This story outline template is perfect for organizing your story into a basic structure.
Milanote lets you see your story structure in a visual way—just like your wall of index cards, but portable. Easily drag and drop to rearrange the key parts as your story comes to life. It's the perfect companion to your manuscript.
This template is part of our guide on How to plan a novel.
Whether you’re writing a novel or a screenplay, follow this step-by-step guide to learn the modern process of outlining in Milanote, a free tool used by top creatives.
The Story Outline template contains empty notes for your ideas and scenes, placeholders for images, video and links.
Create a new board for your outline.
Drag a board out from the toolbar. Give it a name, then double click to open it.
Choose the Story Outline template.
Each new board gives you the options to start with a beautiful template.
Start by laying out the major scenes or events you know so far. These might be the key turning points, locations, or plot twists. Don't worry too much about the order or details yet, just get the main parts out of your head. This is a quick flexible way to brainstorm the centerpieces of your story.
Add a Column for each key scene.
Name it, then drag any relevant notes or images into your column
Next, add a sentence or a short paragraph for each scene. There are no rules for how much detail to add, do what works best for you. Think about what's being communicated in this scene, the location, and the characters involved. This will help you consider where characters are introduced and how this scene connects with the next one.
Add a note to describe the plot points.
Start typing then use the formatting tools in the left-hand toolbar.
Seeing your story at this level lets you make connections between themes and concepts you might otherwise miss if you went straight into writing. Re-read your outline so far. Look for scenes that feel out of place. Perhaps your transitions need some tweaking or a character appears without a proper introduction. Highlight areas that need more work and move scenes or plot points around to get the sequence just right.
Drag plot points around to get the sequence right.
While imagery probably won't make an appearance in your novel, this is a great technique for kickstarting new ideas. Experiment by adding images or movie clips that relate to your scenes. If you're the type of writer who creates moodboards, now's the time to see if you've already got imagery that could help evoke the feeling you're trying to capture. Try saving images from Google Images, Pinterest, or Milanote's built-in image library.
Use the built-in image library.
Search over 500,000 beautiful photos powered by Unsplash then drag images straight onto your board.
Embed Youtube videos or audio in a board.
Copy the share link from Youtube, Vimeo, Soundcloud or many other services. Drag a link card onto your board, paste your link and press enter.
Now that you've finished a draft outline, you can start writing, confident that your story has a strong foundation. If you're starting a new novel right now, grab the free outline template below to start mapping it out.
Milanote is where creative professionals organize their most important work.
Free with no time limit