Say there is a locket that has huge significance in the climax of the story. Using the cards I can play around key event sequences and reorder them until each event flows smoothly to the next.īut wait, there’s more! Scene cards are also a great way to track small details. It will also be an immense help to sort out the time line. Then it should be easier to see awkward gaps in the story and create a new scene card to fill them in. When all the cards are finished, and my kids aren’t around, I will lay them out on my big kitchen table and separate out different story lines and identify different concepts and ideas. Who is in the scene? Where does it take place? What is happening? Why is it important to the story? Each card represents one scene and answers the questions who, where, what, and why. This is when it’s time to break out the index cards. yWriter, the software I use to organize my novel-writing, does have the idea of scene cards built into the program, but I find it awkward to try to visualize the progress of a story when I have to flip between different windows on my screen. Now both stories are complete they need further developing. While writing my first MS, Stonebearer’s Betrayal, I learned that I don’t tend to stick with my original ideas anyway and any attempt at detailed outlining is a waste of time.

I had only a vague idea about what I was going to do with her. When preparing to write this novel my pre-planning consisted of naming my main character. Instead, I am finding hoards of poorly developed ideas and missing scenes. I’m taking a look at my NaNoWriMo 2011 novel Pendant of Nefertiti and seeing if there is anything I can salvage into a marketable product.

Ywriter review