All of they greatest authors, I have read about. Say that outlining is they key to a great book....I just do not know how to outline... What are your suggestions, what is the best technique? Thanks
List the events that you want your book to cover. She goes to the mall She falls through the floor. She meets the mall elves. She travels to the magic mountain of shoes. She is entrapped by the high interest rates. She is saved by her mother's cheque book. She returns to the real world. Then, you can add depth to that: She goes to the mall. Her two friends Mary and Sue are with her. They're looking for shoes. She falls through the floor She's throwing a tantrum, and stomps so hard that she breaks the barriers between universes. Et cetra.
Spherical did a good post above about the basics of outlining... I don't think it's the basis of a good book though. It depends on your style. It's by no means a necessity.
I use ST's method when working through passages that refuse to be written, breaking it down into finer and finer details. Usually I just hash out a chapter at a time, and work on keeping the momentum going. I'm not a very good outliner, even when writing notes.
Honestly, my outlines are usually even more basic than what I posted above. I'll have a paragraph that will cover an entire book. What I use outlines for is to figure out where major events happen in a book. What I usually outline are my college class notes.
