I am not usually a plot boarder. I typically make an outline list and go from there, but this year I've challenged myself to actually make a plot line and sticky note my scenes to it.
So now I challenge you to do the same.
So now I challenge you to do the same.
This is a plot line. It doesn't have to look exactly like this, but the idea is the same, tracking what kind of introductory scenes you have, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and your denouement.
I'm still basically putting my scenes in a straight line, working slowly to rearranging into the plot line positions, but it is still serving the same purpose: ensuring that my story is moving forward.
I've decided to do a difference narrative perspective per chapter, so I've used coloured sticky notes to identify who's perspective is telling each scene. It's been a great tool thus far to give me a visual of which characters are scene dependent, and as such, I've actually swapped out character POV's that didn't make sense to keep as a narrator. No one shot narrators, for me, please!
I have also been very specific about writing dates on these scenes so that I can arrange them in a practical order, as well as tell myself if events are happening too quickly or if I have huge gaps of time between events.
This has forced me to answer the question: "So what are they doing during all of this?"
It had me realize that my (intended) MC was pretty passive, just waiting for events to fall around him. So I've had him arrested and now he's quite busy, maybe not physically, but his inability to rush anywhere to the rescue has him keeping track of events in very resourceful ways. It also gave his daughter a "call to action" which makes her more active in the story as well.
This is the big important step before writing begins, because as you can see, everything in my story is already unfolding, it just needs to be written into sentences, paragraphs and chapters. And NaNoWriMo is fast approaching!
Happy Plotting & Happy Halloween!
I'm still basically putting my scenes in a straight line, working slowly to rearranging into the plot line positions, but it is still serving the same purpose: ensuring that my story is moving forward.
I've decided to do a difference narrative perspective per chapter, so I've used coloured sticky notes to identify who's perspective is telling each scene. It's been a great tool thus far to give me a visual of which characters are scene dependent, and as such, I've actually swapped out character POV's that didn't make sense to keep as a narrator. No one shot narrators, for me, please!
I have also been very specific about writing dates on these scenes so that I can arrange them in a practical order, as well as tell myself if events are happening too quickly or if I have huge gaps of time between events.
This has forced me to answer the question: "So what are they doing during all of this?"
It had me realize that my (intended) MC was pretty passive, just waiting for events to fall around him. So I've had him arrested and now he's quite busy, maybe not physically, but his inability to rush anywhere to the rescue has him keeping track of events in very resourceful ways. It also gave his daughter a "call to action" which makes her more active in the story as well.
This is the big important step before writing begins, because as you can see, everything in my story is already unfolding, it just needs to be written into sentences, paragraphs and chapters. And NaNoWriMo is fast approaching!
Happy Plotting & Happy Halloween!
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