Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Plotboarding - phase 1 complete

Plotboarding is done - or at least the post-it note writing phase. All twenty-seven chapters of the (still) unnamed YA UF have at least one post-it attached so all that remains of this phase is to stick them to the board when I get home.

The downside is that there are a number of chapters where there is only one post-it; luckily, the main character's colour but still, it may be too many solos and I'll have to add some more plot points. Having this done (finally, truly done) by September is beginning to look like a pipe dream, but it really *has* to be done by then because from mid-September to the end of October is the glory of induction and if I've got time for a cup of tea I'll be doing really well. (Sleep is optional.)

For information on plotboarding technique check out Diana Peterfreund's blog - there's a link in the sidebar to a description/ images.

4 comments:

  1. I'm really glad to hear you're still writing! And this sounds seriously organised... better by far than my scatter-gun approach. :P

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  2. Yes, still slogging on! The short stories are being troublesome, but there are some ideas floating around for novellas/ other novels so I'm not hanging up my pen! Day-jobbery has been filling so much of my time (but in a good way), but I really must do better on the intarweebs front when I get home/ at the weekends.

    Hope all is well with you and the gang!

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  3. One thing that might help you is if you actually go look at the text of those chapters where you say there's only one post-it, you might find that you're dealing with more than you thought. Like maybe this one character is dealing with something that ties into or mirrors or enriches a subplot.

    Just a thought. Good luck!

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  4. Thanks Diana. When I was going through and writing on all my post-its I had to keep reminding myself 'people are not plots'! One thing that really stood out was clumping, where I have a plot point going over a couple of chapters and then nothing (apparently) for half the novel before it suddenly reappears. It's much easier to see when it's up on a board with multi-coloured notes.

    Thanks for the advice, it's really helpful.

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