Hello lovelies!
It's that time again. Ahh, the blank page. We all have our process for getting started, for pushing that new project forward and molding it. So what do you guys do? I've always been a notebook kind of girl. (Yes, a new notebook for each project is something I look forward to every time!) I gather my thoughts and toss random ideas into this notebook. And then I jump in. With my first novel I created a sort of plot outline like one of those word webs we had to make in middle school. For my second novel? Well, I totally winged it. No real outlining. For my third there was some planning and some more winging.
This time though, I think I want to try things a little differently. I'm all about the freedom of letting the characters take me in a new direction, but I've noticed (LOVE my Critique Partners for this!) that I occasionally get some problems when it comes to plotting. I'm all for letting my characters take me in a new direction but when that direction happens to be a dark alley with only an awkward way out sometimes it would be nice to have more of an outline.
Now, after watching the awesome vlog on Write On Con about plotting with 3x5 cards I can't WAIT to give those a try. If you haven't seen it I totally recommend you check it out below! I'd love to hear about you guy's methods for starting a new project as well. Feel free to comment :)
~Liz
I've still got to watch that video. I'm a new notebook person too. (This is the best time of year to buy them too.) I used lots of index cards on my current project. I wrote down settings, characters, dialogue, scenes and potential storylines. I then glued them on posterboards and hung them around my office. It really helped. I could look up and see what kind of bushes grew in that particular area of the country my story is based in.
ReplyDeleteOhhh interesting idea of glueing them together. But what if you want to change the order?
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