How To Make Your Own Sticky-Note Outlining Kit

I prefer the 1.5″x 2″ sticky-notes in bright colors, but there are many sizes and tints to choose.

Any paper will do. I prefer pastels, with which I can differentiate the different acts of the book. (Say: four sheets of marigold paper for the chapters of Act I, five sheet of lilac for Act II, etc.) In a series, you could also use a different color paper for each book.

Punch holes in the paper, stick the paper in a three ring binder and use one sheet per chapter (or per scene) and label your sticky-notes with the beats.

Voila!

In the Unfinished Song, I use one color paper per book; I have the whole series in a single three ring binder. This way I can flip back and forth between previous (already published books), my current Work In Progress, and future books. The future books may be a little more sparsely populated by sticky notes at this point, if I haven’t done the Scene by Scene outline yet, so to indicate that I sometimes use all canary yellow sticky notes to show those scenes. That way I remember they are still uncertain. When I reach that WIP, I switch out the yellow stickies for the colored stickies that represent my PoV scenes.

I also have to remember to go back to earlier books and make sure the Sticky Note Outline reflects the final version. An outline should never been a corset that constricts the breath of the novel. The stays should be loosened as required to let the story dance.  However, it’s important that I go back and update my Sticky Note Outline after the fact, because I continue to refer to it to remind me what has gone before in the series.