Chapter 53: Your Final Scene Index

Note to readers: In a previous newsletter, you read the conclusion of The Perfect Crime manuscript. I am now writing a few additional chapters to round out the book. This chapter follows Chapter 52: Your Book’s End.

Speaking of your Scene Index… what should it look like? We’re going to discuss that—but first, let’s talk about what it’s for.

Your Scene Index is for clearly communicating the outline of your novel to your future self. Imagine your present self, the you who’s producing the Scene Index, as the CEO of a company. You want to put everything into a nice, tidy document so that your employee—that’s the you who’ll be writing the scenes—can just put her head down and write. You plan, and your future self executes. And the Scene Index is the strongest line of communication between you.

My Scene Index is a spreadsheet with columns for the following information: