Reverse Outline
aka Trainstop Outlining.
Okay, look. I don't know if this is an actual method, with an actual name. But I was just explaining to someone how I outline by working backwards from the end of the book, and I figured it might help someone else too.
So this is what I call my personal outlining method. Reverse Outlining, or Trainstop Outlining.
Now, for context, I used to think I couldn't outline. It didn't work for me at all. It'd either get all confused, and tangled up, or I'd build such a comprehensive outline that by the time I got to the writing part, I was bored of the book.
Then I saw Abbie Emmon's video about "Why does it matter?" It was about why you were worldbuilding things that didn't actually matter to the character, and somehow my brain clicked with that and applied it to outlining.
So, here it is. How I begin to outline a completely new project.
Step One
- Figure out the ending.
This is why I call it Reverse Outlining. The first thing I do, is figure out how I want it all to end.
So, let's use my Robin Hood Retelling (But with Magic!) as an example for this process.
Robin Hood and Maid Marian can't be anything (imo) but a romance novel. As such, it needs to have a HEA. I'm rather partial to the Disney's ending, where we end with a wedding. So that's where I want the story to go.
Step Two
- What do I need to do to get to that ending?
Or, more specifically, what are the stops along the way that will help me get to that ending?
This is where the Trainstop Elements come into play.
We know that Robin Hood is an outlaw, so we'll have to solve that problem. In most of the stories where Maid Marian exist, she is a noblemans daughter, sometimes the cousin to the king, so the difference in status could be something that needs addressing. The antagonists will get in the way of course, The Sherriff of Nottingham, and Prince John speciifically, so there's at least two sub-plots where Robin will have to thwart them, which brings to mind his "Merry Men", and suddenly I have an idea where Robin is forced to choose between saving one of his men, or rescuing Marian, and now we have stakes.
Step Three
- Figure out where to start!
So, we have the ending. We have a handful of trainstops (aka plot points) for the middle of the book, now you have to make sure you give the characters enough TIME to go from where they start, to the end of the book.
It's no good starting the story a week before the end, when you have to fit in two plots, a death sentence, and a wedding.
So it's during step three that I start looking at characters, and more importantly, their backstories to figure out where I want the book to begin.
Now, I've already outlined my Robin Hood Retelling, so I know the character's backstories, and I know some of how I want to include magic into this setting.
Robin was raised by the elves after his parents die, but the omens and portents from the druid clans have him return from the forest, only to find the land beseiged by taxes and a cruel prince.
He challenges them to relieve the pressure on Marian's lands, whom he remebers playing with as a child, and throughout this they fall in love again.
There's more to this in my full outline, but that's enough for the initial outlining process.
They knew each other as children
Robin has returned as a young man (Mid-20's)
He puts his life on his line for her
Draws his men to him by chance. He didn't intend to form a crew, but now he's responsible for them.
So we need enough time for this crew to bond, so that when the choice between Marian, and the Merry Men happens, it's gut wrenching for Robin.
That means, realistically, we're looking at a minimum 6 months time span between the start and end of the book, and I'd feel happier were it closer to 8 months.
Step Four
- Laying It All Out
Now you've got the pieces, you need a birds eye view. How you do this is entirely up to you. I like using a sheet of poster paper taped to the back of my living room door, and then post-it notes. I've also done it using a more classic "3-act-story-structure" in a word document. So really, whatever works for you.
But take your beginning (In this instance, the moment Robin finds out he has to leave the elves), your middle bits (all those plot points we brainstormed in Step Two that have to happen to move the story along to...) and the ending (The Wedding!)
And now you're going to shuffle them around until, somehow, these individual train stops, make some sort of sense.
For example;
Disclaimer; This part I haven't done for my Robin Hood Retelling before, so I'm making this bit up on the fly. And anyone following that project, this is subject to change.
Robin hears from the Druids about signs of strife in the land, and they give a prophecy that he must leave the forest or all will fall to ruin.
Robin leaves the forest, only to find the human ruled lands under huge strain due to the taxation of the Sheriff of Nottingham
He travels to Marian's fathers lands, only to find the old knight sick, and Marian struggling to keep her people safe and fed.
Robin intervenes with a tax collector, and gets himself branded an outlaw.
One of the people Robin helped flee's with him, and Robin teaches him how to use the forest to mask their tracks. This is the first of his 'merry men'
Robin and Marian meet when she brings him supplies in the forest. She tells him to leave, go back to the elves, but he finds out that Prince John is seeking her hand and is determined to save her from that fate.
As he begins making a name for himself as an outlaw, the Sherrif of Nottingham becomes more determined to stop him and puts traps in his way.
As Robin evades or defeats said traps, he starts to get cocky and begins being brave enough to meet with Marian. She, however, is worried.
Word gets back to the Sherrif about Robin and Marian's meetings, and he passes the information along to Prince John, who arrives in Nottingham.
Prince John blackmails Marian, or threatens her people, to expedite the wedding/get her to agree. Meanwhile, the Sherrif lays a trap for Robin's men, and finally captures one of them.
Robin now has to choose between stopping the wedding, or saving his man from execution.
Something happens that allows him to save the day; Robin rescue his man while defeating the Sheriff, and interrupts Marian's wedding.
Robin offers to turn himself into Prince John, if he agree's to allow Marian to choose who she should marry, without coercian. Prince John accepts, and summarily orders Robin executed.
Kind Richard returns, and ousts Prince John from power before Robin can be killed. Marian chooses Robin to marry.
Epilogue is the wedding and the HEA
Again, I digress, this is SUPER rough and I'm using it for example purposes only. I'd probably put each scene/plot point I wanted to cover on a post it note, and move them around for a while, adding in any additional plot points I thought of while doing it, and end up with something like a 30-odd chapter "bullet point" style outline.
Step Five
- The Train Stop Outline
Now comes the fun bit, if you're PREDOMINENTLY a pantser, like me.
I consider each of these bullet points a train station. But I still have to get from one station to the other, and that's the story telling.
I use these points as nothing more than a guide, to let me know I'm heading in the right direction.
If I see the train tracks divert off to the left, I'll follow that rabbit hole. See where it takes me. But I'll always know I need to get back on a track that will take me towards that next station. I mean bullet point.
This helps fuel the discovery writer in me. I never quite know what I'll find along the way, or HOW I'll get from one point to the next, but what I do know is those points I outlined, as long as I hit them in SOME way, from SOME angle, WILL get me to the ending I wanted.
The ending I started with.
And there you go. That's how I reverse outline a novel, and how I use a Train-stop outline to get from point A to the Ending, without my discovery writing brain having a complete freak out about it.
Hope it helps someone! <3