenders it to the

Confeds as a peace offering. The ship needs

two pilots, but she manages to hack it. En

route, she sends message to the rebels to tell

them that Quinn and Arvilla and other rebels

of the escape party are marooned on a planet.

(2000 words)

☐

Confeds accept the ship, but question her

about the rebels. The Inspector is alive, but

she still suspects him of being a spy for the

Confeds. Actually, her parents have asked him

for info about her. (2000 words)

☐

E asks to visit her parents, but she's offered

the opportunity to visit Thirrhon instead, and

takes it. (1000 words)

 BOLT

☐

The Confederacy take E to a blockade ship.

She agrees to help them with attack. When

ship comes in view of star, the windows are

covered to avoid its light. (2000 words)

☐

The Confeds have E pilot the Thirrhonian ship

she stole to land undetected on Thirrhon and

capture the elders. They're careful to remain

out of starlight. (2000 words)

☐

E gives her letter to one of the elders to read.

She learns that her parents were Thirrhonian

but were killed in the last attack and she was

fostered by her Earth parents. She can't read

secret without starlight. (3000 words)

☐

E is horriﬁed by the Confed's treatment of

peaceful Thirrhonians. When star comes into

view, she escapes compound and wishes ill on

the attackers. (3000 words)

☐

The Confeds who run after her to catch her

die horribly. E is wracked by guilt. She avoids

detection and returns to her room. (3000

words)

 SHIFT

☐

Estella realises Quinn was right about the

dangers of the star. She explores the city by

herself and talks to some Thirrhonians. Learns

about the world. (2000 words)

☐

Memorial service for the dead. Fights break

out. E wants to reveal she made the wish, but

an elder stops her. (1000 words)

☐

She reveals to the Confeds that she's

Thirrhonian and convinces them to let her

parley with the elders. (2000 words)

☐

The elders help her read the letter and ﬁnd

that it contains part of a star-map. And that

her parents wished for her to come back to

Thirrhon. She realises that's why she wanted

to become a pilot, and that she doesn't need

to qualify after all. (2000 words)

☐

She needs to take the map to the star-room

where it can be placed into the larger map.

She attempts to enter, but the room can't be

accessed without all of the elders present,

and some of them are off-planet with the

rebels. (2000 words)

 DEFEAT

☐

E tells the Confeds that if they allow the

remaining elders onto the planet, she can

make peace. The Confeds pretend to agree.

(2000 words)

☐

Quinn pilots a ship with the elders, but they're

attacked as soon as they land. Arvilla and

Captain are killed and Quinn and E

imprisoned. E loses all faith in the

Confederacy. (2000 words)

☐

E is kept in isolation. The letter is taken away.

She spends her time meditating. She's

interrogated by the Confeds to reveal the

meaning of the letter and where it came from.

Meanwhile, the Confeds impose a curfew on

all Thirrhonians and start interrogating elders

about how to make wishes. (2000 words)

☐

The Inspector tries to rescue E and she sees

him brieﬂy before he's overpowered. (1000

words)

 POWER

☐

The rebels attack, using the security codes to

disable the weapons of the blockade ships.

They threaten Confeds with exposing them to

starlight (lowering blinds in ships and on the

planet) unless they agree to peace talks. E and

Q are released. She tells him about her

parents and the letter. They head to star

room. (2000 words)

☐

The Confed Commander is in the star

room.The elders have given him access. They

place the map from the letter in its position &

realise it shows exactly what's keeping the

light of the star from reaching other planets.

P l a n e t s /a s t e r o i d s i n i t s p a t h ? T h e

Commander takes the letter and burns it. He's

realised the consequences the star would

have on Earth, just as the last Commander did

in the last war. (2000 words)

☐

The Commander has given orders to destroy

the star, so the Thirrhonians can't use it

against the Confed. (1000 words)

☐

E and Q take the Thirrhonian ship and hijack

the Confed ship in the same way the rebels

took E's ship at the beginning. (2000 words)

☐

They return to Thirrhon. E asks the Inspector

to use his (or her parents'?) inﬂuence on Earth

to form an alliance with the Thirrhonians.

(1000 words)

 RESOLUTION

☐

The blockade is lifted. A new treaty is signed.

Both sides celebrate. E learns more about her

real parents. Visits her foster parents on

Earth. (2000 words)

☐

Quinn takes on E as his new apprentice. They

leave on a joint Thirrhon/Earth mission to

bring the starlight to Earth, or to a third,

uninhabited planet. (2000 words)

 DETAILS

While we often talk about “outlining” as if there is some common consensus

among writers about what exactly it entails, that really isn’t the case. Every

writer outlines according to their own needs. Different writers require different

levels of detail from their outlines. How much detail do you feel you need?

