I tried writing scenes out of order

This post is going to be about writing scenes before they actually take place. Essentially, I am writing things out of order to see how it works for me.

So when I was first starting book 2 of the Knight's Journey series, I decided to try my hand at writing scenes out of order, things that took place later in the book where I knew what was going to happen and I had some good ideas for dialogue and action and stuff. I wanted to try this as a test, because I've always written in a linear fashion. I write what happens as it happens, beginning at the start of a story and continuing until the story ends. I wanted to experiment with something new. I wanted to try writing a scene where I had nothing leading into it and no need to finish.

The first one that I did was a scene with Rowan in the desert. He had lost his way and was in a dire situation that had left him weakened. I wanted him to collapse and be forced to confront a vision of Baird. It was a cool scene, and as I wrote it I found that it was much easier to do because I could pretend that I had already built up the scene so that it is exactly where I need it to be to start writing. I didn't have to worry about the circumstances that brought it about or even how to wrap it up when I was done. I just started a paragraph with Rowan collapsing and went from there.

I wrote a few other scenes like this, but I like this one because it was my first attempt at writing a scene out of order and because I just reached the point in the novel where that scene takes place. I actually used it, I just copy-pasted the whole thing word for word into the chapter and went with it. I was relieved to have it while writing because it made writing the setup for the scene easier. It allowed me to work on building into something existing so I knew exactly where I was going. I hit a point where could place the scene in, and then I had it and it worked very well.

So I think I am going to try to continue this. I have a bunch of scenes where I know what will happen or how I want a specific conversation to go. I can write these scenes and set them aside when I am finished. It will help me establish areas where there is rising or falling action, or where I want to have a big hook or a reveal. So far it has been a fun exercise, and it has worked out well for me. We'll see how it goes when I reach the next scene.