The Art of Storyboarding

This is the summer for you to write the next Great American Novel.

As I'm sure you aspiring novelists have discovered, writing a full-length story is HARD. Where do you start? How is the book supposed to end? And that the heck is supposed to go into the middle?

I have a secret for you. Storyboarding. This seemingly simple concept has been a miracle worker for me in starting and finishing a story. I present to you my method and tips.

1. Figure out who your characters are. This will be looked at deeper in a different post but before you give too much thought to the storyline, just figure out who the story is about. What happens is only relevant if your readers care about who it's happening to.

2. Get yourself some index cards. Write down whatever you want to happen throughout the story on individual index cards. Pay no attention to the order. For example: "Main character finally kisses other main character," "Main character starts first day of college," and "A big food fight happens." Those are all events that can happen in a story. The beauty of index cards is that you can mix and match and move around these elements to put together a story that makes sense.

3. Piggybacking on the last point, once you start putting your story together through index cards, you can see where the gaps in your plot lie. Maybe you know that "Main character starts first day of college," and that "Main character meets love interest," but what happens in between those events? Brainstorm it and write in down on an index card.

4. As you piece together your plot puzzle, you will also be able to see what events don't quite fit or what events could be

added to push the story along.

5. My last, and probably most valuable tip is this: write things down. My phone harbors a massive list of interesting tidbits and anecdotes that I've noticed simply in everyday life. Whether it's a friend's weird habit, the way a stranger on a bus has blue hair, or even a cool sounding name. All of these things are elements that can add uniqueness and character to your story. Then through storyboarding, you can find the best places to put them.

Good luck in your plot-writing adventures and endeavor to never leave any story unwritten.