For example, you might be happy to work from an outline that describes a scene

thus:

The Prince kisses Sleeping Beauty and everyone wakes up. General

rejoicing.

Or you may prefer:

The Prince steps past the bodies of sleeping guards, climbs the raised

platform of the bed and stands looking down at Sleeping Beauty. He

brushes a strand of hair away from her face. As he leans over to kiss

her he can just barely feel the weak current of her breath. Their lips

meet; warmth seems to return to her as they kiss. The Prince steps

back and watches as her eyes open, and she blinks in confusion.

“Where am I?” There’s a sound behind him and the Prince whirls

around, sword at the ready, but it’s only the guards stirring. Etc…

The last example may seem extreme, but if you begin to write the scene (aiming

for, say, 1000 words), you’ll ﬁnd that there are still plenty of decisions you need

to make. More detailed outlines can help you capture things like mood, imagery,

step-by-step action or even dialogue.

 OUTLINING YOUR WAY

Nevertheless, you do need to factor in the extra time it takes to construct a

more detailed outline, and decide whether or not it saves you time while writing.

There is also a danger, if you enjoy detailed outlines, that you will be tempted to

chase after details before you’ve ﬁnalised the bare bones of your plot. I always

use drawing as an analogy when trying to explain the importance of working

top-down (from general to speciﬁc) in creating outlines. If you’ve ever taken

drawing lessons, or watched video tutorials online, you’ll know that artists ﬁrst

sketch in basic shapes to ensure that their design is proportionate, well-

composed, and ﬁts on the canvas. Even the most intricate painting will begin

with two-dimensional circles and squares. Only then will the artist begin to ﬂesh

out the design, adding more and more detail as they progress.

Please follow their example when you’re working with outlines. It doesn’t

matter if your story is a bit ﬂat to begin with. What’s important is that you give

yourself simple criteria to build upon. If you look under the character and world

notes, you’ll ﬁnd that I listed these criteria so that you can use them to further

develop the people and the spaces they inhabit.

THOUGHTS? 

 EXERCISE

Take the ﬁrst scene from the outline for The Wishing Star:

Estella is preparing for her qualiﬁcation exam to become a long-haul

pilot. As part of her apprenticeship, she's working on a post ship. That

morning, the Captain is acting a bit strange.

Now expand it into a more detailed scene summary. You might consider…

1. Exactly how is Estella preparing for her exam?

2. What might her exam involve?

3. If she wants to become a long-haul pilot, what does she think about having to

work on a post ship?

4. What is the Captain doing?

5. How does Estella react to the Captain?

My estimate for this scene was 1000 words. How many words do you think

you’ll need?

words

WRITE YOUR EXPANDED SCENE SUMMARY 

Now go ahead and write the scene using your extended summary…

 FINAL WORD COUNT: ! ! ! !  TIME:

How did that go? Do you think the extra details you added to the outline helped

you write the scene? Let’s try a briefer scene outline too, just to compare. Here’s

the next scene (or you might consider it the next part of the same scene):

The ship is about to take off when they're held up and inspection

crew board. The Chief Inspector is in love with E. He takes E aside

secretly and asks about smuggling. E doesn't know anything about it.

Once again, my estimate for this scene was 1000 words. What’s yours?

words

OK. Go ahead and write this scene…

 FINAL WORD COUNT: ! ! ! !  TIME:

 WORD COUNT ESTIMATES

Learning to estimate your scene word counts will help you enormously when

you come to create an outline or to follow one. You will be able to judge how

many scenes you need to plot out, and roughly how long it will take you to ﬁnish

your ﬁrst draft.

The estimates given in brackets in the outline are my own, and are only

suggestions. They may vary greatly depending on your personal writing style.

If you completed the previous exercise, how did your ﬁnal word counts (and

estimates) compared to mine?

Do you usually struggle with writing too much or too little?

Is your word count distributed equally between the different writing modes

(narration, dialogue, description, exposition), or do you tend to prefer one over

the others?

How does this tendency affect your word count in different scenes? Do you

notice any patterns that might help you make predictions in the future?

Here’s a summary of the eight stage structure of The One Page Novel plot

formula that I used to create the outline for The Wishing Star. You can refer to it

in order to generate more scene ideas, diagnose a plot problem, or even create

your very own novel outline…

 8. RESOLUTION

The$One$Page$Novel!"#$%&!'(!)*#+,-!#./!#0!#$12$3!&#!/42! 5$&/!/46,-!"2!1#!6&!

