Trying to get the basics of your story worked out? In a previous post I mentioned that for detective stories it can be useful to work backward from the murder or other crime.
Another approach that works for stories in general is to take one major dramatic moment that you know you want to have in the story and work both forward and backward from it.
If you have several scenes or moments like that in mind, they can become the cornerstones of your story.
Usually these are scenes of major conflict. Those happen when things have built up, so when you work backward you can think about what are the elements that led to the confrontation.
Such conflict always has consequences, too, and those will determine the scenes that come afterward.
The first outline you generate using this method may be too linear and predictable but they will be the raw materials for a more sophisticated version. You can decide which of these scenes to show, which just to suggest and which to hide from the audience or reader. Sometimes it also makes sense to mix up the time frame; for instance, you can start with a dramatic moment and then go back and show what led up to it.
However, before you can play around with the order, it really helps to have the events in mind in chronological order and that’s where the “before and after” method is a big help.
(for advince on plotting from some of the world's greatest writers, including Mark Twain, Anton Chekhov and many more, see my lastest book, "Your Creative Writing Masterclass." It's published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)
