On Storyboarding and Self-Trickery
So a few weeks ago, I took Shelley Bradley’s online workshop about storyboarding. For those of you who don’t know (and I didn’t before I took this course) according to Wikipedia, “Storyboards are graphic organizers such as a series of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of previsualizing a motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity.” Usually, when people talk about storyboarding its in the context of film making and scriptwriting. In this case, Shelley Bradley applied the method to plotting the romance novel.
Since I want you to take Shelley’s workshop when you get a chance, I won’t go into too much detail about how to do it, but basically, you divide a large foam board into twenty squares to represent twenty chapters, then using post-its populate the chapters with brief scene descriptions, characterization snippets, setting, or whatever you need to keep yourself on track. When you finish mapping out each chapter, scene by scene, you’ll end up with something that looks like this:
So, thanks to Shelley, I’ve got my next book all mapped out, chapter by chapter, scene by scene! And the beauty of using post its is that if you need to move scenes around or change a shift in motivation you just move it from one chapter to another
But anybody whose ever tried to write knows, all the pre-plotting in the world isn’t worth a darn if you don’t ever sit down and WRITE THE BLOODY BOOK! Sigh, I hate that part. Seriously, I do NOT like writing. Until I am actually in the throes of a great scene and feeling what my characters feel–then, I LOVE writing! It’s wonderful! Brilliant! Unfortunately in order to get to that point, you’ve got to actually sit down and WRITE THE BLOODY BOOK! So, in the time honored tradition of self-trickery I offer the following little tips:
So, how about you, Vagabonds? Got any new tricks of the trade to share with the group? Or have you taken any great workshops that you’d like to reccomend to the rest of us? Inquiring Vagabonds want to know!
Manda, I storyboard, though I haven’t taken Shelley Bradley’s course. I break my plot into 4 acts (an idea I got from lurking over at Diana Peterfreund’s site, so check her out for details) and then I do the scenes and color code. I don’t leave it just at 20, I do however many I come up with.
But, I don’t do the arts and crafts, I do it on excel, so it’s right on my computer when I need it.
Yeah, Marnee, I’ve heard about doing it in Excel, but Shelley says that it doesn’t work for her. And I have to say, seeing it all laid out on the board really does help me in a way I can’t explain. I think it could easily be transferred to Excel though, if necessary.
I’ll have to check out Diana Peterfreund’s site! Thanks for the heads up!
Reading people’s comments about storyboarding has always left me feeling as if it was not for me, but looking at that board, I think it must give you a real feeling of accomplishment, Manda, and the inspiration to “write the bloody book.” Perhaps I should try it with the new book that is perking on the back burner now.
The most useful bit of advice for me actually came from CM, who responded to one of my questions on a board. I couldn’t seem to use small segments of time to write because by the time I had reread what I had written earlier, my time was gone. CM suggested that I limit my rereading to the scene I was working on. I tried it, and I was amazed to find that I could often write a page or two even in thirty minutes or so.
I do like the physical aspect of that kind of storyboard (like reading a book vs reading a kindle book); I’ll have to find Shelley’s class. Thank you, Manda!
P.S. Totally empathize with the “I hate writing except when in the midst of a great scene” mentality. *LOL* I only like writing when it’s fun, not work.
Awesome, Manda! Coming from a screenwriting background, I’m definitely into the storyboard thing. I tend to be better about thinking broadly than specifically, so plotting and storyboarding helps me narrow down HOW I’m going to get from point to point in my story.
Am I gonna get a sneak preview of your storyboard? I’m curious to see how it turned out!
Uh, Linds, that’s it! Of course it just looks like a winner of multiple ribbons at the state fair foam board exhibition–maybe I can get a closer pic of it tonight to show more detail. I used the green post its for scene summaries. Pink post-its for Heroine POV and Blue post-its for Hero POV and yellow for levels of intimacy. The turning points (since they will roughly stay the same from book to book) I wrote on the board itself. Turning point one is in Chapter Five, Turning point two/midpoint is at the end of Chapter Ten, Three is at the end of Chapter Fifteen and the climax, resolution spread across Chaps. 17-19, with HEA rounding out Ch 20.
LOL. I meant, like, can I know the details of all the exciting scenes I get to look forward to? Or does it have to be a surprise. I’m very excited about this book!
Oooooh! I get it now! Well, I don’t know that the scene details would be much help because mostly they are things like “Hero rescues Heroine from Villain” or in this case “Hero almost rescues Heroine from Villain, but fails then Heroine has to rescue him.” And the occasional “Kiss.”
tee hee Tap dance class. I wish I had tap dance class in the morning. I always liked dance class.
Ahem. Anyway…great blog, Manda! I’ve always wanted to do a storyboard, but like Janga, I never felt motivated or interested enough to make one. But seeing yours really makes me want to make one! I think it really must help seeing it right there all laid out.
That’s it, I’m making one. It’s settled. And I’ll have to look into taking the class too. (Shelley Bradley’s, not tap dance.)
[...] very, err, organized anyway. Peggy King Anderson recommended storyboarding (Here is an example). This would not have worked for me for my first draft. I would have been playing with post-its [...]
Just came across your blog on Google. Interesting post, you bring up a few good things to think about. Good luck with the blog.