“Short-story-chain construction”

As the final item in this first section, this brief outline lays out the four parts in a more condensed fashion. With the newly identified climax once again noted here in Part IV, it is clear that Rand now had a solid sense of how the full story would go. Although there are some minor differences between what she wrote here and the final novel, much of the story that readers are familiar with was in place.

With the basic story set, Rand could begin her next task, which was to outline the plot in greater detail.