Plotting.

What are some suggestions for organizing a story. What techniques do some of you use?

TUML, does your Chapter: Scene: Character(s): Setting: Basic Summary go on a note card for each scene? Just on a page in your notebook? How do you keep the scenes organized and together? Do you 'plot out' all of the scenes at once, or develop the sketch as it comes to you, as you write the other pieces?

(This is really for everyone to jump in on, I'm just addressing TUML directly because he's the one who sparked the thoughts.)

Are there any good references for using note cards or outlines or such for plotting? Believe it or not, I've never read any. I just have the pieces in my head, or in the margins of my notebook, rather unorganized, as I write my story. But I'm sure as I delve into larger works, this won't cut it.

I'm looking for various suggestions so I can try a few and see what works for me.

Ok, I 've working now on my first novel. My biggest problem with it, to be honest, is finding that precious quiet time to sit down and relax and think about shaping the story or write on it. I'm the big fan of forcing yourself to write at least 2 or 3 pages a day, but when you go to college and are looking for a job and live with too many people in a little house, finding that time can be very difficult.

My plotting started with a basic idea. I wanted to know what a hero was, and my answer was a hero was a person who would risk or give her own life to save that of her enemy.

Next I created a character, fleshed her out, and created a basic world for her to exist in. A lot of that world is unfinished (i mean, I haven't named every city and river and wrote every background) and even some of my character is unfinished. I don't know yet how she's going to react to situations I'm gonna put her in.

Then I gave the story some basic waypoints that the character must reach. Really really general , one line setences that keep the story on track in the long term. For example, I know towards the middle of this book, my main character goes to a certain city. I know toward the end of the book, a chance of a war breaks out.

Then I began writing, scene by scene, the beginning of the story was very easy, because the beginning is the part that most writers know. When I finish a scene, I let the story sort of live in my head for a little while until I get a good idea of what the character will be doing in the next scene. Then, directly before sitting down and typing out a scene, I go to my notebook, which is a three ring binder with lots of blank paper inside, that contains all my thoughts and drawings and pictures on EVERY story I've every thought abotu writing, and on a blank page, I just begin summarizing what occurs in the following few pages I'm about to write. I try to keep the summary at 1 to 2 pages. As I write the summary, the scene literally begins to play through my head and I begin to see the characters and hear their voices, and a lot of really good dialog and insights occur to me by the time i get to the end of the page. This really helps to put me in my "writers frame of mind" and as soon as I'm done writing on then notebook paper, I go to the computer and sit down and begin writing.

I can't stress enough, I really don't plot my story to death, I let all the details and things take shape at the keyboard. My plotting and pre-writing just help to keep me going in th right direction and put me in the mood to write.

As for outlines and notecards... I don't use outlines because I find them to vague or general. My "waypoints" are the closest thing to an outline I have. I don't use notecards because they tend to end up everywhere, and I can never keep track up them.

And as always, I suggest anyone read the "Elements of Writing" series of which OSC has a book on Char. and Viewpoint.

And this is just the way I do it. It's the system i've worked out that helps me. There must be a million other ways to write, so do it however works best for you, but like I said, that's my plan and that's what works for me.

I usually begin with some kind of inspiration, a theme that shapes what I'm writing, and an overarching conflict. I then flesh out my world... Who we are is largely based on the world around us, and how we interact with that world. I don't feel that I can adequately flesh out my characters until I've fleshed out the world that they are interacting with.

Since I now know more about my world and my conflict, I flesh out my characters including descriptions of their appearance, psychology, and family backgrounds.

I like the idea of a flow chart, starting with a point a and z, then being able to throw different scenes and chapters, or just emotions, keywords, or dialogue into various points along the line. These boxes could contain as much information as I have at the time (similar to TUML's summaries), and be put in anywhere, or moved around as necessary.

My method is to 1) State my theme and overall story line. Like if writing a one sentence statement for the publicist. 2) Identify the characters who will make this tale happen. This is where A Writer's Journey really helps, over and over again. 3)Write a brief sketch of the events. A book about scenes got me on this path. I think it was titled "Scenes". In that book the author talked about how a scene is built, or at least, his perception. Within these brief notes I try to state the conflict that carries the scene, the purpose, how it moves the story, etc.

For short stories this "outline" may not be all that long, but for a novel it can be. I do it on my word processor and name the file accordingly. It can be added to as I go along. Sometimes I have a sudden inspiration for a line or two, even a few paragraphs, and because the writing hasn't made it that far yet I just fill it in on my so called outline. Of course this really isn't an outline, I just call mine that. I wrote out a synopsis for the novel, as if I were pitching it to an agent or publisher. In it I stated where I expected to take the reader, who and how the characters developed, what the story question was and how I answered it.