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Got A Cunning Plan

by Andrea
Posted to Craft, Plot on Mon May 06, 2002 at 04:12:41 AM PST
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I've discovered that organising my characters for a new book, is a considerable pain. They are now on file cards. I can pick out the fictional people and remember what they are like (from my notes)& how they react. I can also add notes to these file cards if my creatures have been through an experience that has affected them in some way. It's a good way to weave the threads of a complex plot. The scenes can be put on cards in a similiar way. This may seem rather an archaic way of arranging things in this age of the computer file. I do find the physicality of bits of card board helps creative thought. Staring at a computer screen for too long can become painful. I do think more clearly using this for basic plot and character structure. Try it; what do you think?

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Got A Cunning Plan | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)
not really archaic (none/0) (#1)
by janra on Tue May 14, 2002 at 08:20:57 AM PST

Actually, it's probably a lot better to do it that way than on a computer - if nothing else, you can spread it out on the dinner table and get an overview. The computer screen just isn't big enough or high enough resolution to allow that kind of thing.

Another reason I like this method (and I sort of use it myself) is the same reason I don't like online bookstores. You just can't scan the shelf and grab anything that looks interesting. On the other hand, "you can't grep paper" - ie, you can't run a keyword search on your paper to find something specific very quickly. I keep some of my notes in computer form and some on note cards, and I've recently started to try to more-or-less syncronise them. That way I can both scan and "grep" my notes :-)

In my slightly compulsively organised way, I've started outlining the different plot threads, and assigning them a colour. Then each scene gets a card, and it's marked with the appropriate colour. Thread climaxes get marked with highlighter pen, and I can then lay them out on a timeline and see where I'm concentrating on one plotline too much and where I'm completely ignoring another, then decide if I want to change that. I can also see if I have two subplot climaxes too close together, and figure out what a more appropriate spacing is.

Or maybe I just like shuffling cards around and goofing off ;-)


--
Who needs to be big and burly when you can just apply physics?
Got A Cunning Plan | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)
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