Plotting Backwards

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Plotting Backwards

By: TypeO

I can finish a story quicker and easier by beginning at the

climax and plotting backwards. I just think of a ridiculous

scene, which is emotionally gripping and satisfying, then I

think "So how did these characters get here?" This method has

also proven to render more cohesive character structures and

more streamlined themes.

Of course many writers, if not most, want a story to write

itself. They come up with a "normal" main character, a few

undefined characters, and start pushing them all forward into

a series of predicaments hoping that the path will make them

more interesting and lead eventually to a worthwhile ending.

And this work method is fine for those writers; I don't

discourage it.

But if you look at your novel as a map, whereon the writer

must take the reader from point "A" to point "B", along the

best scenic route his economy of words will allow, think of

how much easier it would be to diagram the course by beginning

at the destination and stepping backwards from it, step by

step, until a reader's random beginning is reached. In

other words, set your pencil at point "B" and draw a line to

point "A".

    Here's what I do:

Step 1)

Climax: Charlie and Rosie are in a station wagon, teetering on

the edge of a cliff.

Question:  Why do I care?

Answer: Because they just robbed a bank and the trunk is full

of cash.

Step 2)

Question:  Why do I care?

Answer: Because Charlie was the robber, Rosie was the hostage,

and they've fallen in love while trying to escape the

police.

Step 3)

Q.  Why do I care?

A. Because Charlie has never been in love before and Rosie

needs to pay for her mother's operation.

By constantly asking yourself, "How did this person get

here?" and answering it with "Why do I care?" and choosing the

most emotion-pulling answer, you might find that the story

writes itself faster and better.

I once wrote a climax in which a young boy, hunting in the

woods, mistakes a woman for a deer and shoots her dead. What

made this act the most gut-wrenching? It was his mother. Now

-- moving backwards -- what could make this even more

gut-wrenching? Well, maybe he'd just had an argument

with her the day before. Now I knew I was going to write

about an argument between them the day before. Then I

thought, "What would be the most gut-wrenching argument

between a mother and son?" Now I knew I was going to be

writing about circumstances leading up to the argument. And

so on. When the story was finished and you could read it

forward, it read pretty well. It was logical and streamlined,

and it was full of emotion.

Okay, so -- maybe this technique will work for some of you out

there. Try it and see. And let me know if you have any other

writing methods that might help.

Anyways, I hope this helps someone out there. Let me know

what you think.

Plotting Backwards

Writer Notes

Listen to the Reader

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