127612! "4#! #.$!748$87/2$!"6**! '2! 8/!/42! 2,1!#0!/42! &/#$(9!:#!1#!/46&3! "2! 78,!

&6;)*(! &2*27/! #,2! #$! /"#! <&/8/2&=3! &.74!8&>!"28*/4(3! 028$*2&&3! *#?6,-3! &#768'*23!

2/79!@&!8,!2A8;)*23! &22! B&/2**8C&! &/8/2& ! *6&/21! 6,!42$!748$87/2$!)$#5*29! D,2!#0!

#.$!6;)#$/8,/!/8&%&!6,!/42!E2&#*.F#,!&/8-2!6&!/#!&4#"!#.$!748$87/2$!2A46'6F,-!

/42&2!/$86/&9!G#"!1#2&!B&/2**8!12;#,&/$8/2!42$!E2&#*.F#,!&/8/2&H

 1. STASIS

:42!,2A/!&/2)!6&!/#!/.$,!/42!748$87/2$C&!E2&#*.F#,!&/8/2!6,/#!6/&!#))#&6/29!:46&!

-6?2&! .&! /426$!&/8/2! 8/! /42! &/8$/!#0!/42!&/#$(3!8,1!8**#"&! .&! /#!7$28/2! 8 !&/$#,-!

748$87/2$!12?2*#);2,/!8$79!I#$!2A8;)*23!8!748$87/2$!"4#C&!"28*/4(!8/!/42!2,1!

#0! /42! ,#?2*! "#.*1! '2-6,! )##$J! 8! 748$87/2$! "4#! 6&! 028$*2&&3! "#.*1! &/8$/! #./!

7#"8$1*(3!2/79!:42! K/8&6&!"6**!&4#"!/42!748$87/2$!6,!/426$!#$16,8$(3!2?2$(18(!*6023!

2A46'6F,-!/42&2!&/8/2&9!G#"!1#2&!B&/2**8!12;#,&/$8/2!42$!K/8&6&!&/8/2&H

THE 8-STAGE PLOT



 5. SHIFT

L2A/3!"2! 5,1!/42!/.$,6,-!)#6,/!'2/"22,!/42!K/8&6&!8,1!/42!E2&#*.F#,>!/46& !6&!

/42! &/8-2! 8/! "4674! /42! 748$87/2$! $28*6&2&! 4#"! /42(! 78,! ;8%2! /42! /$8,&6F#,!

0$#;!/426$!#*1!"8(&!/#!/426$!,2"!#,2&3!6,!#$12$!/#!0.*5*! /426$!-#8*! #$ !7$28/2!8!

,2"3!'2M2$!-#8*9!I#$!B&/2**83!6/C&!/42! $28*6&8F#,!/48/!/42!&/8$*6-4/!6&!18,-2$#.&!

"6/4#./! )$#)2$! 6,&/$.7F#,9! @*&#3! /42! *2M2$!0$#;! 42$! )8$2,/&! 7#,/86,&! 8! ?6/8*!

;6&&6,-! )6272! #0!/42! ;8)!N#$! ).OO*2P9! Q&! /46&! 8! 7#;)2**6,-! /$8,&6F#,!0$#;!42$!

K/8&6&!/#!42$!E2&#*.F#,!&/8/2&H

 2. TRIGGER

:42!:$6--2$!6&!"48/!&2/&!/42!748$87/2$!#R!#,!/42! &/#$(!S#.$,2(9!:46&!6&!/4$#.-4!

26/42$!6,/2$,8*!#$!2A/2$,8*! ;#F?8F#,3!#$!8!7#;'6,8F#,!#0!'#/49! T48/!1#!(#.!

/46,%!6&!/42!:$6--2$!0#$!B&/2**8H

 3. QUEST

:42!U.2&/!6&!/42!&/8-2!8/!"4674!/42! 748$87/2$!-2/&!&.7%21!122)2$!8,1!122)2$!

6,/#! /42! 81?2,/.$29! :42(! ;22/ ! ,2" ! )2#)*23! ?6&6/! ,2"! )*872&3! 16&7#?2$! ,2"!

)$#'*2;&3!8,1!/8%2!#,!,2"!$2&)#,&6'6*6F2&9!K#;2!#0!/42!)2#)*2!/42(!;22/!;8(!

'2! &48)2&46V2$&3! 8,1! /42(! "6** ! ,221! /#! '2! &#$/21! #./! 0$#;! /42! 8**62&9! :42&2!

8**62&! "6**! 0#$;!8! )*8,! 8,1!)./!6/! 6,/#!87F#,9! W&.8**(3! 6/!"#,C/!'2! 8!?2$(!-##1!

