Part 1/5 of How I Use John Truby To

Outline Fiction: Who Is This Guy?

Posted on by Miranda Beverl y-Whittemore
Behold, the outline to my next book:

Since posting this image a few da ys ago, Ive had a few fiction
writer friends ask me how I ended up with just an overt outline. It
looks very definitive up there, doesnt it? Like I know what Im
doing or something (ha!). The truth is, thanks to a book called
The

Anatomy

of

Story,

by

script-guru

named

John

Tr u b y,

actually do know a lot more what the next book is shaped like
th a n I di d on l y t wo we e k s a g o . Two we e k s a go , thi s i de a wa s a
jumble of notes and rejected pages, a pile of characters and a
daunting list of research.

Over the next five days, Im going to share how I use/ interpret/
John

Trub ys The

Anatomy

of

Story, which

is

used

by

many

screenwriters, to outline my novels.

It was my mother who introduced

me to John Trubys The Anatomy of Story (which Ill mostl y call
Truby from now on, since thats what my famil y- my fictionwr i ti n g m o th e r, fi lm m a ke r s i s te r, a n d fil m m a k i ng b r o the r - i n - la w,
who have all used it too, call it). Trub ys method has served as a
major

foundation

for

starting

book

ever

since

my

mother

introduced the book to me, and so I cant really remember a time

when I didnt have it to rely on. What I do remember is that the
d a y w e b o u g h t m y c o p y o f Tru b y, w h i c h , a s yo u c a n s e e , h a s b e e n
well-loved, I was feeling totally stuck. I had a new idea for a
novel but no plan about how to execute it. But when my mother
showed

me

copy

of

book

that

was

supposed

to

help

s c r e e n w r i t e r s , I r e m e m b e r f e e l i n g , w e l l , n o t i n s u l t e d e x a c t l y, b u t
kind of like, Wtf am I (a novelist) supposed to do with this?
A t t h e t i m e , I d ye t t o w r i t e a s c r e e n p l a y, a n d w a s v e r y m u c h o f
the belief that books were the best form of entertainment ever (far
a b o v e f i l m ) , a n d a c t u a l l y, t h a t b o o k s w e r e n t
they

were

only

entertainment

an

werent

art

form

r e a l l y,

(and

well,

that

books),

even entertainment,
books
and

that
that

were
it

was

cheating and lowbrow to have a solid outline before you wrote a

book, because writing a book was supposed to be like running
your hands over a wild beast in a dark room and figuring out what
kind it was by how it responded.

Which is all to say that you should look at the I had a new idea
for a novel but no plan about how to execute it part of this post
t o u n d e r s t a n d e x a c t l y w h y I n e e d e d Tru b y.
Also, I hadnt got ten an MFA, so aside from a fe w undergraduate
workshops, and what Id read, and the help of friends, I didnt
have a solid method in place when starting a new project. I was
not unlike that wild animal in a dark room myself, bumping into
w a l l s , f e e l i n g g r u m p y, t r o t t i n g a f t e r n o t h i n g o n l y t o f i n d a d e a d
end. I had yet to write a screenplay myself, yet to experience that
satisfying,

quicksilver

screenplay brings.

I had

feeling
yet

to

that

producing

understand

that

clean-cut

aligning

plot,

subplot, character, stor y world, and a lot of other elem ents , wo uld
save me a lot of time and energy in revisions. Or see that I
b e l i e v e , d e f i n i t i v e l y, t h a t s t o r y g r o w s o u t o f c h a r a c t e r . O r e m b r a c e
that I love big plot.
I find that because Trub y is written for screenwriters, the books
tone is very direct in a way that many books for fiction writers
arent. Trub y believes that there is a method to writing a good
s t o r y, a n d t h a t t h e m e t h o d c a n b e t a u g h t . M a n y f i c t i o n w r i t e r s
have this magical sense that writing a novel cant possibly be
calculated, because that kills the books power. But Ive realized,
as my career has progressed, that I reject this notion in my own
writing. Ive learned that I write better, and have more fun doing
it, if I have a roadmap. And using a roadmap like Trub ys, which
offers up the reassurance that I can make my story stronger by
thinking about all of its elements in a calculated way in advance
of writing it, is particularly useful to me.
Tom o r r o w : h o w T r u b y i s o r g a n i z e d , a n d h o w I f o l l o w i t .

