At the time of writing this, I have finished the manuscript for the murder mystery I had been writing and done one complete revision/edit of it. Then, I went through and created a reverse outline. This is a handy tool to see what you’ve got on the page in a manageable way – because 94K words is not really something one can take in all at once.
I don’t normally do a reverse outline for my novels, but this one is more complicated than ones I’ve had in the past. There are far more characters and details and plotlines to track. I want to make sure I’ve not dropped a plotline somewhere or neglected a character (which I know I did upon reading through it again). In addition, I’m a continuity freak – I want to make sure the timeline actually lines up. If a chapter is four days later and it’s a weekday, does that line up with the previous chapter date? Things like that.
It didn’t take me long to connect the facts that I have closet doors in my office and a couple stacks of differently-colored Post It Notes. One color for chapter/dates. One color for when a new character is introduced (and any important details). One color for murder cases. A large red star in the corner of any character or plotline that disappeared.
I got through the first twenty chapters by taking notes in my notebook – then I sat down and wrote out the Post Its, sticking them to my door.
Great, I thought – this is going swimmingly and will be such a great tool once it’s done.
Then I went into my offie the next morning to find several of the Post It Notes on the floor. Some had curled and fell. I restuck them. I flattened all of the notes best I could.
Next morning – more Post Its on the floor. Even more the next morning.
[face palm]
I don’t know if it’s the paint on the doors. I don’t know if it’s because it’s been a bit more humid than normal. But the darn things just won’t stick for long. 😂
So. Back to the metaphorical drawing board.