)*8,!'./!/42!748$87/2$!"6**!-#!8*#,-!"6/4!6/!'278.&2!6/C&!/42!'2&/!)*8,!/42(!48?29

T2! &22! /46&! 6,! B&/2**8C&! 78&29! :42! $2'2*&! ;8%2! 8! )*8,! 0#$! 42$! /#! &/28*! &#;2!

&27.$6/(! 7#12&3! 2?2,! /4#.-4! 6/C&! 8! $6&%(! #)2$8F#,3! 8,1! /42! 7#12&! "#,C/!

,272&&8$6*(!42*)3!2?2,!60!/42(!&.772219!T4(!1#!(#.!/46,%!Q!#./*6,21!/42!U.2&/!

8&!'2-6,,6,-!8/!/42!)#6,/!"42,!/42!&46)!*8,1&!8/!/42!$2'2*!'8&2H!X#!(#.!8-$223!

#$!"#.*1!(#.!78/2-#$6&2!/42!&72,2&!16R2$2,/*(H

 7. POWER

:42!Y#"2$!6&!/42!7#.,/2$)8$/!#0!/42!U.2&/9! Q/!87/&!6,!$2?2$&2!8,1!2A/$87/&!/42!

748$87/2$! 0$#;! /42! "#$*1! #0! 81?2,/.$29! :46&! 6&! "42$2! /42! 748$87/2$! /$.*(!

.,12$&/8,1&!/48/!/42(C?2! 481!/#!)#"2$!/#!748,-2!6,/#!/426$!E2&#*.F#,!&/8/2!8**!

8*#,-9! :42(! ;8%2! /42! 748,-2! 8,1! 0.*5*! /426$! #$6-6,8*! #$! 8*/2$21! U.2&/! -#8*9!

T48/! 8$2! /42! 8'6*6F2&3!&%6**&! #$!%,#"*21-2! /48/! B&/2**8! 48&! 481! 8**! 8*#,-3!/48/!

7#;2!/#!42$!861!8/!/46&!&/8-2!8,1!8**#"!42$!/#!7#;)*2/2!/42!U.2&/Z)*8,H

 4. BOLT

:42![#*/!6&!/42!<'#*/!0$#;!/42!'*.2=!/48/!12$86*&!/42!N8*$281(!"28%P!U.2&/Z)*8,9!

:46&! 7#.*13! 0#$! 2A8;)*23! '2! /42! )#6,/! 8/! "4674! 8! &48)2&46V2$C&! '2/$8(8*! 6&!

16&7#?2$213! #$! "42,! /42! 8**62&! $28*6&2! /48/! /42(C?2! 7$6F78**(! ;6&S.1-21! /426$!

#))#&6F#,9! Q/! 78,! 8*&#! /8%2! /42! 0#$;! #0! 8! 16?2$&6#,! #$! 12*8(! /48/! /8%2&! /42!

748$87/2$C&!0#7.&!8"8(!0$#;!;8%6,-!)$#-$2&&!#,!/42!U.2&/9!T48/!1#!(#.! /46,%!

6&! /42! [#*/! 0#$! B&/2**8! 6,! The Wishing StarH! Q&! 6/! 16R2$2,/! 0#$! U.6,,3! #$! 0#$!

8,#/42$!748$87/2$H

 6. DEFEAT

:42!X2028/!6&!/42!;#;2,/!"42,!8**! 4#)2! 6&!*#&/9!:42! U.2&/Z)*8,!/48/!08*/2$21!

6,! /42! [#*/!48&! ,#"!7#;)*2/2*(! 08**2,!8)8$/9!:42! X2028/! 0#**#"&! #,!0$#;!/42!

K46V3!8,1!#V2,!6,?#*?2&!8,!2&&2,F8*!&87$6572!/48/!/42!748$87/2$!;.&/!;8%2!6,!

#$12$! /#! 8M86,! /426$! E2&#*.F#,! &/8/29! T48/! 1#2&! B&/2**8! &87$6572H! Q&! 6/! '6-!

2,#.-4!8,1!)#"2$0.*!2,#.-4!0#$!42$!/#!28$,!42$!E2&#*.F#,!$2"8$1H

@V2$!"2!5,6&4!)*#+,-3!"2!78,!&4.\2!#.$!&/8-2&!'87%!6,/#!/42!&/#$(!#$12$>

]9 K/8&6&

^9 :$6--2$

_9 U.2&/

`9 [#*/

a9 K46V

b9 X2028/

c9 Y#"2$

d9 E2&#*.F#,

Q! 4#)2! /48/! 42*)21! (#.! 168-,#&2! 8,(! )$#'*2;&! (#.! ;8(! 48?2! 4813! 8,1!

