So I’m thinking about this NaNoWriMo thing I’ve so cavalierly taken off for next month, and I’m starting to get a little worried. How could I *possibly* get that much written in a mere 30 days? I mean, I don’t even have a clue as to what I’m going to write about…
My proposed solution: an outline! [key dramatic music] I’ll take some time over the next few weeks to prepare an outline of the characters, events, and such that’ll form the core of my novel (my novel… that sounds good 
My primary goal is to settle on a vaguely-at-worst end to the book, and to work backwards from there. So the question is: what do I want to be the case at the end of my story? What story do I want to tell? (since stories are often largely defined by their endings)