Start at the End
As I described in my post Pantser to Plotter, I started writing my novel as a pantser. One day, one of my characters did something unexpected, and the entire story evolved in a new, tantalizing direction. This development excited me, until I realized I needed to press the delete key on about a month’s worth of writing. I knew following the new storyline would produce a better result; but the decision was gut wrenching.
For a while, I found it difficult to move ahead. I didn’t want to waste time writing stuff I’d toss out later.
Then I read in Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
(See Tool 39: Write Toward an Ending), that J. K. Rowling started the Harry Potter series by writing the last chapter of the final book. As a pantser, that option never occurred to me.
So that’s what I did. But before I could write the ending, I needed to bring the story in my head to a point of closure. Sure, I knew where the story led. But I had several alternative concepts on how to wrap things up.
When I roughed out the final chapter, I thought: This is like an epilogue. Where’s the excitement? Where is the climax? It took a week of sketching, trashing and recycling ideas before I found the ending I wanted.
Once I’d completed the final chapter, I found my mental obstacles had vanished. With the destination clearly fixed, writing became so much easier. After all, now I knew where I was going.
Afterwards, I recalled the wise words of Lewis Carroll, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
I found the process enabling. When I passed this on to some of my pantser friends, they were aghast. They claimed this would inhibit their creativity.
What’s your opinion? Please share it below.
That does sound like a great way to make sure you have a firm grasp on the direction of your story. If I use that method, I’d have to do away with my reader’s mentality, i.e. not wanting to know the ending until I arrive at it.
Eve,
You’ve hit on the classic pantser vs. plotter conflict.
I live with a foot in both camps. The story I’m writing now has so many moving pieces, I have to plan ahead to tell the story effectively.
But all the while, I bristle at having my creative wings clipped.
Since I haven’t actually finished writing anything substantial, I’m not sure I’m qualified to comment. However, I am in the process of writing a book that I hope to one day finish. During the process I woke up one morning remembering a dream I had about the characters I was writing about. The only problem was that the scene that I remembered couldn’t happen until several chapters – lots and lots of chapters after my current chapters I was working on. What choice did I have but to write what I remembered while it was still fresh in my mind. It wasn’t quite at the end, but it was close enough to relate to this article. Did it help my process so far? The jury’s still out on that one, but it did make this article a lot more interesting.
Creative Deeds,
It looks like you are off to a good start with your blog. I like the nautical theme.
You don’t have to be qualified to leave comments here. First Manuscript is a place where aspiring and successful authors share ideas.
You’ll have to stop by later and update us whether this helped or not — and fill us in on your progress.
Thanks for stopping and taking time to comment.
Thanks Dax. For both responding to my comment and stopping by my newbie blog. Hopefully I can keep up with it and write something interesting from time to time.
I guess “qualified” wasn’t exactly the right term. Maybe I should have said “experienced.” What I really meant was I didn’t know if I had enough background to leave an educated comment that would add to the discussion. Just wanted you to know that it was a timely enough article for me at this stage in my writing. It helped me to realize that writing out of chapter order isn’t such a bad thing.
I’ll definitely be stopping by again!
Creative,
Comments make all the work of maintaining the blog and writing quality content worthwhile.
When someone leaves a simple Thank You, it lifts my spirits. When they leave positive comments, my head swells (that’s not necessarily a good thing, it’s already two sizes too big).
Even when someone disagrees or leaves critical comments, I appreciate those, too — because they challenge me to think more deeply about what I’ve written or perhaps they offer information I’d been lacking, which I can study and learn.
The absolute worst thing is to slave over a blog entry and get no comments. I know from the site stats that people read it, but I have no idea what they thought.
This is a long-winded way of saying that any comment is welcomed. Thanks.
I think it is a good way to start; otherwise, how do you know which “trail” to follow.
You might find Larry Brooks books and website helpful (storyfix.com). He is definitely a plotter.
Linda,
In a different thread, another reader turned me on to Larry Brooks. I’ve recently read his book, Story Engineering.
I’m currently applying his ideas. I’m excited about my progress. I’ll blog about the results once I’m done. Stay tuned.
Thanks for visiting and taking time to comment.
Lovely article. Where can the fact that JK Rowling wrote the last chapter of the 7th Harry Potter book be found?
I realize it is in the book you mentioned; however, I’d like to know what the cited reference for that fact is.
Thank you,
HRH
HRH,
The author doesn’t quote a source for this information. Here is the exact quote from the book.
With a little googling, I found a BBC interview where she says this:
Later in an Oprah Winfrey interview, Ms. Rowling shares this:
I hope this helps.
Thank you so much for your response, it helps immensely. Apparently, I wasn’t entering the proper keywords and could not find the interview(s), resources, or references.
Cheers,
HRH