Friday, October 12, 2007

Story Board: 21 done, 10 to go

I am upstairs in my office getting ready to work on my story board. I finished story boarding the first 21 chapters complete with summaries, seasons, place, time, characters, and the dreaded comic strip depicting the 'action' in each chapter. (that's one story board per chapter.) A big nod goes to my fabulous coach, Mary, who coached me to complete 21 story boards by the 19th. She did such a good job inspiring me that they were finished Sunday night. Yahoo and hallelujah! Thank you Mary!

The good news is I've graduated from potato heads to little action stick people. Some of my comic strips, make that most, look like a four year-old did them, but that's okay. They hang in our guest bedroom so I can figure out what the next step is and where to put the chapters still in need of a board. (I do feel a little sad for guests...)

The challenge is story boarding the last ten chapters. These are the chapters I couldn't figure out what to do with because of my poor organizational skills. I tried to hold all the information, chapter by chapter, in my head. Impossible. Between memory lapses and 'mental pausings' as my friend Eileen says, my brain couldn't do it. So, these last chapters need to find homes among the existing 21 story boards. There definitely are places for them --that's why I wrote them--I just can't remember where they belong. But, when I'm finished it will take care of my editor's question of "is something missing here?"

Apart from my lack of solid organizational skills, Nineteen Darby Way is coming along great!!! I love the protagonist and the various predicaments she finds herself --I just need to plug those incidents in the right spots so she doesn't appear to be in the middle of a psychotic break.

That said, story boarding is the best organizational tool! Finally, I know where I am in this sea of words and paragraphs and chapters. The goal now is to finish these last 10 chapters by the 19th -- wish me luck...
~c
Wanna write? Here's a PROMPT: The real truth is....

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Best of Luck to you, you are an amazing writer and sharing your progress is so exciting!!
The anticipation is killing me!


PS & a big Hat's off to Mary!

Cindy said...

Mary is amazing. Thanks for taking note of that. I'd still be 'thinking' about how to wrap my arms around 21 chapters...

SHE said...

congratulations! you are 3/4 the way to this one of many successes

"to nineteen darby way!"

much love, ~s.

Anonymous said...

You go, girl!
I'm so proud of you!!!!!

Anonymous said...

As Eileen, the mental-pausing aficionado you mention in your post, I send my hearty congratulations for your progress! I’m sure your manuscript is wonderful so keep those chapters coming!

Kelly Pollard said...

Your enthusiasm for the storyboarding inspires me to try the same. I'm so excited for you!
Kelly

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