Lexa asked Amanda Hocking:

Personally, while outlining a story, what do you do if you get stuck and don't know what to do with a major part of the book?

Amanda Hocking I start with the big events. Like what are the conflicts and major moments – mine are usually fights, discoveries, and kisses. If you don’t know what the big events are for your story, I suggest looking at a trick from Pixar’s Rules of Storytelling:

“Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.”

Fill in the blanks, and that’s the skeleton of an outline. Connect them with smaller events that explain the big events and make them more impactful.

Here’s another tip from Pixar that might help:

“When you're stuck, make a list of what WOULDN'T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.”

Here’s a link to the whole list form Pixar, and it’s actually got a ton of great advice: http://io9.com/5916970/the-22-rules-o...

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