That way I can quickly flip through them to look for plot holes, character inconsistencies and chapter points of view. That way, I’m forced to capture the essence of my chapter in as few words as possible and can then organize and re-shuffle them at will as a sort of guidepost through my longer works like my novel. I write as much as I can scribble onto one side of a 4′ 6 plain index card. Only I do them one for one, that is one chapter summary for each side of a card. I started doing this about six months ago, on the advice of another award-winning author. As soon as they bulge out of your pocket, toss them on the carpet and play solitaire.” You can keep them in your handbag or back pocket, ready to hand for whenever an idea strikes you. (Those little bits get lost.) Start writing on file cards. It may not do every single thing that Scrivener can, but it has enough similar features to make your story easy to organize and visually keep track of, like a corkboard, and separate character and scene sheets and is well worth your time looking into. A tad more expensive, but for those of us who get overwhelmed with too many details, it is a great option and will help keep you on track.Īs for Yeoman’s tip #3, writing your main plot points, and even as I do, chapter summaries, on index cards is just plain brilliant: However, I found an alternate, more simple version of Scrivener called Storyist, (a good comparison of the two is here at /post/69136060617/storyist-vs-scrivener).Indeed, a less intense, simplified format, easier to digest and quicker to get up and running. And working on an Apple meant the “sticky notes” utility Yeoman talks available on Microsoft’s PC, wasn’t an option. And try as I might, I couldn’t muster the patience to sort it out. Gave it a valiant effort, but, as he points out, there’s a definite learning curve to learning Scrivener. Great advice, which this past winter, I tried. Solution? Build your own Scrivener using the ‘sticky notes’ utility that may be on your computer right now.” Problem is, Scrivener takes time to learn…too technical for newbies and its built-in word processing program is, compared to Word, primitive. Here’s the link to Scrivener… Once learnt, it’s wonderful. Somewhere else you’ve stuck pictures, plot outlines, dramatic incidents, crumbs of dialogue… links to web resources…videos and even music…Now imagine that corkboard on your computer.
In one corner, you’ve pinned character descriptions.
Yeoman’s tips are here to save the day, especially tips # 2,” Devise your own Scrivener program “ and #3, “ Try the ‘bricolage’ technique.” In tip #2, Yeoman writes: But then somewhere along the line, boom! You’re stuck in writer oblivion, with some combination of paralyzing fear that the end won’t match up to your exciting start and or that the plot lines won’t converge into reason but instead morph off into convoluted confusion making your reader want to run screaming for the nearest exit.īut, never fear, Dr. Great story line, clever opening, interesting characters. You get part of the way through what you think is going to be a terrific read.
And I’m willing to guess we’ve all been there at some point. Having been stuck myself many times, and in fact currently stuck somewhere in the middle of what started a very promising story, these tips couldn’t come at a better time. John Yeoman, “ Can’t keep up? 7 brilliant ways to finish your story.” (). And today I’m sharing an interesting guest article I stumbled across while perusing author Kristen Lamb‘s Blog, written by guest author/ teacher Dr. Pain meds can put a girl out of commission, but fast!īut thanks to a little time and TLC I’m on the mend and back on the writing wagon. Well, thanks to several big events, including finishing up the semester, filing a thesis and slamming so hard on the kickboxing bag that two of my toes broke in half, I guess you could say I’ve been a little preoccupied.
If you follow me you may have wondered why I’ve been MIA in the blogosphere for the last month or so.
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