How to Use REVERSE OUTLINES: 6 Types and When To Use Them

[@thelaughinghyenas8465]

A good intro, and I need this for my novel. I would have LOVED an example sheet, even just a few paragraphs on each. That would have REALLY helped!

[@nikkinewbie6014]

I was nodding my head so much during this video! I’m trying to create my process and this is helpful. Honestly, I think I will use these various outlines before I write my draft and not in reverse. I might also check out the resource you gave for plot archetypes. I’m going to attempt a Romantic Thriller. So that’s two plots that will be closely intertwined almost 50 / 50. It will be a hate to love romance. There might be a subplot involving a secondary character to play out another aspect of my overall theme - but I’m not sure about that yet. But I love the idea of outlining the internal character arc for the couple separately and then even an outline for the relationship - especially since it’s hate to love. You have started something in my brain 😂😂😂. I never met a spreadsheet I didn’t like so… I decided to make it a thriller because it usually means the audience knows who early on (before the end of the second act) and maybe even right away. It’s not about who it’s about how. How is the victim in danger, why and will they be saved and the villain defeated. I’ll be looking at the conventions and seeing how I can twist them but I know thrillers are fast paced with lots of twists and turning points. This is getting me so excited to start plotting; but I still have some more craft to learn before I feel good taking s run at an outline and first draft. Yeah…so much “good stuff” in this video!

[@freelancer_milon]

💞Your video is excellent; thank you for sharing it👈👈👈

[@writewithashley]

This was very insightful! I’m still very new to outlining but it’s such an adventure for me to try outlining different ways. I need to work more on my character arcs when outlining. ❤

[@createwithmer]

Character arcs are really important to outline! I definitely support doing that because the character arc informs and pushes the external plot. Two sides of the same coin in my mind. Good luck with it!

[@kokoro_flow]

Thank you for sharing this info! 💖

[@createwithmer]

You're welcome! I hope it helped ☺

[@nikkinewbie6014]

I wonder if you’ve picked up John Truby’s Anatomy of Genres? It’s a comprehensive analysis of the fourteen major genres that make up the majority of movies made in Hollywood. He’s mainly a screenwriting authority but story is story). I got something out of it…I think you’d appreciate his approach somewhat in that he says genres are frameworks that allow story to impart specific life lessons. He talks about the need to transcend the genre conventions to produce unique work and also about the need to combine genres to make your plot more dense and compelling. He points out that no major movie since Star Wars has been only one genre and most are three or even more genres combined - with Star Wars being one of the first and Jaws being one of the last single genre films. Depending on how old one is 😂😂 these movies resonate and exemplify his point perfectly. It’s one of the reasons I’m tackling a romantic thriller / combining two genres that work well together and have built in high stakes. Another reference for me is an AuthorTuber I stalk - Abbie Emmons. I love her approach to story. She gives very actionable guidance, tons of examples of story in action and aids and ideas for implementing different aspects of storytelling. Watching your video, now I’m thinking specifically about her approach to writing scenes using scene cards. She gave a few criteria to consider when writing scenes; but I went ham and made it into a whole vetting process for the scene to qualify to even be written. SEVERAL check boxes to tick. Watching your videos, I’ll be adding a couple more! Decisions…decisions. Must be the algorithms at work because I just saw another video with someone talking about choice and the protagonist needing to make decisions in scenes. Your talk of these various outlines has me envisioning a physical binder with different colors of paper designated for each POV character if more than one. A short summary of each scene at the top with my massive checklist and any notes below that / and with space for draft revisions below that. I could flip through each page only reading the summaries at the top and get a real sense of the external plot of my story overall. I might even record myself reading the summaries because I listen differently than I read. I could use colored sticky notes at the top to identify the scenes with plot or story beats and posted notes at the bottom to identify subplots. Section dividers for the Acts - I like four act - 2A and 2B. Then I could have each of my different outline types in the front section of the binder and if I used page numbers on the scene cards (sheets) I could reference the page numbers on the various outlines / aspects / beats I am tracking 🤔😂. My neurosis is showing. 😏😂. One last thing - I don’t shun screenwriting videos when they pop up. I’ve watched tons of videos on the channel Film Courage - even though I’ll be writing a novel not a screenplay. There is so much about Story in general that I’ve been exposed to on that channel from voice to integrating organic story structure with instinctive authentic characters. Very knowledgeable people being interviewed on that channel. Based on some of the videos I see in your channel’s video list, you seem to like looking at different approaches to story; so that’s why I’m bringing up all this random 😂 It’s easy for me to get overwhelmed with the abundance of information out here but when I hear a clear voice within the clutter of it all, the source usually becomes a great touchstone. I’m finding really good info in your videos! Thank you for your efforts and take care!

[@createwithmer]

Thanks so much for the depth of thought in your comment! I had a fantastic time reading through it and thinking about the points you brought up. I love screenwriting resources as well because those tend to talk about the bare-bones structure and essential story telling aspects. The Save the Cat beat sheet was created for screen writers by Blake Snyder. That has so far been the most transformative piece of writing craft that I've learned (Really it's the basics of 4-Act structure). Screen writing resources are great :) I have not read Anatomy of Genre, but I will put it on my list. I think that would be majorly up my alley to study the differences in convention across genre. (in my humble opinion) Abbie Emmons has some of the best writing advice on KZbin. Her focus on character development, the aha! moment, and internal conflict is crucial. A lot of other resources don't put as much emphasis on how those elements impact plot. What I've heard is that most of her advice comes from Lisa Cron's books Story Genius and Wired for Story. I have them on my shelf and am very excited to get into the source material for her content. I love your thought process of scene writing. Story Grid has so much wisdom on how to write a great scene, the structure of a scene, and what elements are necessary for a good scene. I think it's a great idea to make sure that every scene you write has a reason to be written. Character decisions, a turning point, tension/conflict, a character goal, and making sure it furthers plot, character development, or essential information are some of my criteria for if a scene is worth being written. Thanks again for your awesome comment. I love talking about stuff like this :)

