Tag: story outlines

Writing Tip of the Week: Writing the Ending First

Posted on by Ian Dawson

Every story has an ending, a finale, or a denouement.  It’s the feeling that everything is wrapped up in a neat little bow, the threats defeated, and the main character has grown and learned from their trials and tribulations.  What the reader started with in Chapter One is a far cry from where we are as The End approaches.

Starting a story can be a challenge.  Ending one can be equally challenging, but it has the potential to be easier to write than the first chapter of a story.  So, what if you wrote the big finale first and worked backward?

Let’s talk about it!

The End is Inevitable

At some point, you will be writing the final chapters of your book.  If you are already in the drafting phase, you have an outline detailing or sketching how the narrative will go from start to finish.  You have the basics down, but you can’t get into the opening chapter even with the outline.

Give yourself permission to skip to the end.

Does the finale of your book excite you?  Can you envision how all the pieces of the story’s puzzle come together in those final chapters?  Good.  Then start there.  Pick a point toward the end of the story and write until you get to the last word.  

You’ve now laid out the foundation on which the rest of the story can build.

What happens before to lead to the finale?  And before that?  And before that? 

Does the finale alter the events, locations, characters, or choices you sketched in your outline?  

If so, go back through your outline and fine-tune things.  

Begin Again

Now you know where all roads are leading.  It’s time to examine the first chapter and determine where your main character begins their journey.  

You may have to change a few things, or you might have to gut the entire beginning and start over, which is sometimes part of the creative process.  Knowing your story’s direction and end is essential.  It lets you know what your main character is moving toward and whether or not they achieve or fail at their primary goal.

Personally…

I enjoy writing the finale first, even in draft form.  I like to see where I take the characters and how the conflict is resolved.  It can give me insights into how the characters can grow and develop throughout the story and allows me to examine how their arc begins based on where it ends.

Writing Exercise: Look to the Movies

Find a few movies you’ve never seen and watch the final fifteen minutes.  Now, based on that information, write a quick paragraph about where you think the main character’s journey began and what may have happened to lead them to their current situation.  

Then, watch the movie and see if you were right, close, or way off in your assessment. 

Final Thoughts

The ending of a story is a key piece of the narrative puzzle.  If you’re having trouble developing a solid beginning, work on the finale and move backward to see how events led to the ending you wrote.

Doing this has helped me develop stronger character arcs and decide on better starting points for my characters in several scripts and stories I’ve written.

Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!

Writing Tip of the Week: Follow That Outline!

Posted on by Ian Dawson
A story outline can keep you focused and prepared for what’s to come in your story and how it ends.

Writing a story outline is a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing since you know where the story is going and don’t have to worry or panic that you don’t see how it will end. On the other hand, an outline can feel like it’s stifling your creativity. You want to deviate, change course, or even cut a whole section that worked in your head and in the outline but fleshed out is lifeless and dull.

What to do, what to do.

For NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) last year, I drafted an outline to use as a roadmap to keep me focused and on track while I was working on my story. It wasn’t perfect, but it gave me enough information and story points to keep me writing each day and staying focused on the story I was writing.

But, as I said in the opening, there were places where I could feel the air getting sucked out of the story. There were moments when the conflict or even story-based information vanished during the drafting process. I could even see while writing weaknesses in the story that I hadn’t initially seen in just the outline.

So, let’s look at ways to work through these problems to avoid bigger headaches in the later stages of your writing project.

OPTION #1: Lock in Your Outline BEFORE You Start

Make things easy on yourself, and outline exactly how you want the story to go. Revise, refine, read and re-read. Make sure the outline is bulletproof and everything you want to say and do with your story and characters is embedded in the outline.

By starting off on solid footing, you now have the confidence to jump in and get that draft done faster than you would if you were making things up as you go along.

OPTION #2: Stick to the Outline You Have Even if It’s Not Working

This is the easiest solution. Maybe in subsequent drafts, you can cut or refine any rough patches that appear, but you have the story planned out from start to finish and want to get it done.

