Visual ways of plotting

[SleepyDormouse]

I'm struggling with my WIP (been working on it years but keep stalling and feeling disillusioned with it, and yet can't leave it alone!) and feel I need to look again at my plotting. (or maybe I really should just leave it and do something else)

My plotting at the moment is a lot of scribbled notes on different bits of paper and in a word document. I feel like I need to be able to do it more visually, to see how it fits together, so I can make it flow better.

what methods do you use? Pen and paper, computer software?

 

[Nick B]

Pen and paper originally sat over coffee with my co-writer. Ends up as charts, diagrams and pie charts, presentations and excel spreadsheets.

Then we ignore it all and write a story. I'm not a big believer in plot. Obviously there will be a plot, but I always start with a character and a situation, the story will grow from there. At some point the plot will deign to show itself and might even make the odd appearance when it feels sorry for itself and wants some attention.

 

[SleepyDormouse]

Then we ignore it all and write a story.

lol love this

I have written 4/5 probably of my 1st draft, I know where I want it to end I'm just not sure of the last little bit to get my MC there. Also I am finding it hard to keep in mind the different subplots.

I can not imagine how you use pie charts for plotting!

I was just looking at a youtube on storyboarding for writers, and it showed a W shape plot and my plot line fits on that... with an extra complication just before the end (the bit I am finding no inspiration with) so perhaps my plot isn't so bad after all...

 

[barrett1987]

If you want, write it here in bullet format, each scene, one line per scene. People will then spot the problem.

 

[lonewolfwanderer]

I'm struggling with my WIP (been working on it years but keep stalling and feeling disillusioned with it, and yet can't leave it alone!) and feel I need to look again at my plotting. (or maybe I really should just leave it and do something else)

My plotting at the moment is a lot of scribbled notes on different bits of paper and in a word document. I feel like I need to be able to do it more visually, to see how it fits together, so I can make it flow better.

what methods do you use? Pen and paper, computer software?

I had a problem with my WIP's plot in the beginning- i was unclear about what i wanted, and stalled it for many years.

But recently, when i really began to work on it, I scrapped the planning, and just wrote. I only had a rough idea of where i wanted it to go, and what i wanted it to say, but I started with the first sentence and kept writing without looking back on what I've written. I just let the story, sort of, 'tell' itself.

It was only when I got to a particular part in my first draft, did the plot finally become clear. It sort of just 'clicked', and I knew exactly where the story was wanting to go. And since then, it has only evolved as I've worked on it.

I'd say just let the words flow. Don't worry about repeating scenes, or whether it makes sense or not. Just write... and don't look back on it until you've finished, or figured out the plot.

Just my 2c...

EDIT: I slightly misread your post, thinking you hadn't started it, but i still stand by what i said above

 

[SleepyDormouse]

That's just it LoneWolf, I have several times now managed to pick it up again and the words just came and the plot just wrote itself.. until i got stuck yet again!

I'm sure that part of my problem is that I am looking at this book as the first of several, and I'm worried about how the end of this book will effect the start of the next one. I am probably trying to do something that is a bit too big for my very amateur writing but my idea's stretch across two or more stories.

Its also just the vast array of options out there or how the story could progress! And because I have been at it for years I keep developing new idea's.

 

[lonewolfwanderer]

That's just it LoneWolf, I have several times now managed to pick it up again and the words just came and the plot just wrote itself.. until i got stuck yet again!

I'm sure that part of my problem is that I am looking at this book as the first of several, and I'm worried about how the end of this book will effect the start of the next one. I am probably trying to do something that is a bit too big for my very amateur writing but my idea's stretch across two or more stories.

Its also just the vast array of options out there or how the story could progress! And because I have been at it for years I keep developing new idea's.

As an artist of any kind, one never ever completes their work- they only stop working on it... So ideas will always keep coming- it's good.

Do you have any idea about the beginning of the next novel? That could help, and maybe you could try ending on a cliffhanger that hints at the next novel?

 

[Nick B]

We don't really use pie charts, excel or presentations. That was irony, it's good for you. It has iron in it.

Stephen King says writing is like archaeology, you discover the bones of something, so you start digging at it, brushing and uncovering as you go, not really knowing exactly what you will find. I find writing to be like that, only the roughest idea of the whole shape. This, to me is why it is so enjoyable, I am not only writing a story for others to read, I am discovering it for myself, often amazed at what ends up happening.

