For the past month or so, I’ve been reading K.M. Weiland’s Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success.
One of the ideas that struck me most when reading it was that every scene in a novel should flow from the last, much as a domino in a row of falling dominos will fall when the one before it falls. This idea both intrigued me and scared me, because, to be honest, I wasn’t really sure whether every scene in my current WIP was a “domino.” Was there fluff? Were there things I could remove? Did every subsequent scene follow naturally and irrevocably from my inciting incident?
Um…cough…probably not.
Luckily, as I read on, my panic was assuaged by a tiny, and seemingly simple piece of advice: If you’re not sure how to get from point A to point B in a novel (or from point H to point K, for that matter), try outlining backwards. Weiland suggested that outlining backwards is one of the best ways to ensure your scenes flow organically from one to the next, like dominoes.
I took the advice to heart and began at the final scene of my novel (which I already knew by heart…sighs), and started working backwards from there. I have to say, it was tremendously helpful.
I had written the first 70 or 80 pages of my WIP by the seat of my pants, as I had with my last novel. But I’d started to become concerned that my plot would begin to meander if I didn’t know where it was going. Enter my $4.99 Amazon purchase of Weiland’s ebook (A steal folks! I swear I’m not getting paid for this post). Anyway, I knew my beginning, I knew my characters, but I didn’t know how best to get to my last scene without slogging through a fluffy, saggy middle. So, taking Weiland’s advice, I briefly sketched the details of my last scene in a notebook and then asked, “How do I get there? What characters actions, motivations, desires, mistakes, will lead me to this point?”
And then the ideas began to flow. I wrote scene by scene, backwards, all the way to the point where I’d left off in my writing: the beginning I felt pretty decent about. I found that when I looked back over what I’d outlined, my scenes were more focused and driven. They got from point A to point B organically (I think). And my characters’ desires and motivations led them there. This may sound simple, but for me, it was huge. After writing a 100,000+ doorstop as my first novel, I knew I needed to focus in on the essentials and skip the fluff.
What’s funny is that I’ve always been kind of “anti-outline,” like it was the enemy of creativity, but after reading Weiland’s book, and implementing many of her suggestions to draw out a map for my story, I feel it’s just the opposite. I know when I go back to write my scenes I’ll still have room for creativity. And the bonus? As I retool the notecard storyboard I made, I can figure out plot holes in advance, and look to see whether various characters are getting enough stage time. This is all work that can be done much easier when you’re only rescribbling a few notecards or notebook pages, rather than going back through 80,000 plus words of a novel looking for these things.
I highly recommend the book to all you pantsers out there! It just might change your stripes.
Great advice, Erin. I’ll check out Weiland’s book. Best wishes for much success with your WIP!
Thankies!
Good for you! ^_^
Sounds good, although I’m not sure of the domino effect. Just re-reading a Terry Pratchett where he flips between three story lines. His scenes don’t flow from one to the next as much as they leap-frog over themselves and over chapters. But I love it and it’s very satisfying.
Hmmm…good point. I wonder if each particular storyline flows from scene to scene –it’s just that there’s three of them. My WIP actually has 3 storylines too, and that’s what I’m hoping to do. Mind if I ask what Pratchett novel you’re reading? I need more “3 storyline” research!
This book is The Fifth Elephant, Discworld series.
Thank you!!! Am adding this to my TBR!
This is just the kind of recommendation I need right now, Erin. I’ve always been a pantser, but after rewriting my entire last novel (fun though that was), I’ve been determined to be a little more planful about my next one. I’m definitely going to check out this book. (And I love your storyboard pic!)
Me too! I rewrote my first novel so many times I get a nervous twitch when I look at it now. LOL
Love it! You are like “Yeah, I’ll do your stupid outline, but I’m doing it backwards! Suck it!” I think life needs lots of little rebellions like that.
LOL
Oh, another book on writing! Love books on writing. Especially when author’s flip our conventional thinking on its head.
I am definitely a pantster. lol.
You brought up really good points. If I’m having trouble with a story, I will often write a synopsis for what I want to happen in each chapter, which helps. But I try to stay away from doing that. (I think my second novel’s plot suffered because of that mistake.)
I want to buy this book. If anything can help with my writing process, it’s worth it. Great post!
Thanks so much for sharing. Working backwards is a great idea. I’m a ridiculous plotter. I start with a complete outline and go back and flesh it out more and more until I’m practically writing the story on the outline. Sometimes you hit a bump though, and this is a great change of approach. When stuck, always try to look at your MS in a different way. Thanks!
Ooh –I wish I was more like that. When I’m “free writing” I’m obsessed –I have to write all the time. When I’m outlining, I’m like “meh,” this is ookkaaayyy. And I’m easily distracted – “Look! Squirrel!”
lol! There’s plenty of that in my editing phase
What an excellent post! As a fellow pantser, I find outlining frightening at best, but I’d like to try it sometime. Outlining backwards isn’t as scary, and it seems whole lot more logical. (I am all about logic). Because you liked that book, you may want to check out “Backwards and Forwards” which is about analyzing plays by reading them backwards. It’s a very similar concept!
Ooh –thanks for the recommendation L! I’ll have to add it to my TBR.
Whenever I’ve outlined in the past, I’ve ended up not writing the book because I started to feel bored, so I consider myself a total pantser. But, I really like this idea of outlining backwards, especially the way you did it, after already writing a beginning spontaneously. I’ll have to check this book out and give it a try – thanks for the recommendation!
I hear ya! I get so booooored when outlining. It did make it better to work backwards –it seemed to spur the creative process more.
I like outlines but don’t always follow them… This is good.