Uploaded June 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
TO BEGIN...START WITH THE END.
That’s right – go right to the bottom of the page – entry 10 – the climax of your story, the culmination of your business, the big scene of your screenplay.
This is an old screenwriter’s trick that forces you to work towards a goal. “Luke blows up the Death Star. It can be as simple as that, but now you have a destination. All of the other elements will help you get there, but you need to have a destination to get started on this journey. You can’t cheat and say “I’ll figure it out when I get there”. That rarely works.
The novelist John Irving says he always thinks about a novel for a long time before he starts to write — and he never begins writing until he knows the ending. I always know where it’s going. ... Because I wouldn’t know how I’m supposed to sound at the beginning unless I knew how I was going to sound when I got there.
So when you’re starting – figure out the end NOW. Write down your final scene, how the story ends.
As we go along we’ll talk about the other nine items – Genre, Inciting Incident, Narrative, Characters, etc., but remember –
TO BEGIN START WITH THE END.
amazon.com/Put-Your-Where-Heart-Wants/dp/B0B553D3FP
TO BEGIN...START WITH THE END.
That’s right – go right to the bottom of the page – entry 10 – the climax of your story, the culmination of your business, the big scene of your screenplay.
This is an old screenwriter’s trick that forces you to work towards a goal. “Luke blows up the Death Star. It can be as simple as that, but now you have a destination. All of the other elements will help you get there, but you need to have a destination to get started on this journey. You can’t cheat and say “I’ll figure it out when I get there”. That rarely works.
The novelist John Irving says he always thinks about a novel for a long time before he starts to write — and he never begins writing until he knows the ending. I always know where it’s going. ... Because I wouldn’t know how I’m supposed to sound at the beginning unless I knew how I was going to sound when I got there.
So when you’re starting – figure out the end NOW. Write down your final scene, how the story ends.
As we go along we’ll talk about the other nine items – Genre, Inciting Incident, Narrative, Characters, etc., but remember –
TO BEGIN START WITH THE END.
amazon.com/Put-Your-Where-Heart-Wants/dp/B0B553D3FP
