: Re: How do I create the rest of the story when I only know the ending? I know the ending of the first book I want to write but, I'm not sure how to start it or what will happen in the middle.

@Dunderdale623

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Firstly, almost every idea - i.e. plot element - has been expressed somewhere before, meaning you shouldn't worry too much about "stealing" ideas. Take love stories, for example. They are always the same: Two people (or more) meet, they take a liking to each other, they go out, they fall apart, and in the end, either one of them is dead or they celebrate a huge wedding. Almost every love story uses these elements. Still, they way these elements are presented varies and this is what makes the respective story individual: Tell a story adapted to a certain problem, and you will create something new. My favourite example of this remains "The Time Traveller's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger, a classic love story that added an equally classic idea - i.e. that of time travelling - and came up with a mixture that was quite original.

Concerning your doing-it-backwards problem, I don't think there actually is a problem. You say that you know the ending of your story. That means you have something in mind that drastically changed (every story is an account of a change). Good. What you could do now is to ask which background is suitable to contrast this change against. How can you show how drastic and important this change was in the context of your story? Once you have answered this question, all you need to do - and this sounds easier than it might actually be - is to tell the story of how the specific change you have in mind is coming about. Take, for example, the story of "Into the Wild". The ending is obvious: A young man leaves society and dies alone in the wilderness. That is quite a drastic ending and one that has the potential to make us think. It can be the core of a good story. Now, the ending is clear. But how do we get there? By answering the question: Why did the young man leave society? What was his life like before he made his decision to go "into the wild"? What was it that he couldn't bear any longer? When and how did he realize he was unhappy? You could keep working your way backwards through these questions, or you could reduce it to the one I posed at the beginning of the paragraph: Where does the change come from that you want to depict?

Overall, I think your approach is the right one. Having the ending of your story in mind is a warrantor for keeping you on track while penning the story. You have a clear aim and can work towards it. In my experience, it is infinitely more complicated to write a story that revolves around a general topic but does not have a clear aim.

If you are interested in textbooks covering the structure of stories and methods for character development more in-depth, I can recommend the books by James N. Frey, that I enjoyed a lot: How to write a damn good Novel, Parts 1, and 2, as well as his account on the Hero's Journey. Also, many authors seem to enjoy Christopher Vogler's account on the monomyth as well.

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