Story Outlining Part 2

As we discussed last time, we started constructing the story outline of our short story. We started out by outlining our stories starting point, climax and resolution. After that we continued to fill in more detail. Today we are going to finish up the outline. So this is where we left off last time. The numbered shots being what we are happy with and the other points are things that we want to happen but we need to fill in the areas from point A to point B.

-1-

Boy wakes up from sleep (visual)
Ice cream would taste awesome right now (dialogue/ character thought)

-2-

Boy leaves house counting his ice cream money
Boy whistles his favorite ice cream commercial jingle

-3-

Boy walks down the street
Boy continues whistling

-4-

Boy hears voices of other kids
Maybe more kids want to get ice cream

 

Boy meets Girl (stories climax)

Boy gets ice cream and shares with Girl  (stories resolution)

 

By generating our story in this manner, we are allowed to fill in the gaps in numerous ways and even change things out. Whatever you decide to put into the story is really up to you the creator, there are no right or wrong answers nor is there a perfect solution or formula to create such stories. The amount of detail you add into it is based upon how fast you want the story to go or how much information you need/ want to include. For instance, in our story, we have the boy meeting the girl but we haven’t discussed under what circumstances. Are they friends that are happening to come across each other and get ice cream to catch up? Maybe the girl is being bullied and the boy saves her and takes her out for ice cream. How would each of these scenes look if they were based more on action as opposed to dialogues? We could even create awhile other story in the space between when the boy hears the other kids and from the time the boy meets the girl.

With all of these questions and possible solutions being discussed, you can start to see why writing your story out saves you lots of time in the end. If we started drawing and inking now, if we decided we wanted to change something later we would have wasted time on drawings we may not be using or if we have to redraw content.

So back to our story, I am going to fill in other story areas keeping in mind I want the boy and the girl to reunite. Former neighbors but the girl moved away and they are meeting at a park in the middle of their houses. So now my outline is going to look a little like…

-1-

Boy wakes up from sleep (visual)
Ice cream would taste awesome right now (dialogue/ character thought)

-2-

Boy leaves house counting his ice cream money
Boy whistles his favorite ice cream commercial jingle

-3-

Boy walks down the street
Boy continues whistling

-4-

Boy hears voices of other kids
Maybe more kids want to get ice cream

-5-

Boy starts walking towards the voices
Voices start getting louder as he approaches

-6-

The boy sees a small group of kids playing at a nearby park
Those must be the kids I heard

-7-

As the boy gets closer to the group a girl on the swing turns around
Is that who I think it is?

-8-

The Boy and girl reunite in the park
I haven’t seen you in a  while, would you like to get some ice cream?

-9-

The boy and girl walk to the ice cream shop to get some ice cream
The boy and girl spend time catching up.

(The End)

As you read the outline from above, keep in mind that it is reflecting a story driven by actions/ visuals as opposed to a friends version of more of a dialogue driven story, which would maybe look like something below…

-1-

Boy wakes up from sleep (visual)
Ice cream would taste awesome right now (dialogue/ character thought)

-3-

Boy walks down the street
Boy continues whistling

-6-

The boy sees a small group of kids playing at a nearby park
Those must be the kids I heard

-8-

The Boy and girl reunite in the park
I haven’t seen you in a  while, would you like to get some ice cream?

-9-

The boy and girl walk to the ice cream shop to get some ice cream
The boy and girl spend time catching up.

(The End)

You can see that I have taken out some of the shots from the previous story. My rationale for that in regards to the way I work, is that I haven’t completely fleshed out the dialogue yet. However, I know I am going to dictate more of my characters actions through dialogue and inner monologues than showing an action.

So in the first story we showed the audience the boy walking down the street on his way to get ice cream. In the dialogue version, we can fill in that area with the boy discussing to himself what kind of ice cream he wants when he gets there, or wondering if they have any new flavors or if he wants a cone or not. So we are replacing the imagery of showing  with imagery of telling. The same can be said for other shots that were taken out as we retained keeping the main shots but cutting out some of the non essential shots for the dialogue version.

What you choose to show is up to you and what you want your audience to see and the pacing of your story. Hopefully this helps with your story outline!

 

*Update, new character in the character gallery as well. Make sure to check out Robee, the newest character to the Cosmic Rage Universe.

 

This entry was posted in Creator Takes by Chris Biewer. Bookmark the permalink.

About Chris Biewer

I am a motion graphics artist working in the sports industry. My goal is to enhance the game day experience for fans through my motion graphics work on LED displays through out arena's and also through promos done for the web. I believe that this medium has a lot of untapped potential and it is my duty as an artist to push the limits and to enhance the memories of the fans!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *