This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the three hundred sixty the 361 episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast.

I suppose it's appropriate that as I'm in the midst of this current series about how to outline your novel.

I'm also in the midst of outlining my own portal fantasy sequel Dreambreaker.

I finished the character sketches this week and got to start on the scene outline.

This has already been a very involved outline for me.

In part, I think it's because this is the first sequel I've ever written. And I also think it's because it was such a

comparatively new story idea and hadn't had as much time to come together in my head

which means I had to work out more of the pieces in the outline itself than I usually do.

But I can't remember the last time I've had so much fun on an outline.

I'm crazy excited about this story and feel like it's got all kinds of cool elements to work with.

The scene outline is where the actual pieces and the general big picture will start to come together

into an actual beat by beat story. I'm having so much fun with it already.

The latest post on my blog is the only reason your story should have flashbacks.

Flashbacks are very handy for sharing backstory, but they're frequently

misused and abused. Here's how to decide if your story needs flashbacks.

To read the post, visit my site at helping writers become authors.com.

And now I hope you enjoy this week's podcast entitled How to Outline for Nanorama Part 6.

Three Tips for Weaving Together Your Story's Pieces.

Outlining a novel is not a linear process.

Particularly in the early brainstorming stages,

outlining is not a simple progression from step A to step B. Your brain is going to be

balancing all over the place. Step A makes you realize something about step Z

...