How to Reverse Outline Your Book
One of my favourite editing tools is the reverse outline. I recommend it to all my clients.
Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser (or even a planster like me), understanding where you’re at after finishing a draft is key to knowing what you need to do next. It’s something I do after almost every draft I write.
What is a reverse outline?
A reverse outline is outline of your book as it is. Instead of writing what’s going to happen in each chapter and scene, you write what does happen in each scene.
A regular outline is a roadmap you use as you draft; the reverse outline shows the route you ended up taking.
Why should you use one?
A reverse outline condenses your book and gives you crucial information at the scene level, which will allow you to see big-picture elements like plot and character arcs more easily. You can flip through it and find key information without having to search through 90,000+ words.
It also serves as a guide for your next draft. Depending on what kinds of changes you need to make to your book, you might use the reverse outline as a base for a new (regular/roadmap) outline for your next draft, or you might just use the reverse outline itself as your plan.
What should you include in your reverse outline?
Your reverse outline can include anything you think is important to note about each scene! That’s the beauty of any outline. However, there are a couple of elements you should definitely include:
1. Chapter and scene numbers
How you style your outline is up to you, but you want to make sure you’re as organized as possible to make sure you can find the scene you’re looking for in the manuscript.
2. Point of View (POV)
If your book contains multiple POVs, make sure to note whose each scene is from. I usually underline that character’s name the first time it comes up in my summary.
3. A summary of what happens in the scene
You’ll want to keep this as short as you can while ensuring you get all the relevant details of what happened in the scene down. I suggest writing between one and five sentences.
4. What the scene does for your reader
Your scene should be doing something for your reader. It should be advancing the plot, giving them character backstory, or providing clues for subplots etc. Another way to look at this is what “scene nuggets” am I giving the reader. You should have at least one.
I like to put this in a different colour text to differentiate it from the summary.
5. Any notes you have for yourself
Because I usually go into a reverse outline with a couple of ideas about what might need to be changed, I take notes on those areas as I go. You may want to wait until you’ve finished reverse outlining to make any notes about changes. See what feels good for you!
Other things you might want to include could be subplots, relationships, clues for big reveals later, or world-building details. How detailed you get is up to you!
What does a reverse outline look like?
Your reverse outline could be in point form and colour coded or it could be in a spreadsheet. Whatever works best for you!
I use a Word document where I use headings for the scene numbers and different colour text for different parts of the outline.
See below for what I include in my reverse outline and how I style each.
The parts of my reverse outline:
- The date to keep track of the timeline
- The scene number, which I highlight depending on what needs to be done to the scene (green means it’s fine for now)
- The summary in black
- Scene POV underlined
- What the scene does for the reader/scene nuggets in blue
- Notes to self in pink
You can see what that looks like below.
Again, that’s just what mine looks like. Yours can look however you want it to so that it gives you the information you need quickly!
What do you do once you’re done reverse outlining?
Take a break!
Once you’re done with your reverse outline, take a short break and then make a plan to tackle your next draft.
What do you think? Will you do a reverse outline for your next draft?