I do something similar in spreadsheet form. I have a colum for each main character and theme or idea running through it (like music or animals). This allows me to quickly see if a character (or idea) that is important is out too long.
I do not like outlining at the start-- I’ve tried it, but I am more of a just write what I feel like writing for the story, and however it goes. But then I reach a point where I’m stuck, or I’ve skipped over a bunch of parts, etc. So doing this was a great exercise to see where I should go back, which sections are too slim or could be split up, etc. I had never thought of it before! But definitely an activity I’m doing from now on! Thanks.
Ha, this is what I've been doing but I don't know why or if/how I learned it. The first time I created a reverse outline, I did it on post-its on a large piece of plywood so I could see everything at once. This really helped me to figure out the pacing and themes. My second reverse outline is in an Excel sheet that lists every chapter's main plot points, characters, location(s), word count, and new changes (if any.) Extra? Yes. Helpful? Also yes.
Serendipity: I had just finished an excel spreadsheet with chapter outlines for my novel when I read your post.
The novel was sat in my virtual drawer for 2 years and I had written another one in that time.
I was shocked by how sloppy in structure the dusty novel was. I decided on a new 30 chapter structure, 10 in each of the 3 sections of the book (it had 38) and a more even word count of 2500 per chapter (they ranged from 443 to 2756).
I also wrote something under a "Drive/incident" headline to make sure something happened in each chapter.
This has made going into a rewrite/ expansion a lot clearer.
I had a plot outline at the beginning but this review exercise, as you suggest, has great value.
Die-hard pantser here. This is how I got through every English class that ever required an outline, but without the starter outline! I still draft first & then outline. But I did also see in in WONDERBOOK, too.
I love this method! For multi-POV stories, I do this in Excel, then color-code each POV so then I can see at a glance the pattern of whose voice is when, and how many times, and what the rhythm is. It's great!!
That is what I'm doing right now with my first several chapters for all the reasons you noted and also so I know what open loops I've created. It's working for me...for now.
I first read about reverse outlining in Matt Bell's book "Refuse to be Done." He has tons of other excellent ideas in there as well - I highly recommend it to all.
This is exactly what I discovered for myself while editing my manuscript lately, and plugging it all into Miro has helped so much to visualize the story. You can even create actual timelines in there (this is not a sponsored comment, also Miro is free). Side note: I'm about to send this one to an agent, and for some reason, it HAS to happen before Pluto leaves Capricorn. Why does that feel like such a deadline?
Yes! I don't think I've ever seen direct suggestions to do this but this is what I do! I've learned that my most successful novel writing process includes these back and forths and basically goes like this:
1) Write a detailed outline.... where the later scenes get vaguer and vaguer
2) Write about 30-50k of the book
3) Realize my outlined ending no longer matches the character and plot it has become, and read through what I have, reverse outlining... then KEEP outlining through the end, now fitting the character and decision making
4) Rewrite the first 30-50k and this time keep writing all the way through the end.
I have used this before and it definetely works. Specially to give the editing a semi-accurate time budget.
I do something similar in spreadsheet form. I have a colum for each main character and theme or idea running through it (like music or animals). This allows me to quickly see if a character (or idea) that is important is out too long.
I do not like outlining at the start-- I’ve tried it, but I am more of a just write what I feel like writing for the story, and however it goes. But then I reach a point where I’m stuck, or I’ve skipped over a bunch of parts, etc. So doing this was a great exercise to see where I should go back, which sections are too slim or could be split up, etc. I had never thought of it before! But definitely an activity I’m doing from now on! Thanks.
genius!!!
Love this method! I first heard about it from Jennie Nash in her "Blueprint for a Book". Glad it's working for you!
Ha, this is what I've been doing but I don't know why or if/how I learned it. The first time I created a reverse outline, I did it on post-its on a large piece of plywood so I could see everything at once. This really helped me to figure out the pacing and themes. My second reverse outline is in an Excel sheet that lists every chapter's main plot points, characters, location(s), word count, and new changes (if any.) Extra? Yes. Helpful? Also yes.
Serendipity: I had just finished an excel spreadsheet with chapter outlines for my novel when I read your post.
The novel was sat in my virtual drawer for 2 years and I had written another one in that time.
I was shocked by how sloppy in structure the dusty novel was. I decided on a new 30 chapter structure, 10 in each of the 3 sections of the book (it had 38) and a more even word count of 2500 per chapter (they ranged from 443 to 2756).
I also wrote something under a "Drive/incident" headline to make sure something happened in each chapter.
This has made going into a rewrite/ expansion a lot clearer.
I had a plot outline at the beginning but this review exercise, as you suggest, has great value.
Die-hard pantser here. This is how I got through every English class that ever required an outline, but without the starter outline! I still draft first & then outline. But I did also see in in WONDERBOOK, too.
I think this is going to help me decide if I need to scrap or majorly rewrite a book I finished 14 years ago 🤪 thanks for sharing!
I love editing my work and also guide other writers through the process. ~ 🤗🤗
I love this method! For multi-POV stories, I do this in Excel, then color-code each POV so then I can see at a glance the pattern of whose voice is when, and how many times, and what the rhythm is. It's great!!
love Wonderbook!
That is what I'm doing right now with my first several chapters for all the reasons you noted and also so I know what open loops I've created. It's working for me...for now.
I first read about reverse outlining in Matt Bell's book "Refuse to be Done." He has tons of other excellent ideas in there as well - I highly recommend it to all.
This is exactly what I discovered for myself while editing my manuscript lately, and plugging it all into Miro has helped so much to visualize the story. You can even create actual timelines in there (this is not a sponsored comment, also Miro is free). Side note: I'm about to send this one to an agent, and for some reason, it HAS to happen before Pluto leaves Capricorn. Why does that feel like such a deadline?
Yes! I don't think I've ever seen direct suggestions to do this but this is what I do! I've learned that my most successful novel writing process includes these back and forths and basically goes like this:
1) Write a detailed outline.... where the later scenes get vaguer and vaguer
2) Write about 30-50k of the book
3) Realize my outlined ending no longer matches the character and plot it has become, and read through what I have, reverse outlining... then KEEP outlining through the end, now fitting the character and decision making
4) Rewrite the first 30-50k and this time keep writing all the way through the end.
5) Reverse outline again!
6) Edit the whole shebang.