sticky-boarding
I’ve spent the past three months settling in to my own style of writing a novel (first draft, mind you). So far it’s working. At least, so far I’m enjoying it.
I’m a plotter by nature. Overly analytical. Obsessive about the details. I’ve tried making my own timelines. Notecard plotting (Holly Lisle). Phase Drafting (Lazette Gifford). Even friggin’ writing by the seat of my pants. Nothing seemed to be working for my current WIP (two years since spark of idea).
In late July I struck up a friendship with the lovely Kathleen Long on Twitter (@KLWords). She generously sent me her notes from past lectures she’s given on plotting (from a pantser’s perspective) using sticky notes and a make-shift storyboard. Hmm. Naturally, I ran right out to Staples and got an armload of fun stuff, along with a foam display board (much to my husband’s dismay).
Whenever sticky notes are involved, it promises to be interesting!
Then in September I came across a blog post by Johanna Harness (@johannaharness) about her Big Board Planning technique, which involves even bigger sticky notes plastered across foam poster boards while ironing out the big-picture structure of her novel. Double-hmm.
While I am a computer geek and nothing makes me happier than staring at a glowing monitor for ten hours a day, something resonates within me about squatting on the sitting room floor in front of a cheap foam board that the cats delight in knocking over, while scribbling notes with yummy-smelling sharpies and prying all of the fun office supplies from my 3-year-old’s clammy, thieving hands.
… will post more later (and hopefully get a better picture than the one from my iPhone)…