Part 2/5 of How I Use John Truby To

Outline Fiction: How Does It Work?
Posted on by Miranda Beverl y-Whittemore

Truby posits that good films (and he gives plenty

of convincing examples) include most, if not all, of what he calls
the 22 building blocks, essential elements that keep a story
strong. Truby is structured so that if you follow it from chapter
one, by the end of it, youll have a detailed scene weave in hand
(see: my trusty cork board), which he describes as a list of every
s c e n e y o u b e l i e v e w i l l b e i n t h e f i n a l s t o r y, b a s e d u p o n t h e s e 2 2
b ui l d in g bl o c k s . N o w, s c re e n pl a ys a re m uc h sh o r te r th a n no vel s ,
so I adjust this final step to be not so much a concrete scene
weave as a detailed description of each moment or beat that I
know must happen in the story- but Ill talk in much more detail
a b o u t h o w I m o d i f y t h e e n d o f t h e b o o k t h a t o n F r i d a y. W h a t y o u
need to know for no w is that Trub y takes you from premise to
o u t l i n e , a n d h o l d s y o u r h a n d m o s t o f t h e w a y.
Truby is has eleven chapters in it. Ive found that I use Chapters
T wo t h r o u g h E i g h t m o s t f a i t h f u l l y.
Chapter One: Stor y Space, Stor y Time (I usuall y skim this chapter
to remind m yself how Trub ys mind works, and reorient m yself
inside the method, but much of what is in it seems rudimentary to
me- if you already tell stories for your living, you already live and
breathe much of what he sa ys here).
C ha p te r Two : P r em i se
Chapter Three: The Seven Key Steps of Story Structure

Chapter Four: Character

Chapter Five: Moral Argument
Chapter Six: Story World
Chapter Seven: Symbol Web
Chapter Eight: Plot
Chapter

Nine:

Scene

Weave

(I

usually

come

up

with

my

own

method of putting together the scene weave based on the work

Ive already done by this point- I find his way of doing it to be
backwards- more on this on Frida y).
C h a p t e r Te n : C o n s t r u c t i o n a n d S y m p h o n i c D i a l o g u e ( I u s u a l l y s k i m
this chapter- I find its the chapter

thats the most pitched to

screenwriters).
Chapter

Eleven:

The

Never-Ending

Story

(I

usually

skim

this

chapter too- it feels more like a recap than part of the method).

Each chapter goes into great detail

on the subject at hand, and offers up specific sub-elements (I
think of them as mile markers that I have to pass within the
journey
chapter,

of

that

there

particular
is

chapter).

worksheet,

At

which

the

end

reviews

of

the

everything

given
that

chapter has covered, with plenty of questions and prompts. He

fills out each worksheet himself, using a few examples (most often
Too t s i e - ye s , t h a t Too t s i e - a n d T h e G o d f a t h e r ) wh i c h I f i n d t o b e
v e r y h e l p f u l w h e n g e t t i n g a h o l d o f m y o w n w o r k f e e l s m u r k y.
A few notes:

- Dont be fooled by the word sheet in worksheet; I often end up

with twenty-five pages for each worksheet! But as Ill explain
to m o r r o w, al l th i s g en e r a te d wo r k an d r e s ea r c h in to m y p ro j e c t
ends up coming in great use as I start to work on the novel,
because Ive already put in so much thought about the characters,
t h e p l a c e , t h e i d e a s b e h i n d t h e s t o r y, e t c .
- What I

like about accumulating so much work is the fact that

Truby has me reiterate and revise and rethink elements over and
over again. Premise, for example, is something he asks us to
ret ype and ree xam ine in nearl y ever y chapter, which means that I
almost always end up honing and sharpening what my book is
about, so that by the time I put together the outline, I have a
much better idea about the central conceit of the story than if Id
only thought about it once.
- F i n a l l y, I s h o u l d a d d t h a t t h e r e s a l o t t h a t g o e s i n t o t h i n k i n g
a b o u t a n o v e l l o n g b e f o r e I u s e Tru b y. T h e b o o k t h a t I m s t a r t i n g
n o w, fo r e xa m p l e , is a n id ea I ve be e n s ch e m i ng a b ou t fo r t wo
years. At one point, I had an outline and about 65 pages, but
something

wasnt

working

(I

should

have

used

Trub y before

amassed all that work, because I would have discovered pretty

quickly what wasnt working, but I was trying to cut corners, and
well, as soon as some folks I really trust read what I had, they
pointed out some of the essential flaws in my execution of the
idea, and I was back to square one. Lesson learned: use Truby
before

writing

in

earnest).

