Small Steps

It's the end of week one of my new, disciplined writing lifestyle and I must admit I had a bit of a pity party yesterday. I was feeling like I hadn't accomplished anything. Then I looked closer at my storyboard (pictured to the left). A week ago it was covered in pink post-its. I use pink where I have a question or am lacking some needed information. The questions posted on the board now are new. Even though I don't feel like I've moved forward with my project, my storyboard proves to me that I have propelled myself and Charlie further into the story.

I started my storyboard in the hopes that it would help me see the critical parts of my story. I've also used it to post visual aids like the pictures on the right side of the photo. First I divided the board into three categories: Main plot and two sub-plots. Each plot has a color of post-it assigned to it. That way I can keep track of ideas even when they cross into other areas of the story. This method of structuring helped at first. Now I'm starting to see that I'm getting more and more detailed within my post-its and having a hard time seeing the timeline of events.

I've decided to restructure the board. I want to design it like an intricate timeline so that I can follow Charlie across the board and see where she's going. I continue to have many ideas and need to use the board as a method of getting them out of my head without committing to the ideas. Being overly committed to an idea has also been part of my failures with my previous projects. I would get stuck on the thought of something specific happening a certain way. When that idea didn't fit with any other part of the story or it didn't flow forward I would just give up. The storyboard allows me to put ideas down and look at them all to see how they fit together.

This week part of my work will be dedicated to setting out a timeline of events on my storyboard. Although I'm technically starting over with the board I see it as a success. I've done all I can now with this layer of my story and am ready to move onto the next layer. (Layers being the development of the story through multiple steps).

In addition to my storyboard, I wrote out a detailed biography of characters and scenery. It's a flexible biography, but it was another method for me to get thoughts out of my head so I can allow myself to think of what is next.

I also did one of the exercises from The Writer's Toolbox by Jamie Cat Callan. It's literally a box full of objects used for writing exercises. I used the stir sticks, which proved to be a fun and a useful tool for me. There are three kinds of sticks and each one offers a step in writing a dynamic story. I used all three kinds for my exercise.

First step was the First Sentence stick which read "Charlotte ate green peppers all day long." There are many First Sentence sticks and this was the one I arbitrarily picked up. I wrote for 6 minutes about what might be happening. It's a strange sentence, but it's meant to get a story going with no telling where it might lead.

Second step, the Non-Sequitor that gets the story moving in a new direction. My stick said "He was skating on thin ice - that's all I can say." Putting this sentence with the first sentence seemed a smooth transition even though they don't appear to have any sort of connection.

The third step was the Last Straw stick that puts conflict and emotion into the story. I drew "The time he invited his mother to dinner." Again, it seems that they could never go together, but the entire exercise helps distract the left, analytical, side of the brain so that the right, creative, side of the brain can do its magic.

I don't want to bore you with the story that the exercise helped me write, but I can say that the scene I created might land a spot in my story.

My goals for this week are:
1. Continue writing at least 6 days for a 1/2 an hour each day.

2. Do some research

3. Continue work on Charlie's Road Map / Biography

4. Re-structure the story board

Each step and every new realization I have is a success towards reaching my goal. Only my own self-doubt will keep me from finishing.

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. ~ Sir Winston Churchill