Writer's Fallout Shelter

Beren's right. Each writer has their own style and needs.

Including myself, there are five members of my writing group. Each of us uses notes, outlines, and storyboarding differently. Like the notecards. Two of my writing group uses them to storyboard, including the one who has been a professional writer for the longest period of time. At her recommendation, I tried them, but they didn't work for me. I found them awkward, but I did find that I could do the same thing she did with the notecards with a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet works for me in a way the notecards didn't.

When I hear you say "formal outline," I wonder if you're thinking of something with Roman numerals and indents and at least two sub-points for every major item? I ask, because I used to think that's what it meant to outline for a novel. (High school English teachers do future writers a major disservice in this regard.)

I already have the outline written out for my second novel. It consists of ten items hand-written on the first page of that novel's notebook. Each item is only 1-3 sentences describing the novels major events. That's it. That's all my outline consists of because it's all I need to stay on track. I'll write to each major event, adjusting them, the outline, and the story as the writing unfolds.