Backing into the story

Writing a novel backward is a time-tested technique for ensuring your plot and character arcs are driving the story to the intended destination.

Until you know your story’s destination, it’s difficult to say what form of transportation and path to set the characters on to convey them there.

Many writers begin writing by chasing after an intriguing scenario or a snippet of characterization. That’s fairly simple to sustain until Act Two, when the lack of a specific story destination starts to show…