Actual Outlining!!

My goal for National Novel Writing Month, the month of November, is to make some serious progress with my Myristicae story. For this week, the plan was to create a story outline. I've never actually outlined a story in the detail before, to the point that I actually know how this story is going to end! So I'm excited to see how outlining will make my plot structure so much better. 

(This is how the inside of my brain looked before I started outlining! It's a scary place in there.)

If you don't want spoilers for the completed prose version of my story, I would advise skipping this blog entry. If you don't mind them, please let me know what you think of this outline! If you have questions or something doesn't make sense to you, please let me know. Also, if this world order seems confusing, please see my previous post about it, though please note that a few plot elements have changed. 

Myristicae Story Outline

Chapter 1

1. Hazel’s transformation and induction into the Myristicae
2. Brief explanation of the society, powers, appearance, abilities (to be continued)
3. Hazel’s grief over the life she’s lost and her excitement about the life she’s gained

Chapter 2

1. Hazel goes back to visit her friends and family and explains her absence to them
2. Thyme, the tree teacher, begins to instruct Hazel in her responsibilities and privileges (continuation of powers and abilities explanation)
3. We see her everyday life as a tree and the different building-like areas of the society
4. Hazel becomes friends with Wren

Chapter 3

1. Almond, Ash, Rowan, and Wren begin to let Hazel know of some of the down sides to being a tree, including hints about Ebony’s malicious side
2. The five commiserate about the lives they could’ve had

Chapter 4

1. Hazel begins to become attracted to Rowan, even though romantic relationships among the trees are strictly forbidden, but Rowan doesn’t seem to reciprocate
2. Hazel’s human friends, Lila and Carolina, come to visit her in the forest
3. Hazel continues her education with Thyme, with a guest appearance from Linden to learn about the tree’s governance

 Chapter 5

1. Hazel has (what she thinks is) a dream about Ebony’s coercion and punishment of a resident who tried to leave Pinetop, but she can’t see the resident’s face in the dream
2. She confides in Rowan, who tells her not to worry about it, Ebony is a good leader overall
3. Hazel struggles with her studies, nearing the end

Chapter 6

1. Hazel tries to put the dream to rest but the unknown face of the resident haunts her, and she proceeds to have dreams where the important people in her life take on that role and she watches them suffer
2. Hazel fails a crucial test to keep a resident who wants to leave Pinetop from leaving and Thyme has to do it for her
3. She sees the injustice in this society, and she has a fight with Wren about it
4.  She regrets her transformation into the tree society

Chapter 7

1. Hazel begins to realize that she can use her powers of persuasion however she chooses, not just to keep people inside the town
2. She again confides in Rowan and this time he’s on her side. Hazel tells him about her dream, and he realizes that the spirits were sending Hazel a message about the first person who was ever punished for trying to leave. The spirits want change among the trees.
3. Hazel and Rowan begin letting residents leave after wiping their memories of the trees with their powers of persuasion
4. Hazel struggles with whether to let her friends and family leave because they would have to forget her

Chapter 8

1. Ebony and Linden get wind of what Hazel and Rowan are doing and try to go after the people that have left
2. While they are away, Hazel and Rowan decide it would be best for their friends and family to let them leave
3. Once Ebony and Linden leave, they soon learn that their powers don’t work outside of Pinetop. They decide that once residents have left, including Hazel and Rowan’s friends and family, they cannot be allowed to return for the good of society.
4. Ebony and Linden punish Hazel and Rowan for their treason by performing a ceremony that severs their relationship with the sacred cave, the place of their creation. Without a continued renewal of their spirits at the sacred cave, they will soon lose their abilities and die. This ceremony may only be performed by those who have the correct authority and relationship with the cave.

Chapter 9

1. Wren sees this injustice and works to convince the other trees to no longer accept Ebony and Linden’s reign.
2. With such a small populace of trees, it is easy to change their minds, except Thyme. If a kingdom’s subjects no longer consent to being ruled, what power do the rulers have?
3. Once Ebony and Linden no longer have the allegiance of the trees, the power to perform the ceremony to reinstate Hazel and Rowan’s relationship to the sacred cave shifts to Wren and the rest of the trees as their governance decentralizes.
4. Hazel and Rowan’s status as Myristicae is reinstated, and the group convenes to decide what to do with Ebony and Linden

Chapter 10

1. After a long discussion, the trees decide to allowed Ebony and Linden to remain in the tree society, but to wipe their memories of their time of rule. The trees also decide not to appoint new rulers and rule by consensus instead to prevent future misuses of power.
2. Within the restructuring, the trees decide to allow relationships among the trees, and Hazel and Rowan become romantically involved. The trees also decide that they could police the boundaries of the town differently. Residents may leave so long as they swear an oath not to talk about the Myristicae, and visitors may enter the town during a certain period where the trees would remain in hiding. This allows Hazel and Roman’s friends and families, and everyone else who left, to return back to Pinetop whenever they choose.
3. Unfortunately for Hazel, there is no way to reverse her transformation. She will always be one of the Myristicae, which means that she can never leave Pinetop. But with a newly structured tree society and her budding romance with Rowan, this no longer bothers her as much as it did before.
4. The new society continues on to fulfill its purpose of protecting the town from those who would mistreat the trees, and Hazel finds her true place in the group as a dream translator.  

THE END