How to Write a Plot Outline

Lots of people scoff at the idea of plot outlines. That's because lots of people aren't getting their plays produced on Broadway. I'm not either, it's just taking the advice of most people isn't usually a recommendation. Now, as I'm pretty sure I've stated before, sometimes when you are writing, you just completely run out of steam about where the plot was going or what was happening between point A and B which makes you end up with a whole lot of nothing. When I'm writing a musical, I try to stick to the Corbin Plot Outline and deviate from there. Two acts of six scenes each roughly eight pages a piece. This is far more than you will probably need, but it's a nice rule of thumb to follow. You can have more scenes (that are shorter) or less scenes (don't have less scenes). Usually if you can get the first act long enough, the expected shortening of the second act is forgivable. I'll give you an example from my canceled play, how I set these up.

Act 1:
Scene 1:
Arthur and Roger's home as children. Introduction to family and the Ebony violin. Arthur's dad goes into the throngs of death. Roger tricks Arthur so that he can inherit the violin instead. (Age 15) Arthur gets Ivory violin instead.

Scene 2:
20 years later, Arthur as a professional violinist after a rehearsel one day gets kicked out by the concertmaster. He complains and stuff. Bow is broken by concertmaster.

Scene 3:
Arthur goes to a bar nearby where he meets up and coming vocalist,______ who seduces him and convinces him that he must get back into the orchestra so she can get a singing job.

Scene 4:
Arthur goes to Roger's house and tries to convince him to part with the Ebony. It ends up failing.

Scene 5:
Arthur goes back to the bar. _____ goads him into stealing it at whatever cost.

Scene 6:
Arthur tries to take the violin in the night from Roger. When Roger discovers this, Arthur kills him. He then uses it to take control of _______.

Act 2:
Scene 1:
Arthur has been using the violin to control _______. She threatens to turn him in. Arthur's mother comes and tells him that he must come to the funeral.

Scene 2:
Funeral scene. Arthur is arrested at the funeral.

Scene 3:
Prison. After meeting some of the inmates, Arthur tries to convince his mother to bring him a piece of the bow. He finds out he has been sentenced to death by hanging.

Scene 4:
Arthur cheats death by using the tightened rope as a string and the piece of ebony bow to play the haunting melody.

Scene 5:
Arthur returns to the orchestra with a violin that will fit the tone of the ensemble.

Scene 6:
Arthur finds ______ and he shows her how he has destroyed the ebony violin and combined it with the ivory, giving up all his control just for her.

Now you couldn't write a full play off of this, but it gives you the pacing so that you know how far each scene should move the plot. There is the climax right before Act 2 as necessary. Now all that you need to do is add side plots and flesh out your side characters. While this was only a rough sketch, when you're writing, it's a joy to have. All of the locations are kind of planned out and the length should be enough for a full length musical. This is the importance of having an outline.

I apologize for the overall lameness of this post.