.,12$&/8,1!/42!&/#$(!&/$.7/.$2!'2M2$e!Q0!(#. !022*!(#.!,221!;#$2!42*)!"6/4!/42!

D,2!Y8-2!L#?2*!)*#/!0#$;.*83!(#.!;8(!"8,/!/#!$202$!/#!/42!:2A/'##%9

 WRITE YOUR NOVEL

Now that you’ve discovered how much detail you prefer in your scene

summaries, how to estimate word counts and writing times, and how to use the

8-stage plot formula, you can approach writing your novel in a more scientiﬁc

way. If you use your outline as a checklist, you’ll easily be able to plan out your

writing sessions and track your progress.

 WRITING SESSIONS

If you like, you can create a writing schedule for yourself, but remember, you

don’t always need big blocks of time to write! When you know exactly what you

need to say, you can actually write surprisingly quickly.

Scene summaries also help you focus quicker, and your outline gives you an

overview of what happened before and after the scene you’re working on. All of

these mean that you can make use of short bursts of down-time during your day

to ﬁt in some writing. You might even be surprised at how well you write in

public, if you try it once or twice. There is a documented psychological theory

called, “social facilitation” that suggests that people work better and faster

when they’re being watched (or think they’re being watched).

Another useful technique is to do 5 minutes of warm-up writing before you start

working on your novel. You can think of this as the stretches you do before a

workout; it’ll loosen up your mind and your ﬁngers! You can write about

anything: things that you’re worrying about, what you had for breakfast, what

the weather’s like… I particularly enjoy using my warm-ups to journal about my

writing: how is the novel progressing, what do I think about my characters, what

do I still need to work on, etc.

Writing regularly is a good idea, whether you schedule in your sessions or use

any spare moments of free time. A novel is so long that if you ignore it for a

while, you’ll certainly have to re-read your manuscript from the beginning in

order to remember where you left off, and how you’re going to proceed.

 WRITING SCHEDULE

If you do decide to create a writing schedule, you may also want to pencil in time

for other manuscript work that doesn’t necessarily involve writing. I use a

simple acronym to remember what these are:

W - writing

I - inspiration

S - study

E - editing

R - research

All of these are necessary for completing a project, and not counting them as

“writing” time will make you feel as if you aren’t making progress. Don’t worry!

Even an hour spent daydreaming can be a huge step forward for your novel, so

don’t discount it.

 WHAT NEXT?

Hopefully, you now have some idea whether or not you like The Wishing Star

enough to spend time writing it up. If you don’t, but you still think writing from

outlines works for you, why not try plotting and outlining your own novel? You

can use the plot formula summary in the previous section, as well the resources

linked on the next page. Good luck!

OUT10

There it is again! How curious!

© Eva Deverell >> http://eadeverell.com & http://ladywritersleague.com 
Here are some other free resources I’ve 
created to help novelists like you and I:
PLOTTING HELP
HOW TO WRITE A NOVELLA
ONE PAGE NOVEL PLOT FORMULA
PLOT HOLE WORKSHEET
PLOT TWIST WORKSHEET
MINI-QUESTS
TRY/FAIL CYCLES
INCREASING CONFLICT
ADDING ACTION
CREATING SUSPENSE
WRITING HELP
NOVEL IN A MONTH NOTEBOOK
GOOGLE DOCS FOR WRITERS
HOW TO EXPORT YOUR 
SCRIVENER TIMELINE
HOW TO FINISH YOUR NOVEL
OPENING SCENES
GENERATING TITLE IDEAS
DECIDING POINT OF VIEW
SCENE WRITING
DIALOGUE HELP
WRITING A SYNOPSIS
WRITER HELP
BECOMING A WRITER
DIFFERENTIATING YOURSELF
CREATIVE WRITER WORKSHEETS
WRITER’S SELF ASSESSMENT
GETTING UNSTUCK
CHARACTER HELP
QUICK CHARACTER CREATOR
CHARACTER QUIRKS
KILLING!CHARACTERS
LOVE YOUR ANTAGONIST
CHARACTER MOTIVATION
MAKING TROUBLE FOR 
CHARACTERS
CREATING VILLAINS
WORLDBUILDING HELP
CITY BUILDING
TECHNOLOGY WORKSHEET
CREATING MAGIC SYSTEMS
POLITICS
RITES AND RITUALS
WORLD HISTORY
WORLD GEOGRAPHY
SETTING
GENRE HELP
CHOOSING A GENRE
GENRE MINDMAPS
STARTING WRITING
MORE THAN A MUSE
A FIELD GUIDE TO YOUR 
IMAGINATION
WRITE-ALONGS
WRITING PROMPTS
IDEA GENERATOR
CLICK HERE FOR
THE COMPLETE LIST
  FURTHER RESOURCES

 GENRE SWITCH

If you aren’t into science ﬁction, but would still like to use your example novel

outline, don’t worry! It’s actually surprisingly easy to change genres. Need help

deciding which genre to write in? I have a worksheet for that!