put

the

book

away

for

couple

m o n t h s . O n c e I w a s r e a d y t o t h i n k a b o u t i t i n a f r e s h w a y, I p u l l e d
o u t Tr u b y, a n d g o t b a c k t o b a s i c s . I a l r e a d y k n e w, o n a g u t l e v e l ,
what the novel is about. I knew who the essential characters are.
I knew where the book takes place. But even if I didnt know those
things, Trub y would have helped me discover them. Im grateful to
b e e n c o u r a g e d t o s l o w d o w n a n d g e t t o k n o w m y i d e a i n t i m a t e l y.
Tom o r r o w : C h a p t e r s O n e t h r o u g h F o u r.

Part 3/5 of How I Use John Truby to

Outline Fiction: Chapters 1-5
Posted on by Miranda Beverl y-Whittemore

Ill
starting Trub y

begin

by

saying

that

were

for the first time, Id go through the book right off

the back and type up each worksheet (which he calls Writing

Exercises, but I like to call worksheets since Im a nerd). Then
Id Save As and renam e each worksheet for the book I happen to
be working on, since theres a good chance Id want to use this
method in the future! I keep mine in a favorite notebook so I can
reference them once I start writing in earnest (See? There it isfull of ideas I didnt have before).
Chapter One: Story Space, Story Time
As I mentioned in yesterda ys post, I usually dont work much with
Chapter One (which outlines Trub ys beliefs). I ts definitel y wo rth
a read, though, because he sa ys things like a storytelleris
someone who pla ys. Its nice to be reminded that writing and

creating a story can be pleasurable for both the reader and the
w r i t e r, a n d I l o v e t h a t e x t r a p u s h t o p l a y.
C h a p t e r Two : P r e m i s e

Worksheet

One,

at

the

end

of

C ha p te r Two , i s wh e r e Trub y in vi te s u s to s ta te wh a t th e b oo k is
about. As a literary novelist, this was a radical idea- so much of
what Id learned before I started working with Trub y was all about
denying that there is such a thing as a single truth of aboutness
when it comes to writing fiction. There are surely many novelists
who write brilliant, perfectly crafted books without thinking about
this. But Ive learned that Im not one of them!
Usually I come to Trub y with an alread y clear sense of what I
think the book will be about. Granted, my premise gets honed and
revised as I work through the book, and so often looks different
than what I started with. But I dont go in blind; I just dont feel
ready to tackle this method until I already know at least a little
about wh at I want to wri te about. Howe ve r, Trub y starts wi th the
s u p po s i ti on th a t yo u m ig h t n o t kn o w, a n d e n c ou r a g e s yo u to di g
deep, starting with the notion that you should write something
that may change your life. Thats a good reminder too.
By the end of Worksheet One, youll have stated your premise,
brainstormed some strong ideas about what will happen in your
s t o r y, o u t l i n e d t h e b a s i c c o n f l i c t , a n d g o t t e n a g o o d i d e a o f y o u
your main character will be.
Chapter Three: The Seven Key Steps of Story Structure

Remember those 22 story steps I

mentioned back in my first post? Think of the seven story steps
youll explore in this chapter as the basic building blocks for
those 22 steps. This is the chapter where youll start thinking
more

definitively about

Worksheet

One,

and

all

how

that
what

raw

material

youve

you

already

set

down

generated

in
will

s h a p e i t s e l f i n t o a n a t u r a l s t o r y. W o r k s h e e t Two w i l l h e l p y o u d o
this,

focusing

in

on

your

main

characters

arc,

from

their

weaknesses and needs at the beginning, to the new equilibrium of

t h e u n i v e r s e a t t h e e n d . Yo u l l s t a r t t o t h i n k a b o u t a l i g n i n g y o u r
m a i n c h a r a c t e r s a r c w i t h t h e a r c o f t h e s t o r y, s o t h a t t h e y l l b e
working together, instead of at cross purposes.
Chapter Four: Character

This is when it starts to get fun! In

this chapter and then in Worksheet Three, youll get to know your
protagonist much better. But youll do that by getting to know the
other characters in the story too, including the antagonist (in my
new novel, theres more than one protagonist and more than one
antagonist, so never fear if you dont have such a black and white

t a l e - t h e m e t h o d c a n d e f i n i t e l y b e m o d i f i e d f o r y o u r u s e s ) . You
think about the Character Web, and how all the characters in your
stor y can (and must) interact and illum inate each other.
I love this part of the process because I almost always realize
that a character I believed to be absolutely necessary when I first
dreamed the book up is, in fact, not necessary at all, and theres
other ways to get across what I needed to without them. So this
chapter always saves me a lot of time in the long run, because Im
f o r c e d t o j u s t i f y, i n m o r e t h a n o n e w a y, w h o w i l l l i v e i n m y b o o k .
C h a p t e r F i ve : M o r a l Ar g u m e n t

Truby presupposes that every tale

is about a deeper moral system, and that, as he puts it on page
109, you, as the author, are making a moral argument through
what your characters do in the plot. This is a good reminder that
a novel is about many things. But he also loathes propaganda,
and argues that only by letting your characters live honestly can
your story resonate on deeper levels.
B y the end of Worksheet Fou r, I alwa ys have a much deeper sense
of the moral arc of my tale, and a sense of how all my characters
will be woven into this moral arc as they live through the story
themselves.
Tom o r r o w : C h a p t e r s 6 - 11

Part 4/5 of How I Use John Truby to

Outline Fiction: Chapters 6-11
Posted on by Miranda Beverl y-Whittemore
Chapter Six: Story World

After

all

the

deep

discovery

prompted

by

the

previous chapters, this chapter always feels like a sigh of relief.

This might just be me, but my novels almost always come attached
to a very strong sense of place, and so I have less unpacking to
d o . B u t t h a t d o e s n t m e a n t h i s c h a p t e r i s e a s y, n o , t h e r e s s t i l l
plenty to uncover. Trub y wants you to think intentionall y about the
metaphors

and

symbols

of

place

youll

be

emplo ying-

from

seasons, to weather, to the landscape- and the degree to which

they have a profound influence on the kind of story you want to
tell.
In Worksheet Five, you look at much of the work youve already
done through the lens of your story world. This is the chapter
where I usually end up feeling as though things are really falling
into place.
Chapter Seven: Symbol Web

This chapter encourages you to use symbols to

highlight and amplify the elements youve already put together in
your book. If Im being honest, this chapter usually feels the most
gimmicky to me; perhaps because my first, true love is literary
fiction, I find this part of Trub ys approach to be a little too
formulaic for my taste. That said, I almost always find something
in

my

own

book

that

didnt

know

was

there

thanks

to

this

chapter, so wha t do I kno w?

Chapter Eight: Plot
Finally! Its those 22 Story Steps I was telling you about! Lo and
behold, all the work youve done up until this point dovetails
nicely into a strong, well-thought out structure.
That said,

this is usually where

I branch

o f f f r o m Tru b y. H i s

method has you sitting down and assigning plot points to each
Story Step, but I find that I like to go backwards; at this point in
the game, given all the work hes had me do, I already know
whats

going

to

happen

in

the

s t o r y.

So

instead

of

using

worksheet, I take flashcards and write down each moment or beat,

and then, once theyre all down, I makes sure they align with most
of the story steps (more on this tomorrow).
Chapter Nine: Scene Weave
My modification of Trub y means that I end up with a scene weave
just like what Truby ends up wanting you to have, but I come at it
differently (Ill talk more about this tomorrow). Still, its awesome
to know that if you stick with the system, youll end up with a
sixty scene outline at this point in the game.
C h a p t e r Ten : S c e n e C o n s t r u c t i o n a n d S ym p h o n i c D i a l o g u e
This chapter seems very pitched to screenwriters, or for folks who

want to hone their dialogue skills. W hat I need out of Trub y is a

strong outline, so I find that once Ive gotten to this chapter, hes
given me what I need.
Chapter Eleven: The Never-Ending Story
Again, Im usually out b y this chapter. But he make some good
points here- its worth looking at.
Tom o r r o w : T h e f i n a l o u t l i n e

Part 5/5 of How I Use John Truby to

Outline Fiction: The Final Outline
Posted on by Miranda Beverl y-Whittemore
By the time I get to the outline phase in a novel, round about
Chapter Eight of Trub y or so, Ive alread y got a thick notebook of
what Ive discovered by working with him. Heres what I know:

My

premise-

what

my

novel

is

about, specifically what its moral argument is, and how every
moment/character in the novel works in consort with that argument

