STORY MAPPING
I've been reading a lot recently about storyboarding. I don't have any excess wall space in my "office" to tape charts/outlines/scenes of my books on (and I'd probably not look at page after page of such in a notebook) but it is a fascinating way to work. I do have room for story maps though.
My writer fried, Diana Ice, as I have mentioned before creates fantasy worlds for her intriguing characters to live in. I am blown away by the way she pulls the reader into a country and city she has completely made up. With her descriptions and marvelous dialogue fitting the place and era, I walk the streets of ancient cities, feel the icy winds on the deck of a ship, and hear the clash of swords during battles. Diana tells fellow writers that she creates maps of her country and cities in order to "be there" as she writes.
If a town of your own creation is the prominent setting for your story, draw a plot of that place. Put in the house(s) where your character(s) live, add the business, the church, the park--even if some spots don't have a place in your story, draw the complete town so you can "be there."
A home may be an intregal part of your work. If so, draw a floor plan. Maybe you need to place furniture in the room--so in the dark the intruder won't bump into the furniture, so the suddenly blind person can find her way around, so the reader can see what the home looks like from the view of the characters.
Use these drawings. They are more dependable than your memory, less trouble than having to scroll back page after page for a description. These maps are reference tools. THey don't have to be perfect; the basic outline is all you need. Tape them up near your computer and write with confidence.
Looking back, I could have used such a town layout for "Aunt Lutie's Blue Moon Cafe." In fact, I will draw my map anyway in the near future, as I'm probably facing a rewrite of the book, and I have an outline for a sequence. I should have had one for the novella I recently wrote as I kept going back to the New Mexico road map. Even though I made up a town for my main characters to hide out in, I used actual highways for the escape route. Not looking at the map close enough, I had them traveling too far south on Hwy. 28 (when it actually turns toward El Paso). (You have my permission to nod and grin here, Diana.)
Create those town maps. Draw that house plan. Don't rely on your memory for important details. Using these visual aids will save you time and show readers you have presented the accurate, entertaining work you promised.
My writer fried, Diana Ice, as I have mentioned before creates fantasy worlds for her intriguing characters to live in. I am blown away by the way she pulls the reader into a country and city she has completely made up. With her descriptions and marvelous dialogue fitting the place and era, I walk the streets of ancient cities, feel the icy winds on the deck of a ship, and hear the clash of swords during battles. Diana tells fellow writers that she creates maps of her country and cities in order to "be there" as she writes.
If a town of your own creation is the prominent setting for your story, draw a plot of that place. Put in the house(s) where your character(s) live, add the business, the church, the park--even if some spots don't have a place in your story, draw the complete town so you can "be there."
A home may be an intregal part of your work. If so, draw a floor plan. Maybe you need to place furniture in the room--so in the dark the intruder won't bump into the furniture, so the suddenly blind person can find her way around, so the reader can see what the home looks like from the view of the characters.
Use these drawings. They are more dependable than your memory, less trouble than having to scroll back page after page for a description. These maps are reference tools. THey don't have to be perfect; the basic outline is all you need. Tape them up near your computer and write with confidence.
Looking back, I could have used such a town layout for "Aunt Lutie's Blue Moon Cafe." In fact, I will draw my map anyway in the near future, as I'm probably facing a rewrite of the book, and I have an outline for a sequence. I should have had one for the novella I recently wrote as I kept going back to the New Mexico road map. Even though I made up a town for my main characters to hide out in, I used actual highways for the escape route. Not looking at the map close enough, I had them traveling too far south on Hwy. 28 (when it actually turns toward El Paso). (You have my permission to nod and grin here, Diana.)
Create those town maps. Draw that house plan. Don't rely on your memory for important details. Using these visual aids will save you time and show readers you have presented the accurate, entertaining work you promised.
posted by Barb | 1:30 PM
3 Comments:
Nodding and grinning here! :) Yes, I do make maps and room plans. Sometimes I have to change things to match my Vision--the mental picture I have of the place, but it really helps me to write the story. And very often the maps give me story ideas, plot turns, etc.
I should have said something about the story-boarding, too. I probably won't look back at the pages I've done either, but I figure things out as I do them. I've discovered in one story where I needed to add a chapter, for example. I think different people do it differently. I use one page per chapter, so I don't have the detail involved that I think others have. It's more of a structure tool for me. Where I do the detail work is in my scene-boards and those are more to develop the scene and give it more of the feeling you mentioned--the scents, sounds, etc. They also help me to question every action so that I don't leave something vital out or create conflicts in descriptions.
Diana, thanks so much for your comments--and for reading. And your clarification of the story-boarding helps me too. It doesn't seem as intimidating when you describe how your do it--especially the part about the scenes. That appleals to me.
Barb
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