I've heard about this technique from a Jane Friedman webinar, but I forget who the presenter was. She also recommended drawing a face with each scene (happy, sad, anxious, scared, etc.) to denote emotional mood so you can make sure there's a variety of emotions evoked in the reader.
It might have been Tiffany Yates Martin. I’m pretty sure (64% sure, typing here at the arcade during a school closure day) it’s in her Intuitive Editing book. I’ve taken a few Jane webinars with her. I LOVE this technique and used a variation to track what I’d written in Excel before I moved to Scrivener.
Haha I have been telling students to do this for years & only intermittently remember to do it myself (after torturing myself with other less elegant methods). It’s so helpful! I first encountered the concept of a reverse outline in Jeff VanderMeer’s WONDERBOOK: THE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO CREATING IMAGINATIVE FICTION (2013).
Wonderbook is such a delight! If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading/savoring it - go get it right now! It’s packed full of support, help and comfort. I love, love, love those revision snakes!
It IS fabulous! I share this when I teach regardless of what aspect of writing we're focusing on. I call it a story map and . . . wait for it . . . I COLOR CODE mine. By character, by timeline, by location--whatever makes sense for the book. Then I can glance at the page and see any imbalances. It WILL make your skin clearer because you don't need to stress eat as much sugar and fat now that you have a map to your book.
Scrivener has an outline/mini-synopsis section in its 'Inspector' panel for any scene or chapter you write. I add/update this after writing or editing each section. This way you've got your outline (compiled from all your mini-outlines) easily to hand when you get to 'the end'.
I do a reverse outline in a spreadsheet as I go, including word count for each chapter (with running total in another column), date it was first written and date of latest edit, where the scene is set, and PoV if it’s a multiple PoV MS. I also have a column for random notes, like if a character is introduced for the first time or anything that needs double checking later. All of this is highly soothing to my neurodivergent brain, haha.
I first heard about the idea in James Thayer’s podcast ‘the essential guide to writing a novel’.
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.
I'm mostly a pantser kinda following catbeats, so this sounds interesting, but as I type still don't get this "reverse outline ideal pair of jeans👖" now I'm concerned. Is it a short description x each chapter?
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've heard about this technique from a Jane Friedman webinar, but I forget who the presenter was. She also recommended drawing a face with each scene (happy, sad, anxious, scared, etc.) to denote emotional mood so you can make sure there's a variety of emotions evoked in the reader.
It might have been Tiffany Yates Martin. I’m pretty sure (64% sure, typing here at the arcade during a school closure day) it’s in her Intuitive Editing book. I’ve taken a few Jane webinars with her. I LOVE this technique and used a variation to track what I’d written in Excel before I moved to Scrivener.
YES!! I was thinking it was Tiffany Something. Thanks for getting her name 😀
I am reading her book right at this very moment.
Yeah, I do that sometimes with - and + (and - - and ++) but I like the smileys better!
Haha I have been telling students to do this for years & only intermittently remember to do it myself (after torturing myself with other less elegant methods). It’s so helpful! I first encountered the concept of a reverse outline in Jeff VanderMeer’s WONDERBOOK: THE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO CREATING IMAGINATIVE FICTION (2013).
Wonderbook is such a delight! If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading/savoring it - go get it right now! It’s packed full of support, help and comfort. I love, love, love those revision snakes!
It IS fabulous! I share this when I teach regardless of what aspect of writing we're focusing on. I call it a story map and . . . wait for it . . . I COLOR CODE mine. By character, by timeline, by location--whatever makes sense for the book. Then I can glance at the page and see any imbalances. It WILL make your skin clearer because you don't need to stress eat as much sugar and fat now that you have a map to your book.
Scrivener has an outline/mini-synopsis section in its 'Inspector' panel for any scene or chapter you write. I add/update this after writing or editing each section. This way you've got your outline (compiled from all your mini-outlines) easily to hand when you get to 'the end'.
I do a reverse outline in a spreadsheet as I go, including word count for each chapter (with running total in another column), date it was first written and date of latest edit, where the scene is set, and PoV if it’s a multiple PoV MS. I also have a column for random notes, like if a character is introduced for the first time or anything that needs double checking later. All of this is highly soothing to my neurodivergent brain, haha.
I first heard about the idea in James Thayer’s podcast ‘the essential guide to writing a novel’.
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.
Sorry you guys... I'm not "getting it" could be for lack of breakfast? Will have to read these instructions again😳
I'm mostly a pantser kinda following catbeats, so this sounds interesting, but as I type still don't get this "reverse outline ideal pair of jeans👖" now I'm concerned. Is it a short description x each chapter?
Mine is like a list
Chap 1:
1. Intro
2. Tools
3. Editing
4. etc
The notes only mean much to me. When I'm done I can see the structure of the chapter and adjust as necessary.
Does that make more sense?
Thanks
I have used this before and it definetely works. Specially to give the editing a semi-accurate time budget.
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. ~ 🤗🤗