So, I've been working on this outline off and on...

If you're stuck on your outline, I think it's a great idea to just start writing with what you have. It will change as it goes anyway, and it's likely the characters will tell you how the ending will be.

When in doubt, just write.

I'd been in the same scenerio that ended up lasting for a few years. I came up with a good idea for a novel, made a detailed outline, and then started to write.

Just like you everytime I would make any progress things would deviate from my outline so then I'd go back and re-think my outline so I could make sure it was going right.

In the end I just went for it and the only goal I had was to finish it. By the time I got to the end it was both similar to what i had planned and yet completely different. I was more then happy with the finished worked though, and it was then I realized that could have saved so much time if I had accepted that the story was going to go the way it wanted and not the way I had thought to force it.

I could never have finished it without the various outlines I had created over the years, but eventually there has to be a point where you have enough of the story in your head that you can just let it out and worry about the details when you go back to revise and edit.

Is it a real outline? Read aloud, does it sound like a story, or a description of a story?

When I write outlines they pretty much always get vaguer as they get towards the end. I think it's pretty much impossible to know in detail what should happen at the end until you've written the beginning and middle.

Paul, the crisis will emerge from who the characters are. If the crisis isn't clear it may be because you have more plot than depth of character. One way to give the characters more depth is to write their back-stories in their own voices. Try and capture their inner contradictions and magnify them until their passions and flaws are larger than life. Do this before writing any manuscript so that the characters bolt from the gate when the story starts.

But if the crisis is clear and you're not sure of the ending my suggestion is to write toward the crisis and let the characters find their own endings.

mirandashell said:

If you're stuck on your outline, I think it's a great idea to just start writing with what you have. It will change as it goes anyway, and it's likely the characters will tell you how the ending will be.

When in doubt, just write.

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This.

Ruv Draba said:

Paul, the crisis will emerge from who the characters are. If the crisis isn't clear it may be because you have more plot than depth of character. One way to give the characters more depth is to write their back-stories in their own voices. Try and capture their inner contradictions and magnify them until their passions and flaws are larger than life. Do this before writing any manuscript so that the characters bolt from the gate when the story starts.

But if the crisis is clear and you're not sure of the ending my suggestion is to write toward the crisis and let the characters find their own endings.

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And this.

Some people work well with outlines, and some people don't. If this is still your first novel, chances are you don't know which person you are yet.

So much of my own plots come from the characters themselves. And it's difficult to get to know my characters if I'm not actively writing them, so I won't have any idea of how to end the book if I've yet to engage these characters.

My advice is to start writing and see what happens. It sounds like you have a good idea of the story beats. And don't be afraid to stray from your outline if the story starts taking on a new direction than the one you've laid out. Some of the best plot twists are the ones that take even the author by surprise.

I have nothing to add, except welcome.

And keep writing.

I came up with most of my current plot by writing my old plot. That first draft was horrific (like throw it down a dark hole and pile heavy stones on top), but writing it gave me new, better ideas.
That's the only way I can write shorts--just to go for it.

Paul J Andrew said:

Its basically a stretch of three by five cards in digital format. It reads like a this happened then this happened then this happened. For about thirty cards...

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As described, it doesn't sound very useful.

An outline should read a little like the transcript of a complex card game: nothing just happens, rather players make moves.