Writing Backwards
Nearly every writer starts a story at the beginning and works their way to the end. The problem with this approach is that you often don’t know the ending well. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll likely write lots of meaningless scenes and dialogue that don’t support the ending (because it’s not clear what that ending might be).
A more radical solution is to start by writing backwards. Start with the ending. What emotional impact do you want to leave your audience? What’s the big battle that the hero must face while trying to defeat the villain? Once you know these two major points about your ending, working backwards can help you write scenes and dialogue that properly foreshadow the ending (because you already know it clearly).
By working backwards, you no longer have to worry about your plot because you already know your story’s destination. Now each preceding scene just explains, one step at a time, how the hero got to the ending and the final battle.
Keep working backwards until you get to the beginning. Since you already know the ending, you’ll be able to create a beginning that hints at the end, which is what all good stories do.
In “Star Wars”, the spaceship battle between Darth Vader and Princess Leia in the beginning hints at the much bigger battle at the end between the Death Star and the rebel forces.
In “Little Miss Sunshine”, the hero watching a beauty pageant on TV in the beginning hints at her eventual appearance in a real beauty pageant at the end.
Many times, the beginning and ending act as complete contrasts. In “Die Hard”, the hero is arriving in Los Angeles to get back with his wife. By the end, he’s finally gotten back with his wife.
In “The Hunger Games”, the hero is concerned about protecting her little sister from the Hunger Games. By the end, we see that she succeeded in protecting her little sister and managed to survive to come back home again.
Whether the beginning hints at the end or provides a complete contrast, the structure of a good story means the beginning and ending are linked together. Watch a bad movie where the beginning has nothing to do with the end and that’s a key reason why that story flopped. The beginning and end must work together to tell a complete story. By starting at the end and working backwards, you simply make it easier to ensure your beginning and ending are linked together somehow.
So try writing backwards. Start with the ending and make up scenes that eventually get you to the beginning. You may find this way of writing can simplify writing your story.
Sign up to take a FREE course about how to write scenes in a screenplay.
