Last year I found Diana Peterfreund’s excellent blog post about using a plotting board, and I tried it for my novel. This method captures the novel’s plot points on Post-It notes that you rearrange on a big white poster board or, in my case, a three-panel science fair display board that I can fold up to protect the fluttering bits of paper from my very interested cats.
I admire her discipline and her vision. For me, it didn’t work completely, although it was a greater success than the Snowflake Method was.
The good thing about my plotting board is that it gives me a 30,000-foot overview of my book, letting me more clearly see the plots, subplots, chapters, and scenes. The bad thing is that — when I look at it too often — my writing feels formulaic. I feel tied to a particular path and miss the “Oooh-oooh-oooh, look what I found!” moments of excitement that I get from just sitting down, writing, and seeing what happens.
What seems to work for me is to do the plotting board and then ignore it until I get stuck in my writing and need a mental jump start. The simple act of thinking about my plot down to this granular level of detail gives me a fuzzy idea of where I’m going. And ignoring it like a map in the glove compartment (until I feel lost) seems to give me the freedom I need to enjoy writing.
What works for you?
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Ignoring works well for me, to. I write my synopsis first, then ignore it as I write the book, referring to it only when I “forget what comes next.” (Tongue firmly in cheek.)
And I only use the plotting board during revisions. I don’t make it first. That way, I can see where I might have dropped a thread or have been neglecting a given plot. This might help you with the problem of feeling “formulaic” when you sit down to write.
Comment by Diana Peterfreund (1 comments.) — February 13, 2008 @ 8:29 am
Hi, Diana,
I didn’t catch that distinction the first time — using the plotting board during revisions more than as an outline tool that sets boundaries throughout the initial writing process. Maybe that will work for me too. Thanks! As a novice fiction writer, I appreciate how much of your methods you’ve shared.
Re “formulaic”: **blush** I hope that didn’t sound critical of anyone who uses these planning tools. When I say formulaic, I mean that I felt like I was writing to spec — like a shipping clerk pulling an order off the shelf and stuffing it in the box for a customer — rather than enjoying the discovery of my story as I went along.
Comment by Carolyn Bahm (63 comments.) — February 13, 2008 @ 9:37 am
Since I’m a fan of planning, I like using a plotting board
but I use 3×5 cards instead of post-its. What I need is a big board because mine end up all over the floor…
Comment by Melissa Donovan (3 comments.) — February 14, 2008 @ 3:04 pm
Well, I can say that for what I am working on, I wrote a twenty page detailed outline/synopsis or something like that, only to decide I didn’t like it. So, I picked the first scene I liked and started typing. I’m not really going in the same direction, many of the characters aren’t who I thought they were.
Comment by Patrick (1 comments.) — February 14, 2008 @ 8:40 pm
Hi, Melissa,
I admire you for tackling this with index cards. I tend to make a mess with them, even if I invest in a pile of rubber bands and an index card box. I’m curious: How many cards do you use for a book-length project?
Hi, Patrick! I’ve got an outline a shade shorter than that for my book. I stumbled by accident onto the method that is currently working for me. We’ll see if it’s working well enough when I try to eke out the last of this week’s page count this evening. :oP
Comment by Carolyn B. — February 15, 2008 @ 8:19 am