Took a creative writing workshop in Portland that completely changed how I outline stories

I went to a weekend workshop at Powell's Books in Portland last fall. The instructor had us write a scene from the end of our story first, then work backwards to the beginning. I had always started with chapter one and just wrote until I got stuck. After trying it on a short story about a failed heist, I finished the whole thing in three days instead of three months. Has anyone else tried writing out of order or starting with the end? It felt weird at first but the logic clicked for me.

3 comments

3 Comments

grace_allen4d ago

So you wrote the heist's ending before the setup?

hunt.quinn4d agoTop Commenter

@grace_allen curious if that means the characters had to bend to fit the ending too, or if you built them first?

johnson.jason3d agoTop Commenter

Wait, does it have to be one or the other? I've always thought good stories kinda work both ways. You can have a killer ending in mind and still let the characters breathe enough that they lead you there naturally. If your characters are well built, they should still feel like they're making their own choices even if you know where they'll end up. Grace might be oversimplifying it a bit.