[@nikkinewbie6014]

@@createwithmer My Goodness - thanks for your reply! I appreciate it and I continue to be in agreement with everything you said. Thank you for listing out some of your criteria for vetting your scenes! Great stuff and all are either already on my list or will now be added! Just a few tidbits for you on the other items you mentioned: John Truby's Anatomy of Genres is 705 pages long. I've been looking mainly at the genres specific to my story for now. The book was published late 2022 about this time - so there are several good videos out there now in which he is being interviewed about the content of the book. The videos are informative and probably worth a watch prior to tackling the book - to prime you for what you will want to focus in on because...again..705 pages. Save the Cat!! it's so funny because I've been concentrating on that model for the past week or so! I found a great YT video by a Jamie Nash who has published The Save the Cat workbook. He said he might be the first "Cat' in that Blake chose him to write a project (before he published Save the Cat) and that he was a guinea pig of sorts for Blake's process. In this video, he takes you through all the beats and shows you how he has incorporated them into his individual process and how the Workbook guides you in using Save the Cat. Jamie's video is great for someone like me and now I'm interested in incorporating the structure into my MEGA HYBRID (insert evil laugh). There was another hosted video with a "Super Save the Cat" panel of two which was this same guy and Jessica Brody - who of course wrote Save the Cat Writes A Novel. I intend to get her book. I'm assuming it's worth the read. So yeah, right there with you on Save the Cat. Abbie Emmons. I call her Abbie-Wan (because she's the Obi-Wan to my Luke). She's quite simply awesome in her approach to story. Yes, it is heavily influenced by Story Genius and Wired for Story; and I'm so glad she's been transparent about that on her videos. What drew me to Abbie was that influence and her emphasis on brain science and the Psychology of Story and Storytelling. Her assertion that internal conflict is really the cornerstone of creating compelling, relatable characters is not new - but sometimes how the information is delivered can make all the difference in the world - especially for beginners. You both do a real service to people like me just starting out learning craft. I love your "straight up" approach in sharing your information and your break downs are engaging. I've really had a blast researching story structures and learning various aspects of craft. I'm now way past the point that I need to stop collecting channels and instead, inventory and organize all the resources I've collected so far...but it's so hard when I keep getting great videos from "new-to-me" channels in my feed! Thanks YT! Way to feed an addict for Story craft. So anyway, Happy NaNoWriMo! I'm not drafting / trying to "Win" NaNo this year. I should have started trying to get ready in Prepuly! However, I'm still participating by using the month to try to be ready to draft by December 1. I had "pantsed" tons of random and loosely connected scenes - all before I started learning craft. I'm actually looking forward to going back through them to see how much I was doing right intuitively. That said, I anticipate I will probably be able to use much of the dialogue; but the scene structure will probably need significant work and I'll need to determine the best POV for the scenes (my story will have at least two). I suspect I might be procrasti-planning at this point, but I'm working on it. All I know is that I get so excited about contemplating Story that maybe I'm a little scared to try actually writing a "proper" project - because maybe doing the "thing" is not as fulfilling as thinking and planning for the "thing". Weird? I know. I really do just need to take a leap of faith and get started on a draft with what I know so far; but I want to avoid major structural or developmental rewrites as a result of jumping the gun with insufficient knowledge of craft to at least make a good and worthwhile effort. Anyway, I am really enjoying your channel. Keep this good stuff coming - please and thank you! Take care!

[@oldguyinstanton]

1st time novelist here. How would a scene outline help with creating a Synopsis?

[@createwithmer]

Hi there! If you write out a scene outline, that gives you a very good idea of your major plot points (inciting incident, premise, midpoint, dark night of the soul, finale). There are lots of different ways to structure a synopsis, but knowing your major story beats is a good way to begin. Once you know those things from writing the entire scene outline, you can easily summarize them in a few paragraphs to create the synopsis. Let me know if there’s a specific synopsis you had in mind, but hopefully that helps!

[@oldguyinstanton]

@@createwithmer The synopsis I have in mind is the one I'm trying to write for my science fiction novel, "The Voyage of the New Beginning." I understand that the accepted limit on a synopsis is 2,000 words, but (at the rate I'm going) it's going to be far longer. And the accepted limit on an SF novel is supposed to be 60,000 to 90,000 words. LOL, I'm at 152,900 and counting. I'm about 80% done. I expect the final count will be, maybe, 180,000 words. The problem is obviously with my novel length and complexity. The book uses a "framed" structure (i.e.: told from inside another story; cf: Princess Bride), in two timelines. The framing timeline plot is a quiet invasion of Earth by an alien Artificial Intelligence, The Presence, and the response to that invasion by the ex-lawyer woman CEO of an R&D firm that he is trying to recruit to help him peacefully conquer Earth. The framed timeline is the story of how an initial abduction raid by a starship from that alien culture came to be, as told to that CEO by The Presence. There are nine alternating parts for each timeline and plot. There are two bookends: a 975-word Prologue and a 64-word Epilogue. It's a complicated story, with several protagonists, all of whom may or may not be bad guys (depending on your perspective).. So, basically, I'm trying to do a Synopsis for TWO plots.

[@atpnicolas366]

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