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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/17950
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/17950
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

You have all your parts; you've sort of discovered your story backwards. Now you need to reverse–reverse-engineer an _outline_.

A _very_ rough skeleton for an outline is:

**Intro:** set up the story world

**Act I:** Plot is set in motion. Ends with a disaster or reversal

**Act II:** Reversal is overcome. Plot moves forward. Ends with another disaster or reversal.

**Act III** can be the same structure as Act II if you want to use it.

**Act IV:** Plot is resolved.

**Conclusion or Epilogue:** wrap up loose ends or leave them untied for the sequel.

Take my examples from the other answer and put them in chronological order:

- Why is the macguffin important?
- How did the macguffin get lost?
- Who told the heroine about the macguffin?
- How does she know it's in a building? (As opposed to a ship, at emple, a bank, a house, on the road, etc.)
- How does she find which building it's in?
- How does she reach the building?
- How does she get into the building with the macguffin?

Now take those questions and put them into the outline:

**Intro:** Why is the macguffin important?

**Act I:** The macguffin gets lost/stolen. Someone tells the heroine about the macguffin and why it has to be retrieved.

_Here you can see you need some bridging material to get to the next question. This is the part you're lacking right now._

**(Act I cont'd)** The heroine sets out to get the macguffin. Obstacles thwart her. _The "obstacles" are more bridging material._

**Act II:** She overcomes obstacles. She finds out the macguffin is in a building. How? She finds the building. How? She tries to reach the building. This is a good spot for another reversal.

**Act III/IV:** She gets into the building with the macguffin. _More obstacles and bridging material._

She gets the macguffin and returns it to wherever it needs to be.

**Epilogue.**

Original score: 0