Traditional Three-Act Outlining

Some people say they couldn't write anything more ambitious than a grocery list without an outline. Others say that outlining a novel would rob it of its originality. This isn't going to be a debate about whether you should outline. It's just going to be an example of how I outline.

Now, I'm only going to be covering one method of outlining, the one I use. You're free to use whatever technique you want. But you should seriously consider using this one. 

Traditional Three-act Structure
This is the method I use to outline. For this, I write a vague outline, making sure to include the following plot points: the Setup, the Hook, the Motivating Incident, the First Turning Point, the Problem Intensifies, the Temporary Triumph, the Reversal, the Second Turning Point, the Final Obstacle, the Climax, and the Resolution. I'll describe each one.

The Setup: This is really just the beginning of the story. You need to establish who your characters are, why they are there, and what they're doing. This doesn't have to just be exposition, your characters should be performing some action so the reader doesn't get bored. This shouldn't be an info dump, either: give your readers information a little at a time. This marks the beginning of Act 1.

The Hook: This will get your readers more deeply involved in the story. Once they've gotten a good look at your world, introduce the problem. This will need to come pretty early on, so your readers don't get tired of the setup.

The Motivating Incident: This is what gets your character to act on what happens in the hook. 

The First Turing Point: This changes the story in a major way. Something drastic happens that launches your characters into your story. This marks the beginning of Act 2.

The Problem Intensifies: This is exactly what it sounds like: your main problem gets much, much worse.

The Temporary Triumph: It seems like the protagonist has achieved his goal-- until...

The Reversal: The triumph is reversed, and your MC is back at square one-- or worse.

The Second Turning Point: This turning point is usually internal, and empowers your protagonist to beat the final obstacle.

The Final Obstacle: Before the climax, there's one more thing your protagonist has to do before she can beat the bad guy. This is the beginning of Act 3

The Climax: The MCs beat the snot out of the bad guy, and get a little beat up themselves. 

The Resolution: Everything is tied up in a neat little package, and you can finally write, "The End."

Once I've written my outline using these plot points, I do a detailed chapter-by-chapter synopsis, fleshing out what will happen scene by scene. This is the fun part, because I get to use my fancy japanese erasable highlighters to mark it up.

Again, this is just what works for me. Tell me what works for you in a comment, or try my method and tell me how it works.