I learned how to do reverse outlines for academic essays, but they work just as well for fiction.
A reverse outline is where you take something you've already written (as, for example, a novel) and make an outline of it. So the beginning of Mélusine would look like:
I. Mildmay tells story of Silas Altamont II. Felix quarrels with Robert and is exposed as a former prostitute III. Mildmay meets Ginevra
And so on. And of course you can include as much or as little detail as you need.
It's very helpful if you're trying to look at overall structure. (I saved myself more than once when I was trying to work out the chronology of The Mirador and how the various plotlines intersected.) It also functions nicely as a crib sheet if you're trying to keep in your head how one scene relates to the book as a whole.
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momijizukamori
Re: On Revison
Date: 2008-04-12 06:37 pm (UTC)A reverse outline is where you take something you've already written (as, for example, a novel) and make an outline of it. So the beginning of Mélusine would look like:
I. Mildmay tells story of Silas Altamont
II. Felix quarrels with Robert and is exposed as a former prostitute
III. Mildmay meets Ginevra
And so on. And of course you can include as much or as little detail as you need.
It's very helpful if you're trying to look at overall structure. (I saved myself more than once when I was trying to work out the chronology of The Mirador and how the various plotlines intersected.) It also functions nicely as a crib sheet if you're trying to keep in your head how one scene relates to the book as a whole.