Outlining With Note Cards, Part 1 A Work In Progress For My Work In Progress

OUTLINING WITH NOTE CARDS, PART 1: A WORK IN PROGRESS FOR MY WORK IN PROGRESS In an effort to actually make some progress on a fantasy novel I’ve method too typically and for way too long described as my “work in progress,” I’ve been experimenting with some outlining concepts I’ve never used before. A lot of writersâ€"sometimes it appears to be every author but meâ€"plots out tales using notice playing cards. These used to be and sometimes still are actual physical observe cards. In increasingly circumstances they’re virtual observe playing cards, which plenty of the assorted writing software packages present. Still gun shy from my attempt to make use of no less than a type of software program packages, I went forward and acquired some old fashioned physical three”x5” observe cards then determined to get all fancy and bought a set of coloured Sharpies, too, so I may colour code stuff in service to my little dollop of OCD. Weapons in hand, I pulled out my trusty composition book stuffed with roughly random notes on characters, plot points, and d iverse items of worldbuilding and started excited about tips on how to actually use those observe playing cards. Heaven forbid I Google it or anything and maybe discover folks that might have some good advice on tips on how to finest use these playing cards. Instead I went ahead and “developed” my very personal “system.” For what it’s price, I’ve at all times loved creating “techniques” for stuff. Getting myself to persistently use these systems . . . that’s one other factor. Anyway, I thought possibly we can go along on this quest collectively: The Quest for How to Use Note Cards to Outline a Novel. Looking by way of my composition books, my notes appeared to simply break down into four classes: Character Arc Plot Point Demon Worldbuilding You have to start with charactersâ€"I do, anywayâ€"and I wished to try to use these playing cards to map out sure points I needed my characters to hit, all of these, by the way in which, starting in very broad strokes. Plot Poin ts are simply that: occasions in the story. I had a number of of those in mind, some thought by way of in some detail, others just very prime-stage. I even have a lot of the character names already found out…till I get a greater idea, that is. But as I started getting into it and writing playing cards I was having bother divorcing the characters from the plot. After a pair failed attempts I realized: Don’t separate characters from the plot! After all, these ought to by no means be unique components anyway, proper? The plot of a novel is, basically, all of the stuff the characters within the novel truly do. For no matter reason, although, I kept calling these “plot factors,” so now I have a bunch of Plot Point playing cards that basically discuss what characters are doing, experiencing, and so forth. And that’s nice. Yep, that is my whole “one demon per ten hottest phobias” concept! The story is a couple of world overrun by demons and maybe essentially the most thought- via bit so far is a hierarchy of demons that range in relative power. I made a card for each of these types of demonâ€"again, very sketchy, very top-degree, figuring out that I will work with them and flesh them out from these broad strokes. Demons are interested in the scent of blood… Then the worldbuilding category includes necessary aspects of the setting I’m fairly sure I’m going to want to introduce to inform the characters and story. My hero starts off as a simple farmer, who knows a bit more concerning the world round himâ€"is a little more “worldly”â€"than the typical peasant, but not a lot. He will experience the bigger world for the first time along with the readers. Then I sat down and started writing on the cardsâ€"quickly realizing that I wanted a new class: Setting I want this story to include a straight-line path from one part of the world to a distant level, with stops along the best way that also increase the danger to my hero. He begins at home, in the (r elatively) safest place on the planet, going farther and farther from his consolation zone on his method to the most dangerous place in the world. This one kinda obtained reduce off in the scan. It says: The Ice Caves of Ymoin. That final bit could describe simply abut any fantasy story, couldn’t it? And that’s the factorâ€"a minimum of on this first stepâ€"I kept everything quite simple: the least quantity of textual content essential to not actually properly outline the entire guide, but simply to arrange signposts to remind me that I need to consider this, I must get this character from here to there, and to remind me of sure significant moments in the character’s arc, and so on., from an almost formulaic standpoint. For instance, I have cards that just say “Jashiv is injured,” then with various degrees to remind me that I want this man to suffer along the way. What the nature of those “accidents” are and even if they’re bodily or emotional or psychological . . . all that’s to come back. I simply have playing cards to remind me to beat him up. One of the issues that shocked me alongside the way was that as I went I began to comprehend that the number 9 was significant. I actually have nine different types of demons. I even have nine separate settings. Nine divides properly into three, so now I see my three-act construction: the primary three demons/settings are act one, the following three are act two, and the last three demons and settings are act three. So really what I had was a Rule of Threes. Then my closet numerologist burst from hiding and mapped out the entire thing as three elements, every consisting of three sets of three chapters every, corresponding to the nine demons/nine settings and mapping to the three act construction and . . . Okay, getting ahead of myself. But I like this sort of stuff. It begins to make sense to me now. The book is taking a type of physical shape inside my head. What I have to remind myself of as I go m ight be that this three sets of three sets of three thing is a starting point, a leaping-off level, and I completely can't permit the slavish adherence to that construction to force me to write a pointless chapter, keep a boring character, jam in a ineffective scene, etc. Likewise, that structure can’t force me to keep out a fantastic new ideaâ€"a brand new scene, a brand new character, a new angle on something. This is just how I’m going to begin, not how I’m going to complete. I’ll check back in right here as I go and add some more details, and work through some issues that seemed to work, and some that didn’t, all the while hoping to keep this relatively spoiler free. After all, finally I’m going to need you to purchase this guide! And I might even exit and see if another person has some notice card outlining wisdom to share, too. Stay tuned. â€"Philip Athans About Philip Athans Have you used Scrivener (free trial possible) as it is a great digital observe card and organizational system for novels! Scrivener has been recommended to me on a number of events, however as a result of I need the observe adjustments and different enhancing performance for all my other work, I’m still essentialy enslaved to Word! I am also a Word addict. But I use Scrivener to prepare scenes, characters, applicable picts and data for novel â€" simple to switch from word for this purpose. Keeps me clear on characters and plot! I ended up using Microsoft Excel to stipulate my e-book. The individual cells had been my observe cards and it made it really easy to maneuver things round and edit cells as required. My e-book additionally has a threes twist to it, in that the primary characters have to finish three quests, that concerned three antagonists, that required them to travel by way of three different lands â€" all inside three full moons. So I have three, three-act structures, ev ery of which tie into one overarching three-act construction for the whole guide. lol I use Evernote for this. The organisation system of the notes continually modifications as concepts and plot progress. At some level, I’ll create a timeline of events in the story to use as reference (the story itself will never be informed from beginning to finish, but it’s useful to keep things constant). I create that timeline with pen and paper after which take an image of it. Evernote will scan it for phrases and it becomes searchable. At some point, I’ll start gathering the notes into chapters. I put checkboxes in front of each merchandise to tick off as I write. I use a lot of cross references between the notes as well. I usually have separate notes with : “characters” (but I build that while I write), “open issues”, and “where was I” As you’re trying to make a snapshot of your mind here, I think it’s necessary to play with plenty of systems until you find what feels proper.