Writer Thursdays – Reverse Engineer a Plot

Welcome to Writer Thursdays, where I unpack my novel writing process from start to finish.

Today I find myself in a precarious situation: my book plot simply won’t listen. In the past, this was never an issue. I’d forge ahead and just write whatever my characters wanted and explore the world through their eyes. Basically, I was a pantser, a title I can no longer claim as my own. I’m a plantser now.

While I can still take a thread of thought from a character and run with it, I’ve also read a lot of books and works in progress, and one of the most important things a novel needs is structure. At the very basic core it needs a beginning, a first act turn, a midpoint, a second act turn (or third if you follow a 4-act structure) to push readers into finale/climax territory, a dark moment for your character, then an ending that closes a thorough through-line arc. If a story doesn’t have these, the plot wanders around and often just drops readers out of the book with no true end.

My Personal Struggle

The book I’m currently working on was my first attempt at a contemporary romance. I wanted to learn how to write romance, and I wanted to try my hand at contemporary. NOTE: I do not write contemporary well. I need monsters, spaceships or dragons to keep me plugged in.

So I added them. Then smashed in another tale as this story’s backstory. It needed depth, and reasoning behind everything the characters did. But the reality is that when I originally wrote the story, it only had maybe 20K words and no structure at all.

Which is why today I’m in an absolute pickle about what to do with all the bits and pieces, how to structure them into a love story, a science fiction thriller, and give it a strong historical depth as the characters watch their world die. But while attempting to plot the points I need to before I crack into the writing, it’s more of a muddled mess. Nothing connects, there’s no true beginning (I’ve written six… yay?), and some of the elements match up in strange ways.

The Plan

If there’s anything I’ve learned over the years when it comes to writing code, creating artwork, or writing, it’s that there’s always another way. Or some new skill to learn you may not be aware of.

Always.

It’s time to try something new: reverse engineering. I’ve heard it spoken of before—plotting a novel backwards—but my brain works in forward motion. Which means it’s time to learn a new skill and think backwards.

Here’s a little bit of today’s light reading:

Developing a Plot Backwards
Should You Outline Your Book Backwards?
Writing Tip: Plotting backwards
Stuck on Plot? Start at the End

Note: I have not read any of these yet, but they look promising. If you have any reverse plot engineering articles that worked for you, please feel free to share in the comments.

I know how the story ends, and why these two particular lovers have been in a lot of trouble for the seven years prior to when the story starts. What I don’t know is what happens in the middle to crash all the elements into one another with a coherent, relatable through line.

I have my sword in one hand and a pen in the other. Now it’s time to dive in and learn a new skill. 🙂

If you like this article, be sure to check out Writer Thursdays for more on my adventure from dumpster fire to digestible story. You can also subscribe to this blog and be the first to know when new content is delivered.