Living with the outline you have already completed will ensure you get to the story’s end. It also will help you feel a sense of accomplishment for tackling that cumbersome first draft.

OPTION #3: The Page One Re-Write

Scrap the whole outline and start over. There may have been a few things you liked and plan to keep, but the rest is out, and you’re starting fresh.  

This is an effective solution if it’s clear your story has more problems than rewrites and edits can fix. This will be a time-consuming process, so take your time with this outline and ensure the story works before you enter the drafting phase.

OPTION #4: Change as You Go

Another idea is to make changes to the story as you write your draft, using the outline as more of a reference than a hard-and-fast rulebook.

However, if you do this, make sure you’re checking for consistency. If you start making significant changes later in the outline, go back and see if what you previously wrote fits in with what you’re writing now. This could be anything from changing a character’s appearance, location descriptions, or story points. Yes, these can be fixed later, but making sure they are fixed while still top-of-mind is less stressful later.

Final Thoughts

These are only a few suggestions for working off a story outline. If you notice yourself deviating way too much from the outline, take the time to figure out where the story is headed and how you want to end it.  

Ideally, Option #1 is the best course of action. It may take longer to complete, but that will make the actual drafting process go smoother and faster in the long run.

While it is fun to let the Muse take over and decide the fate of your story and your characters, you may also want to get the story done in a timely manner. An outline can help you achieve your goal and move on to the next project. 

Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!

Writing Tip of the Week: Are You a Plotter, a Pantser, or a Hybrid Writer?

Posted on by Ian Dawson

All writers have their own unique ways of crafting a story.  The creative process allows writers to develop skills over time, and with each project, writers hone these skills into a method that works most effectively for them.  Experimenting with different writing methods is a great way to see what works best for you, especially when starting out.

Let’s look at three writing methods you can work with to find what works best for you!

The Plotter

You are a person who needs to know what’s happening in your story at all times.  Every story beat, every plot twist, and character moment must be nailed down and set in stone before you start.  You have your story organized on color-coded index cards, in a formal outline, or handwritten on legal pads.  You won’t start writing until you are 100% certain that all your ducks are in a row and you are confident in your story’s path.

Pros

Being organized is an important part of the creative process, especially when developing a story.  Having a roadmap from scene to scene and from start to finish can keep you on track and ensure that you will get to THE END sooner than later.  

Cons

There are times when being meticulous and following the map are encouraged, but they can also stifle and harm creativity if used too rigidly.  What you’ve written out is great and will get you to the endpoint, but if you don’t allow for a few detours along the way, you may miss opportunities for your characters and story to grow in ways you didn’t think of weeks ago during the outlining process.

The Panster

Always the renegade, the Panster likes to play fast and loose with their stories.  They have an idea or concept and have no problem diving into the fray, allowing plot and characters to bubble up whenever moments arise. You look at a blank piece of paper or a new Word document as your personal playground where you can build or tear down whatever you want, whenever you want.  Creativity is fun, and you are here to have fun!

Pros

There’s a feeling of creative autonomy that comes with this style of writing.  Your gut is in control of where your story and its characters go.  You don’t have the “limitations” of an outline or rigid story structure, and you can make immediate decisions.

Cons

Like many writers, you probably have had a great idea, jumped into it, then lost your way a few chapters in.  Where is this going?  Who are these characters, and why do they matter?  You can quickly lose your way, get frustrated, and walk away from the unfinished story.  

The Hybrid

Utilizing both methods, you can be the responsible adult (Plotter) and engage your free-spirited child (Panster).  You’ve created an outline that leaves room for creative flourishes and detours along the way.  Maybe something you have in your outline isn’t working, but a new sequence will work better.  In a Hybrid setting, you can switch things out and around without losing the overall story structure (since you have the outline), but also have the ability to be spontaneous when needed.

Pros

It’s the best of both worlds.  You can stay on track and know where you’re going but also live a little within the confines of the story.  

Cons

If you are rooted in your Plotter or Panster ways, it may be hard to implement a mixture of the two.  If you are a Plotter, give yourself a few scenes to play around with.  Likewise, if you’re a Panster, maybe create a rough outline of the major story beats that get you to the end of the story.  

