Young Writers Society

When I plot (of course already having created fully fleshed-out characters - after all, the plot has to grow naturally out of their needs and wants), I use this very easy and handy method:

First, I write my troughline. A troughline is a summary of your entire story in a few sentences. Once I have that done, I take out a pile of index cards and two different colored pens. Then, I begin writing down (the shorter the better. This varies with your personal style of writing, of course) every scene that comes to mind. These scenes involve ALL my characters, even those when the POV (point of view) character is not present. These "offstage" scenes are written in a different color than the "onstage" scenes. Once I feel that I have put down every possible scene, I order them to my taste.

Then, during the actual writing process, I take one card and keep it in on my desk. The others I put away. I concentrate on writing that ONE scene. This way, it is easier to think of those important details in writing. The beginning, middle, and end of every scene suddenly becomes clearer, and flows beautifully. Once I finish with that scene, I put that card away and pull out the next one.

Oooo... that sounds intensely helpful. After all, there's so much that goes on with the other characters as well as the main ones that it's necessary to keep that in mind. But at the same time, this set up can be dangerous. You have to remember to keep your priorities straight and NOT write out of your person, just because it's an interesting plotline. Even so, this sounds very helpful... I think I'm going to try that with my novel.

And remember, a rolodex can be intensely helpful for that, because it's fun to rummage through that. ^_^

Great idea. I think I read something like this in a screen-writing book

It's atually a combination of three different methods I have found for plotting. Nancy Kress came up with writing down everything you can think of based upon your troughline. James N. Frey came up with using different colors to represent different characters. And another author, whose name I can't remember, came up with keeping a scene on an index card and concentrating on that. Noah Lukeman in his "The First Five Pages: How to Stay Out of the Rejection Pile" stressed keeping the beginning, middle, and end of every scene clear.

Never plot. Ever. Ever. Ever. Plotting doesn't let your mind create things which you didn't originally think of. Plotting limits what you can do with a story.

Prosithion wrote:Never plot. Ever. Ever. Ever. Plotting doesn't let your mind create things which you didn't originally think of. Plotting limits what you can do with a story.

No it doesn't. That's a common misconception of many writers, but actually plotting can do the exact opposite, giving your ideas direction and letting your creativity run in a more constructive manner.

I have to agree with Snoink on that one...

Good idea, by the way, herkeyboard... ^_~

I also agree with Snoink, plotting doesn't stop your creativity at all, it just makes everything make more sense plot wise.

I agree as well. I always start my stories with plotting, so I have a basic layout to follow, and then whatever comes to mind can be incorporated to fit into the story without straying too far.

Well, it does for me. I've tried plotting, and my story was terrible. I tried it without plotting, and my ideas flow more.