I’m midway through the second book, Shock
Wave, in the Culture Shock Series. I used a linear outline (like the ones you
learned how to make in high school) to create the plot. Pretty solid, I
thought, but could use some tweaking. So I kept trying to think of alternatives
to the plot to really pack the drama punch, so when I hosted a ladies night, I
decided to pose my dilemma to a group of friends with an abundance of
imagination.
We argued and brainstormed on a few topics
and passed around ideas of the direction I wanted the book to go. The slew of
ideas kept coming. Each new idea opened up the floodgates to a bucket load of
more ideas.
What am I to do?
I tried fitting the notes I took from our
ideas into a typical linear outline, but it was just too confusing. So I tried
another approach, one used in the movie-making business, storyboarding.
Instead of using boards or notecards, I
used sticky notes (post-its). I wrote each scene or major event on a certain
color (blue, in my case) sticky note. After filling out a bajillion of those
with brief one-liners to explain the scenes, I started filling out orange (couldn’t
help it, I’m a huge Florida Gator’s fan) sticky notes with names for the
emotions Macy Holmes, the main character, will experience throughout the plot.
At the end of creating the scenes, I was covered in sticky notes.
I stuck the blues on one side and the
oranges on the other side of my bedroom wall (it totally clashes with my décor,
but whatever) and started assembling my plot. I was able to finagle the plot
and move scenes around to see where they fit best—where to create drama and
where to cool it down, etc. It helped maintain focus and organization. I was
able to see the plot taking shape. Since most of it is written already, I did
some nipping, tucking, adding and elaborating to make the
story cohesive.
I’m a visual person so putting the scenes
of the plot on sticky notes helped me visualize the story and see it clearly.
After finishing her degree in Sociology from
the University of Florida, Jeanette Pekala had no idea what she wanted to do
with her life.
While her husband was deployed overseas,
she focused on what she loved to do, write, where she has finally found an
outlet for her overactive imagination.
She
lives a not so normal life just a wee bit north of Bougainvillea where she
resides with her husband and two children working on Shock Wave, book 2 in the
Culture Shock Series.
Website: http://jeanettepekala.com/