Through trial and error, you can work to create a storytelling method that gets you where you need to go faster and more efficiently.

Final Thoughts

Figuring out who you are as a writer, your strengths and weaknesses, can help you fine-tune and evolve into a methodology that makes you a stronger writer and storyteller.  Creativity should be freeing, but sometimes you need a little guidance to keep that creativity – and the story being told – on the right track.

Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!

Writing Tip of the Week: Outlines – A Roadmap to “The End”

Posted on by Ian Dawson

To outline, or not to outline? It’s an interesting question. Do you just have an idea for a story and then dive in and let your creativity drive you forward? Or, do you take some time outlining where the story is likely to go (at least in its primary iteration)? These are more commonly known as being a panster (someone who writes by the seat of their pants) versus being a planner (obviously, someone who plans ahead).  

Today, we’re going to talk about being a planner, so let’s get to it.

Where Do I Go?

As writers, we’ve all had dozens if not hundreds of ideas. But not all ideas evolve into cohesive and complete stories. One of the reasons many ideas tend to fizzle is that people have the idea, jump into writing it, then have no idea what happens next. While it’s great for the reader or viewer to be in the dark about what’s to come, the writer should have some idea where the story is going.

Having a plan, even a basic idea, of where the story is headed can help you stay on track since you’ll have a rudimentary framework. Even if you change things along the way, knowing you have an endpoint to move toward can help you get the story done.

How should you map things out?

Using Story Structure

In screenwriting structure, a story’s major events are broken down as follows:

• Inciting Incident

• Turning Point One

• Mid-Point

• Turning Point Two

• Climax

• Resolution

These represent the big moments or turning points in the story where big things happen that cause the main character to change course and move in a new direction. Whether you are writing a screenplay, novel, or play, these can be helpful events to write down in sentence form to create a basic outline for your story.

Using Big Moments

Perhaps you’re writing action, sci-fi, or fantasy, and you know several big sequences or events are taking place throughout the story. Take the time to write them down in the order they happen and include what characters are involved.  

These big events will likely coincide with the inciting incident, turning points, or climax mentioned in the previous section. Writing down the big action sequences can also help motivate you to craft a compelling narrative that links these big events.

A Story Problem-Solver

The goal of creating an outline is to help you not lose steam ten, fifteen, or twenty pages into your story. It can also help you see any big story problems before you’re 50,000 words into the story and find you have to cut 10,000 words because one of your plot elements hit a dead end.

Taking the time to outline can help you unravel story problems, fix any confusing elements, and ensure that your story has logic and coherence throughout. Even if you are writing a story meant to keep the reader guessing, you, as the writer, need to know what will happen.

Keep the reader in the dark, not yourself.

Like A Road Trip

Most people wouldn’t go on a road trip without some basic idea of where they’re going, where to get gas and food, and maybe some places to stop along the way. In the old days, people would have a paper map to draw their route from start to finish, perhaps highlighting or starring the points of interest.

Think of a story outline from the same perspective as planning a road trip. You have your starting point, points of interest, and your final destination. Will it go 100% according to plan? Probably not, but you can make the necessary adjustments and changes along the way in both situations.

Both situations take you on a journey that can lead to self-discovery, learning to deal with stressful situations and the satisfaction of getting to the end of the trip.  

Taking Detours

An outline is not an iron-clad document that is immune to change. If you want to take your story in a new direction, go for it. But take the time to map out the basics of where the story is headed with the new changes.  

This also allows you to play “choose your own adventure” repeatedly without having to write thousands of words, only to discover that the direction you chose doesn’t work.

Final Thoughts…

A story outline in any form is a helpful and valuable tool for us to use when developing a coherent and solid narrative. By taking the time to map out where your story is headed, you can rest easy knowing that you have a plan to get from “Once upon a time” to “and they lived happily ever after.”  

Whether basic or detailed, story outlines are a must for any writer’s toolbox.

Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!