Outlining in Reverse & John McPhee On Structure

    

 I thought this was an interesting piece in today's New York Times that discusses the writing process and outlining AFTER you have written the story.  Granted, Hamburger is a professional writer who admits to beginning his writing career as a pre-writing 'outliner', but it can be useful in class to have students first write their essay, then go back and outline it, and then of course after finding all the missteps and gaps, go back and rewrite the essay filling in the missing pieces of the reverse outline they created.

Outlining in Reverse

     I would also recommend John McPhee's recent piece in The New Yorker entitled 'Structure'.  Unfortunately, it's part of the locked subscriber on-line content, but if you have access and enjoy non-fiction then it is the master (in my opinion) discussing his craft.

Note:  Blair users can access the document at this link:  "MCPhee" Google Drive Share