My characters- their weaknesses, their desires (what they think

they want), their needs (what they need to learn), how they work
in connection with all the other characters in the novel, and much
more.
My setting- how place and time influences every major moment in
the novel
My novels basic arc- who is battling whom for what, where the yre
doing it, wh y the yre doing it, and how its going to end.
See how much I didnt know I knew? This is when I feel a little
thrill! I didnt know I knew so much, and Im chomping at the bit to
start writing.
B u t fi r s t I n ee d to m a ke m ys e l f a s ol i d o u tli n e , u s i ng wh a t I k n o w.
B e c a u se o f a ll I n o w k n o w, in s te a d o f fe e l in g in s u r m o un ta b l e , th e
outline now feels like just one of the necessary steps I must take
in writing my novel.
My tools: a big old corkboard, a bunch of notecards (in different
colors if you want to sort by character, time frame, or some other
way), pens (more than one color if youd like to sort by character
or some other method), and some thumbtacks.
A s I m e n t i o n e d y e s t e r d a y, i n C h a p t e r E i g h t , Tr u b y e n c o u r a g e s u s
to lay out the 22 story steps and lie our plots over them. But I find
this to be backwards; by this point in the game, I already have a
pretty strong idea of exactly what the most important moments are
going to be (these could be called beats as well, because they
arent

exactly

journeys

scenes;

my characters

they
will

are
be

the

taking

emotional
over

the

and
course

physical
of

the

book), and I dont want to feel constricted by having to see them

through the restrictive lens of only being story steps.
So I sit down with my big stack of notecards and I start writing
these moments down. Simple as that. I number them so I can
remember the original order I put them down in, but Im not afraid
to move them around (which is why I do this on notecards and
i n s t e a d o f i n a s i n g l e d o c u m e n t o n m y c o m p u t e r ) . Yo u s h o u l d n o t e

that multiple important moments can (and should) happen in a

single

scene,

e.g. if

one

of

the

moments

is

character A and

character B finally kiss and another is character C and character

D bond as they spy on character A and B kissing, those moments
will ultimately appear in the same scene, but they are distinct for
my purposes because they follow different subplots.

The

book

Im

outlining

right

now

has two parallel time periods linked by a narrator (whos a girl in

the past and an elderly woman in the present). I assigned green
t o t h e p r e s e n t d a y, a n d y e l l o w t o t h e p a s t . E a c h m a j o r c h a r a c t e r
in

both

past

and

present

was

also

assigned

distinct

color

(whenever I wrote a characters name, I wrote it so that when I lay

the cards out, I could visually track how important they are, and
keep an eye the holes (if any) where the y seemingly disappear
from the plot (which I find often identifies other weaknesses in a
plot).
It took me two da ys of hard thinking to get about thirty scenes of
each time period down on the notecards. Then I put each of the
green and ye llo w cards into a rough order. Then I started pinning
them up on my empty pinboard, which sits just to the right of my
desk.
N o w, b e c au s e th i s n e x t bo o k we a v e s b a c k a nd fo r th i n ti m e , I ve
got an extra challenge in terms of thinking about how to make the
p l o t f l o w - a n d t h i s i s w h e r e t h e 2 2 s t o r y s t e p s c o m e i n h a n d y.
Although the book takes place over two different time periods,
these two strands of the no vel inform and influence each othe r,

revealing truths about the other as the reader pushes on. So

although the y are distinct from each other, the y must be married; I
want them to feed each other.
This is where the 22 Story Steps come into help. Once I had the
yello ws and greens pinned up in a general orde r, I took Trub ys 22
story steps and penciled them in on top of those moments where
they felt relevant.
I stood back and looked at what I had. For the most part, the story
flowed! I walked myself through each beat, and realized the story
steps really did feed, one into the next, across both time periods,
that there werent many character holes, that no one seems to be
in this story who isnt vital to it. (That pink card? Thats the
moment of revelation for my storyteller, who narrates both time
periods, and must learn something as well).
Im sure there will be parts of this outline that will change. Thats
why its called an outline- not an immutable straitjacket. Thats
why its on notecards (although Ive transcribed whats on them
into a word document in case of apocalypse, I dont think of that
document as an unchangeable thing). What I have now is some
help. The bravery to move forward with writing, because I know
where Im going.
Outlining a book isnt a science. But Trub ys book is the closest
Ive

ever

come

to

having,

if

not

formula,

then

at

least

roadmap, to putting something in place that will help me find my

wa y in the dark room. Trub y shines a flashlight on that wild beast
who is in the dark with me; the book who is waiting for me to find
it.