https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/blog daily 0.75 2023-12-08 https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/blog/reflections-and-advice-from-debut-year monthly 0.5 2022-12-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/8180221d-f342-4a84-97af-a401f8c26343/StardustThief-3D_smol.jpg Blog - Reflections and Advice from Debut Year - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/f9061e2c-fb5f-4456-b3e6-94e75a87c3e1/Screen+Shot+2022-11-28+at+1.46.51+PM.png Blog - Reflections and Advice from Debut Year - “Hurry up and wait,” they said. “Hurry up and wait,” they said. (A publishing mood) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/96051fb7-8883-4a70-8943-1f4ca6b10d64/dwyo8zAx.jpg-small.jpg Blog - Reflections and Advice from Debut Year - These characters (Loulie) reject outlines These characters (Loulie ) defy pre-draft outlines (Art by @samohsai) https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/blog/reverse-outlines monthly 0.5 2021-04-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/1605881134866-Y1MYK9BG9LLB364VCA9I/Screen+Shot+2020-11-20+at+5.00.44+PM.png Blog - Reverse Outlines: “Finding” your story during revisions https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/1605609420751-ZM7IW98EM7TD0MY1NYNB/Screen+Shot+2020-11-17+at+1.35.46+PM.png Blog - Reverse Outlines: “Finding” your story during revisions https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/1605882469061-5DFN8CJJK3TOA5GEJASP/Screen+Shot+2020-11-20+at+5.27.18+PM.png Blog - Reverse Outlines: “Finding” your story during revisions Phew, no spoilers here! Anyway, here’s an example of how the reverse outline helped me merge content. After outlining this chapter, I realized it didn’t need to exist. There was only a single scene—and it was somehow 12 pages?? Yikes! So I decided to cut it down significantly and combine it with the previous chapter. What happened AFTER the reverse outline? My reverse outline was basically a roadmap. A very messy roadmap, but a much easier way to look at my story as a whole. After finishing it, I had a much stronger idea of what my story was. My first drafts are very exploratory; I often overwrite to figure out the characters and world. The reverse outline helped me cut elements that didn’t add anything to the plot. This blog post is already running long so I’m going to skim these next details, but I’m happy to expand on the revision process in the future if anyone would find it helpful :) Other things I did during this round of revisions: I used a program called Scrivner to organize additional notes while I was writing my reverse-outline. These notes were about specific things I wanted to keep track of in the story. For instance, I had one document called “Location descriptions,” another called “Traveling Gear” (so I could figure out when/where the characters picked up and lost important items), and a “Memories” document where I kept track of flashbacks (with page numbers). The last document was helpful because it helped me figure out which memories were actually important to the plot. I ended up cutting 80% of my flashbacks in my second draft. After compiling my notes, I wrote a full second draft outline. It was basically my reverse outline but with all the crossed out content gone and with additional edits + extra scenes. So, my reverse outline helped me figure out what needed to be added/deleted—and the the second draft outline is what I used for reference when I started my rewrite :) I rewrote my second draft on a new document. I know everyone has their preferences, but my brain hits a roadblock when I paste old content into a new document, so I started fresh! I kept my old document open and, going chapter by chapter, slowly rewrote the entire story, constantly looking between my second draft outline and first draft. IN CONCLUSION: Revising is hard work and, like writing, there is no right way to do it. Reverse outlines are just one of many tools you can use to figure out what’s working in your work and what isn’t. They don’t work for everyone—just like outlines don’t work for everyone!—but if you need a way to “find” your story, they’re a great tool to try. I can’t imagine revising without them! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. Revising is hard, but it’s also incredibly satisfying! — Chelsea https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/blog/how-i-got-my-agent monthly 0.5 2021-04-13 https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/blog/tag/Drafting monthly 0.5 https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/blog/tag/Reverse+outlines monthly 0.5 https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/blog/tag/Outline monthly 0.5 https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/blog/tag/Revision+tips monthly 0.5 https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/blog/tag/Story+revising monthly 0.5 https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/query-qa daily 0.75 2021-07-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/1626090102687-P135L3QN5USQ5HZ7Z4HN/Screen+Shot+2021-07-12+at+2.41.06+PM.png Query Q/A https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/1626090165316-RN257ZYLD9G4GZZB1PF7/Screen+Shot+2021-07-12+at+2.42.12+PM.png Query Q/A https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/home daily 1.0 2022-08-30 https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/about daily 0.75 2024-11-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/1625821516895-O2VG97HRYTSJVTCCKO7V/Author+Photo.jpg About - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/contact daily 0.75 2024-09-14 https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/books daily 0.75 2025-12-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/27ce03b2-3296-4343-84c2-6d86bfac912b/Stardust-TP-3D_smol.jpg Books - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/c57e0538-af2b-42fd-acbc-4377927ed5fd/Ashfire+King_HC_3D.png Books - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/8a9203b2-4bf8-42e7-988b-b9798dbfc97a/StardustThief-3D_smol.jpg Books - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/946aaa49-e91f-43d2-b260-d8a5962dc64e/Ashfire+King_TP+3D.png Books - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/preorder-campaign daily 0.75 2025-01-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/311660cf-f079-47d4-bfb1-b1b2d217e4c9/Twitter_Final_preorder.png Preorder Campaign - The Ashfire King Preorder Campaign Presenting: THE ASHFIRE KING Preorder Campaign! If you’ve preordered a copy of The Ashfire King, you may submit proof of your preorder receipt and fill out this form to receive 2 character stickers designed by samohsai. EXCLUSIVE OFFER: If you preorder the book through WORD bookstore, you will also receive a special foiled art print by samohsai. Please scroll down for additional details. https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/newsletter daily 0.75 2023-09-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3b6f1bf7fe6e5aced640b9/c57d99d9-5494-4a5a-a17e-3dc1b0be0de8/Prose+%26+Panic.png https://www.chelseaabdullah.com/donate daily 0.75 2025-05-12