What genre did you pick?

As readers we’re very particular about our reading habits, but actually from a

writer’s point of view, a lot of what makes up a genre is window dressing. At

bottom, we tend to tell the same stories. So how do we separate presentation

from content? Some elements are easy to change. For example, if the title, and

the names of the science ﬁction characters, locations and ships don’t suit your

genre, invent alternatives…

TITLE: The Wishing Star

PLACES

Earth

Calen Confederacy

Thirrhon

The star (Leirrhia)

Rebel base

Hideout planet

PEOPLE

CREW OF THE RIGEL

Osie - Captain

Estella - Pilot

Alba

Fletcher

Poll

THIRRHONIANS

Quinn - pilot and tutor

Arvilla - pilot and pupil

Kameron

Elders:

Eumbrike

Nym

Euphia & Obaeus (Estella's

biological parents)

CREW OF THE HESPERIA (REBELS)

Floyd

Dillard

Ros

MEMBERS OF THE CALEN

CONFEDERACY

Commander Sahn

The Inspector?

Mr. & Mrs. Harmon? (Estella’s

foster parents)

> If you have The One Page Novel Textbook, you can turn to page 75 for more advice

on writing romances, mysteries, thrillers, science ﬁction or fantasy novels.

The true names of objects are often used to perform magic. Let’s wave our wand

(or pen, or pencil, or stylus) and transform our newly-renamed people and

places into their equivalents in our chosen genre.

Want to write contemporary romance? Make Estella and Quinn pilots from

different countries, instead of different planets. Or make them astronauts. Turn

the star into a special airplane, or a diamond, or a childhood game.

Historical romance? Cast the couple as war pilots from opposing nations. Or if

that’s too recent, make them horse-riders instead of pilots.

Thriller? Cast them as secret agents working for different governments, chasing

after information about the elusive "wishing star" (a secret weapon, a cure for

cancer, a botched military operation?).

Magical realism? Keep the couple, keep the wish, but set it all on Earth.

Fantasy? Rework the planets to be nations, turn the starships into magical

vessels, and make the star a rare enchanted item.

Kind of fun, right? Here’s some thinking space:

☐

Let’s incorporate what we have so far into our outline. I recommend working

in the spreadsheet. First, do a ﬁnd and replace (Edit > Find and Replace) for

all of the new names you brainstormed on the previous pages.

☐

Next, update each scene with your “transformed” story elements. This might

take a while, but it’s pretty straightforward. For example, I chose this scene at

random from the Quest:

They can't get back to rebel base, so have to hide on another planet.

Can't transmit codes to the other rebels. Quinn begins training E to ﬂy a

Thirrhonian ship, which is telepathically controlled.

Let’s say I want to rewrite it as a contemporary romance. Quinn and Estella’s

names are alright, but Thirrhon needs to go… Instead of keeping them as pilots,

let’s say they’re baristas at two competing establishments that want to secure

some prime real estate to open a new café: The Wishing Star. The codes could

become some kind of document that reveals a legal vulnerability. The other

rebels are fellow workers from Quinn’s bar and other bars, who dislike the

corporate giant that Estella works for. The rebel base might be a nightclub, and

the hideout planet could be a dingy diner that the two of them duck into. Finally,

Quinn is teaching Estella to mix a fancy drink: the “Thornton whip”.

Phew! That was a lot of (silly) invention, but when we update our scene

summary, it won’t look that different:

They can’t get back to the nightclub, so have to hide in a dingy diner.

Can’t send the documents to the others. Quinn begins training Estella

to mix a Thornton whip, which can get messy!

Not everything that characterises a genre is superﬁcial, of course. Different

genres have different plot conventions, some of which might have a bearing on

the story structure. For example, in a romance, two main characters must fall in

love; in a mystery, a crime or conundrum must be solved; in an adventure, there

must be lots of physical action; in a bildungsroman, there must be a physical

awakening; in a thriller there must be a chase. Without conventions like these,

we have difﬁculty classifying a novel as one genre or another. We may instead

call it “literary ﬁction”, which to my mind means a novel that (conventionally?)

subverts genre.

So, what are some important conventions that readers of your genre expect?

> I have some genre mindmaps that can help you brainstorm ideas!