So, my advice (which comes from someone who has not yet been published (or in fact even submitted anything yet) and so may not be worth taking lol) is to see where the story takes you, discover the plot as your characters advance. Let yourself be surprised by your own story.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I have a Spreadsheet which lists my Scenes, Character POV, and Wordcount.

I'm tempted to do an expanded version with plot points, character development, foreshadowing, etc.

However, even as is, just looking at it, I can get a good idea of what's happening where, as I easily remember what each scene is about - certain in context with the other scenes around it.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

A Cuckoo in Black;s Nest - Scrapbooks

I do this and have a YouTube playlist of clips using the actors that inspire the stories.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Stephen King says writing is like archaeology, you discover the bones of something, so you start digging at it, brushing and uncovering as you go, not really knowing exactly what you will find. I find writing to be like that, only the roughest idea of the whole shape. This, to me is why it is so enjoyable, I am not only writing a story for others to read, I am discovering it for myself, often amazed at what ends up happening.

That reminds me of the story about the sculptor who said he makes a horse by chipping away everything that doesn't look like a horse. I think the story is the same way -- you visualize what the story will look like when it's done, and chop out everything that doesn't look like that.

As for the original question, I don't do much outlining except in a mystery, but a storyboard is nice. You can put all your notes up on a corkboard or a whiteboard, order them, draw lines among them, and pretty soon you see where the holes are and what needs to link to where. If you have a spare wall, that's good too. You can use colored yarn to code plotlines, or colored markers, different colored sticky notes for who and where and why, or whatever works for your particular story.

 

[barrett1987]

After reading this thread i pulled up publisher and put in a colour coded block for each scene in act one and it's pov.

Instantly i can see how heavy the first act is with Stranger/Wyn - it's there story.
Act 2 becomes alot more balanced.
No idea on act 3.

By putting it into visual form i can make a decision on whether other pov need to be introduced to 'even' it out. Very useful.

 

[SleepyDormouse]

We don't really use pie charts, excel or presentations. That was irony, it's good for you. It has iron in it.

Ooops! Sorry, seems obvious to me now...

A Cuckoo in Black;s Nest - Scrapbooks

I do this and have a YouTube playlist of clips using the actors that inspire the stories.

That looks interesting, thanks.

As for the original question, I don't do much outlining except in a mystery, but a storyboard is nice. You can put all your notes up on a corkboard or a whiteboard, order them, draw lines among them, and pretty soon you see where the holes are and what needs to link to where. If you have a spare wall, that's good too. You can use colored yarn to code plotlines, or colored markers, different colored sticky notes for who and where and why, or whatever works for your particular story.

Maybe that is what I mean then, storyboarding rather than plotting. This sounds more like the sort of thing I was meaning. A way of visually seeing the whole story in one go. Now where can i find a spare wall....

Earlier i went through my notes again and did some mental map/plot diagram things (even tried a bit of colour by my daughters felt tips are running out!). It helped a lot and i have a vague outline for the rest of the wip, plus I know which plot lines I am carrying on to next book (which I have a vague outline for).

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I've mentioned this before, so apologies to anyone who is reading this for the second or third time, but for those who haven't (or have mercifully forgotten):

For one book I used notecards for all the different scenes (color coded!). This allowed me to shuffle them when new scenes and chapters appeared as I was writing, until I had them in an order I thought fit the story. I suppose one could take the cards and spread them out on a table and move them around, or pin them on a handy wall. It was convenient, because it allowed me to easily insert the new scenes and take out the ones I decided to discard.

I haven't done this again, although it worked just fine. I don't know why not. Actually, thinking about it, it might help me tame the WIP, which has a lot of story strands to pull together.

 

[Nick B]

That reminds me of the story about the sculptor who said he makes a horse by chipping away everything that doesn't look like a horse. I think the story is the same way -- you visualize what the story will look like when it's done, and chop out everything that doesn't look like that.

Brilliant!

 

[jastius]

this is a tutorial of how to storyboard in word or powerpoint.

Videos for Canvas | Academics | University of Colorado Denver

there are better ones out there but this is a free link

this is the official moleskin story board notebook, if you are feeling officious..
Pocket Moleskine Storyboard Notebook: Moleskine (Creator): Amazon.co.uk: Office Products

but in film studies for arts and animation i found a child's half ruled notebook to work just as well as anything else.

so you can do the scene above in thumbnail then in the lined part put your 'idea' dialogue, the bit you have in your head as lines for the scene.

what also works is a bunch of post-its in different colours on a sheet of cardboard.