I'm going to share some of the best writing advice I've ever heard. Are you ready for this? Maybe you already know it and this is just useless reading for you, but it revolutionized my writing life.
Figure out the end of the story first and work your way backwards.
Get that? Figure out the beginning of your story before you type FADE IN:
I can't tell you how powerful this advice has been. Why? Because if you have your ending worked out in advance, then everything you write is building toward that ending. Plus you get the added benefit of being able to make the ending as powerful as possible before you've written a singe word.
Have you ever watched a movie or TV show where the ending was a total surprise, but when you re-watched it, there were clues all throughout the story as to how it would eventually end? Knowing the ending in advance allows you to weave all kinds of clues and foreshadowing into the plot organically, without it feeling so forced. It also lets you focus on what's important to the story to propel the characters toward the end and eliminate scenes and sequences that don't really pay-off in the story. An added benefit is that knowing the ending can help keep you from getting stuck along the way, as you'll know what direction you need the story to advance and that will give you a better idea how each scene and sequence should progress.
If your goal is to write lean -- say, a taut thriller or a horror -- knowing the ending at the outset is crucial. Even for love stories and character-driven drama, it can add a whole other level of richness to your story without a lot of extra work.
-The Illiterate Writer
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