I recommend keeping the main character’s Stasis and Resolution states the

same as Estella’s (STASIS STATES: Doesn’t enjoy her work, rebel without a cause,

lone wolf; RESOLUTION STATES: Doing fulﬁlling work, understands her

rebelliousness, has a companion she trusts, values teamwork). But the way

these states are represented and demonstrated by your character will probably

need to be altered to suit your new genre.

☐

Rewrite the Stasis and Resolution scenes to fulﬁl your genre conventions,

while at the same time demonstrating the main character’s states.

For example, if we take the ﬁnal scene from the outline:

Quinn takes on E as his new apprentice. They leave on a joint

Thirrhon/Earth mission to bring the starlight to Earth, or to a third,

uninhabited planet.

We might rewrite it for our barista story as follows:

Quinn takes on E as his new business partner. They leave for Italy for

their honeymoon, and to learn the secrets of espresso-making and

bring them back to The Wishing Star.

This story’s starting to grow on me! The scene fulﬁls our romance convention:

the couple are married happily ever after. It fulﬁls Estella’s Resolution states of

doing fulﬁlling work and having a companion she trusts. It doesn’t deal with her

rebelliousness, but the previous scene can do that! This scene also helps in

fulﬁlling the requirements of the Resolution stage. The key to updating your

scenes is to make the minimum number of changes for the maximum results.

Unfortunately, you will eventually need to sit down and iron out any

inconsistencies and gaping plot holes (I have a worksheet for that too), but until

then, use the formula to your advantage; let it tell you what to write and when,

and worry about the details after you have the big picture in place.

Take your list of conventions, and break it down into the 8 stages. Which

conventions need to be included where? What changes do you need to make?

GENRE CONVENTIONS  RESOLUTION



STASIS



SHIFT



TRIGGER



QUEST



POWER



BOLT



DEFEAT



If you have trouble with the previous exercise, spend some time exploring how

the 8 stage structure functions. Does it work for the story you’re trying to tell?

Do you feel you need to rearrange or skip some stages?

Another problem might be that you’re not as familiar with your genre as you

need to be. For example, you might have read contemporary romance your

whole adult life, but never thought about it from a technical, writer’s point of

view. How far into the story do the main characters meet? How many times do they

meet before they fall in love? Do they fall in love with each other at the same time? At

what point does the main obstacle to their love appear? These may be questions

you know the answer to intuitively, but if you want to reﬂect them in your

outline, you’ll need to consciously study them. A couple of ﬁnal questions...

How will the relationships between the (major and minor) characters need to

change?

> See the relationship matrix on page 104 of the Textbook for a great way to chart this

change.

How will the pacing need to change?

> Look at the ‘Days’ column of the spreadsheet, and read the notes on the ‘World

Information’ pages.

☐

Go through your outline from beginning to end and incorporate the changes

you need to make. If you get stuck mid-way, don’t spend too long trying to

think of a solution. It’s quite likely that you’ll ﬁnd it as you continue to work.

Make note of things you need to think about, and things you need to

research, so you can schedule time for them. You will probably ﬁnd that you

work more efﬁciently by separating your writing time from your thinking and

researching time.

☐

Finally, you might want to look over the word count estimates and update

them. If you use the spreadsheet, it will automatically calculate the ﬁnal word

count, so you can be sure that you have enough material for a novel of your

genre.

If at any point you feel as if you’ve broken your outline, DON’T PANIC! Turn to

‘Fixing Broken Plots’ in your Textbook. ‘Common Plot Problems and How to Fix

Them as You Go’ and ‘#1 Tip for Solving Plot Problems’ can both help too.

And the best cure for writing woe? Write mo’!

TO THINK ABOUT  TO RESEARCH 

 A SHORT STORY

Once upon a time, in a land not so very far away, there lived a writer who was

struggling to ﬁnish her novel. She wrote and wrote, but every day she undid her

previous evening’s work. It was as if she were trapped in a STASIS ﬁeld, unable

to move.

Then one day, she stumbled upon a website that described a plot formula. It was

the same story she had heard hundreds of times before, but that day something

clicked - like the TRIGGER on a start gun - and set her mind racing.

She realised that what she was missing was a framework to give structure to her

story. So she started reading everything she could ﬁnd on plot formulas, and

how to apply them to her novel; in fact, she made it her QUEST. Finally, she

picked a formula to use. She wasn’t sure it would work with her style, but she

felt she had to take action. She began to follow the plot formula rigorously,

down to the smallest detail. Every evening, she arranged and rearranged her

scenes tirelessly, and wrote new ones according to its dictates.

