小説アウトライン・テンプレート

Every novel starts as a collection of ideas, scenes, and characters floating around in your head. The gap between that exciting mental chaos and a finished manuscript is where most writers get stuck. An outline bridges that gap. It does not replace the creative process -- it gives the creative process somewhere to go.

This template provides a flexible framework for organizing your novel from premise through scene-level planning. It works for plotters who want every detail nailed down before drafting and for pantsers who want just enough structure to avoid writing themselves into a corner. Use every section or only the ones you need. The framework adapts to your process, not the other way around.

Section 1: Premise and Core Concept

Before outlining any scenes, you need to articulate what your novel is actually about. Not the plot -- the about. This section forces you to distill your story into its essential components before complexity creeps in.

Logline

Write your story in one sentence. Follow this formula as a starting point: When [inciting incident], a [protagonist] must [objective], or else [stakes]. If you cannot fit your story into a single sentence, you may not yet know what the core of the story is. That is fine -- working through this template will help you find it.

Theme

State the central question or argument your novel explores. Theme is not a message you impose on the story. It is the question the story keeps circling back to. "Is loyalty more important than truth?" or "Can people outrun the damage done to them in childhood?" The theme does not need to have an answer when you start. Your characters will argue different sides of it.

Genre and Tone

Identify the genre conventions you are working within and the tonal register you are aiming for. This matters because genre creates reader expectations, and your outline should account for whether you intend to fulfill, subvert, or blend those expectations.

Setting Overview

Describe the world of your story in broad strokes. Time period, location, social context, and any rules that govern the world (especially important for speculative fiction). You will expand this later if needed, but even contemporary fiction benefits from a deliberate sense of place.

Section 2: Characters

Your outline needs to account for the people driving the story. You do not need full character profiles at this stage (though the Character Profile Template is available when you want to go deeper), but you need enough to understand how each character connects to the central conflict.

Protagonist

Name, role, and a brief description. Then answer three questions: What do they want? What do they need (and how does it differ from what they want)? What is the internal lie or misbelief they carry into the story?

Antagonist

The antagonist does not have to be a villain. They need to be the force that most directly opposes the protagonist's objective. Define their goal and why it conflicts with the protagonist's. The best antagonists believe they are right.

Supporting Cast

List key secondary characters. For each, note their relationship to the protagonist, their own want or goal, and how they mirror, contrast, or complicate the protagonist's arc. Secondary characters who do not serve the story's central tension tend to dilute the narrative. This is where you catch that early.

Section 3: Three-Act Structure

This is the spine of your outline. You can use a different structural model if you prefer (the Hero's Journey, the Story Circle, a four-act structure), but three-act structure provides a reliable starting framework that most other models map onto.

Act I: Setup (Roughly the First 25%)

Define the following elements:

• Opening Image or Scene: What is the first thing the reader sees? This should establish the protagonist's ordinary world and hint at the tone of the story.
• Inciting Incident: The event that disrupts the protagonist's status quo and sets the central conflict in motion. Place this no later than the 12-15% mark. If it comes later, your opening is probably dragging.
• First Act Turning Point: The moment where the protagonist commits to the central problem. They cross a threshold, make a choice, or are forced into the main conflict. This is the point of no return that launches Act II.

Act II: Confrontation (Roughly 25-75%)

Act II is where most outlines go thin and most drafts go sideways. Break it into two halves with the midpoint as the hinge.

• Rising Action (First Half): The protagonist pursues their goal, encounters escalating obstacles, and tries solutions that partially work but create new problems. The character is largely reactive in this section -- responding to events rather than driving them.
• Midpoint: A revelation, reversal, or shift that changes the protagonist's understanding of the conflict. After the midpoint, the protagonist shifts from reactive to proactive. This is the structural center of your novel and it deserves careful planning.
• Complications (Second Half): Stakes increase. Allies may be lost. The antagonist gains ground. Subplots converge on the main conflict. Everything builds toward a crisis point.
• Second Act Turning Point (Dark Moment): The protagonist faces their greatest setback. The goal seems impossible. The internal lie reasserts itself. This is the low point that makes the climax meaningful by contrast.

Act III: Resolution (Roughly the Final 25%)

• Climax: The protagonist confronts the central conflict directly. The internal arc and external plot converge. The protagonist must make a definitive choice that demonstrates whether they have embraced the truth or succumbed to the lie.
• Falling Action: The immediate aftermath of the climax. Loose threads are addressed. The consequences of the climactic choice ripple outward.
• Final Image or Scene: The mirror of your opening. Show how the protagonist and their world have changed (or failed to change). The distance between the opening image and the closing image is the measure of your story's arc.

Section 4: Subplot Tracking

List each subplot and note where it intersects with the main plot. Every subplot should put pressure on the protagonist's central conflict or illuminate the theme from a different angle. For each subplot, answer: How does this connect to the main story's thematic question? If you cannot answer that clearly, the subplot may need rethinking.

Track each subplot's key beats: where it is introduced, where it escalates, and where it resolves. Subplots that resolve at the same time as the main plot create a satisfying sense of convergence. Subplots that linger after the climax make the ending feel bloated.

Section 5: Scene-by-Scene Breakdown

This is the most granular level of your outline. Not every writer needs this level of detail, but those who do find it invaluable for maintaining momentum during the draft.

For each scene, note the following:

• Scene Number and Chapter: Where this scene falls in the manuscript.
• POV Character: Whose perspective are we in?
• Scene Goal: What does the POV character want in this scene?
• Conflict: What opposes them?
• Outcome: Do they get what they want? (The answer should usually be "no" or "yes, but" to maintain tension.)
• Arc Movement: How does this scene advance or complicate the character's internal arc?
• Scene Purpose: What does this scene accomplish for the reader? If a scene does not advance the plot, deepen character, or build the world in a way that matters later, it may not need to exist.

Section 6: Research and Reference Notes

Keep a running section for research that will feed into your draft. This might include historical details, technical information, location descriptions, or cultural context. Keeping research notes inside your outline rather than in a separate location means you can reference them while planning scenes without breaking your workflow.

How to Customize This Template

This template is a starting point, not a mandate. Here are some ways to adapt it to your process:

• If you are a pantser: Fill in Sections 1 and 2 only. Write a loose Act I outline and leave Acts II and III as open questions. You now have enough structure to start drafting without feeling boxed in. Return to the template after your first draft to map what you actually wrote.
• If you are a plotter: Fill in every section. The scene-by-scene breakdown in Section 5 is your drafting roadmap. You will still discover things during the draft that surprise you -- that is good. Update the outline as you go.
• If you are writing a series: Duplicate this template for each book and add a series-level document that tracks overarching plot threads, character arcs that span multiple books, and worldbuilding elements that evolve across the series.
• If you are revising: Fill in this template after completing a draft. Map what you actually wrote against the structural framework. The gaps between intention and execution will reveal exactly where revisions are needed.

Outline your next novel in Plotiar. Keep your premise, characters, act structure, and scene-by-scene plan in a single organized project with documents, notes, and flowcharts side by side. Try it free.