..:: Written .:. Off ::..

I will try anything when it comes to writing at least once.

Right now, my novel is just a bunch of random scenes in my head. The other night, I decided that I had to just write down what I had in some format. Writing into a journal was one alternative.  Another, was to write each scene down on an index card. I’ve become interested in the process of film-making recently, so writing each scene down on an individual card would be my version of storyboarding.

Storyboards are defined as follows:

 sto·ry·board       (stôr’Ä“-bôrd’, stōr’Ä“-bōrd’)  Pronunciation Key
n.   A panel or series of panels of rough sketches outlining the scene sequence and major changes of action or plot in a production to be shot on film or video.

This is by no means a revolutionary concept in novel writing. Many authors use this technique to organize both their thoughts, and the scene arrangement of their novel.  Like I said above, I will try anything once so…

…I first took my journal and wrote a quick summary of the novel. Next, I dug out my old index cards and proceeded to write each scene on an individual card. I have about 5-6 scenes written out. Each scene could be either a whole chapter or just a scene within a chapter.

After that, I took it one step further and created a card for each character that I know will be in the book. I simply wrote down that characters name and a brief summary about that character. I then wrote POV in the right-hand corner of the card, if their will be chapters from this characters perspective.

I’m trying to limit the POVs this time around. The last book had a few POV characters, since some of the action took place from the “baddies” perspectives. I have nine characters now. A few of them are unfortunate enough to not have names. I’m waiting until the right name strikes me before assigning them something silly.

When I think that I have enough scenes, I will start to arrange them on a corkboard in the order that they will take place in the novel.

One major thing that I’m lacking is an ending to work towards. I usually know how a story ends before I start it. It helps me to work towards something. Once I figure out more about the story, I hope that the ending will present itself.