She felt as if she was ﬁnally making some real progress, so she decided to ask a

friend for his opinion of her story. But when he returned her manuscript a few

days later with a note that it felt “a little soulless,” his criticism hit her like a

thunderBOLT. It felt like a betrayal. She had worked so hard on writing her novel

and now it seemed that she had been on the wrong track all along. Plot formulas

weren’t the answer. They only made her novel formulaic and wooden. She

abandoned her dream of becoming a writer, and spent her evenings watching

TV instead.

Until one day she SHIFTed some papers on her desk, and there, underneath, was

her unﬁnished novel. Her heart gave a little ﬂutter of excitement. She loved this

novel! She missed its characters, its world, and even its ﬂaws and problems. She

remembered the times she used to write without inhibition, instead of spending

all of her free time reading about writing techniques. She resolved to ﬁnish her

novel, using her new writing knowledge and her old writing vigour.

Just as the novelist ﬁnally felt conﬁdent of her ability and her motivation... life

happened. Her boss doubled her workload, and her family exploded with drama.

She had to sacriﬁce her writing time, and at the end of every day she felt tired

and DEFEATed. She lost all hope that she would ever ﬁnish her dream novel.

Weeks ﬂew by in a busy blur. One day, a family member asked her why she

looked so unhappy, and the novelist confessed that she longed to ﬁnished her

novel but couldn’t ﬁnd the time. To her surprise, instead of showing resentment,

her family, friends and even colleagues conspired to help her. She felt

emPOWERed, knowing that she ﬁnally had all of the pieces.

She had learned how to structure her novel, how to trust her own writing

process, and how to ﬁnd the strength and support to meet setbacks. It was only

a short time later that she carried through her RESOLUTION, and wrote those

two happy words: “The End.”

And she (and her readers) all lived happily ever after.

 YOUR LIFE’S STAGES

The One Page Novel is inspired by archetypal story structures like the Hero’s

Journey. These universal stories are powerful, not just because they help us spin

yarns, but because they teach us about our own lives. They help us recognise the

stages of the cycles of our life, and pinpoint where we are and why we’re

struggling.

You’re currently on a journey to ﬁnish your novel. Can you map out the stages

you’ve been through, in order to affect this change (from non-novelist to

novelist)? Where are you now? Can you prepare for the stages to come? Note

down what characterised each stage for you. What did you think? What did you

feel? How do you know when you’re through with a stage?

> You can ﬁnd a table comparing the various stages of The One Page Novel, The Hero’s

Journey, The Writer’s Journey, and The Fool’s Journey in the ‘Bonus Lessons’ section of

The One Page Novel Course.

 1. STASIS

 2. TRIGGER

I’m at this stage.

 3. QUEST

 4. BOLT

 5. SHIFT

 6. DEFEAT

 7. POWER

I’m at this stage.

 8. RESOLUTION

REFLECTION

Did you follow the stages in their order? Did you skip any stages? Do you think

you will still be confronted by any missing stages?

Do you think you could use these 8 stages to plot out a change you want to make

in your life? What order would you plot in? Would you skip any stages? Why or

why not?

> You can ﬁnd further discussion of how to use the 8 stages to make changes in your

life in the ‘Bonus Lessons’ section of The One Page Novel Course.

I’m at this stage.



The Lady Writers League

you

got

this!



Sign the document

DRAW TYPE UPLOAD

Choose file

Sending Options

Clear

Adding Fields

Fields are being added to your document to make it really easy to fill, send and sign this PDF. Once finished you can manually add any additional fields and signatures to the document by dragging them from the toolbar.

For larger documents this process may take up to one minute to complete

Finish

Download
Save PDF to desktop

Email
Email completed PDF

Send for Signing
Email for others to sign

Print
Print document

Send for signing

Email for others to sign

Choose a Field
Click on a field and
select the person that should complete it

Want to add a signature?
You can add a signature field
and assign it to someone else
to sign

Send for signing

Email for others to sign

Choose a Field
Click on a field and
select the person that should complete it

Send for signing

Email for others to sign

Someone else

NAME

Email completed PDF

Template

Convert to a reusable Template

Complete document

NOVEL (City of Oakland)

This document is locked as it has been sent for signing.

You have successfully completed this document.

Other parties need to complete fields in the document. You will recieve an email notification when the document has been completed by all parties.

This document has been signed by all parties.

Completed 7 November 2021

Message

View Audit Log
Print With Audit Log
Duplicate Document

You're on your way to completing your first doc!

already registered?

First 20 documents completely FREE!

No credit card required

Digitally sign with 1 click

Request signatures from others

Secure storage for sensitive data

Upload your own forms

Simple PDF editing

Huge library of 1000's of forms