Plot Cards And Why You Need Them

For the past few days I have been plotting my novel using the techniques in the Thinking Sideways course. This involves writing one sentence, under thirty words, for every scene in the novel. In the sentence you should include: your characters, the conflict, the twist and the setting. Without these elements you can end up writing a weak scene, you can get lost, you can even end up writing a novel that isn't worth saving.

Plot cards are important for many reasons. They keep your story on track. They allow you to write strong scenes. They can be used when you must plan and write a novel in a very short amount of time. For me, it has been a struggle writing my plot cards, but I know that in the end I will love what turns out and I will be that much more likely able to finish my project.

I will be honest. I never did project planning before taking Thinking Sideways. It never even entered my mind. I was the type that just got an idea in my head for an awesome character with a problem and wrote like crazy. Problem was...I hit the brick wall fast because I had no idea where my story was suppossed to go.

I have found that even though I was not much of a planner that this Lesson is helping me more than I can even imagine and it is a tool I will continue to use even after I finish this course. I love some of the ideas i'm getting. But I also see what needs to be fixed.

Well, that's it for today I think. Next time I'll either talk about fixing plot cards or even starting the first pages of a novel, depending on where I am at that day.

An Update About My Lessons

Thinking Sideways has taken up quite a bit of my time and surprise, surprise I'm still managing to fall behind.

I'm working on Lesson Five right now. I'm suppossed to be learning all the critical info about my protagonist, antagonist, setting, conflict and twists. I got through my protagonist rather quickly, but I am lost now. It has come to my attention I am unsure who the biggest antagonist in the story is. So now I am asking myself questions and waiting for answers. This lesson is very important for the development of my story, I can't just skip it. Hopefully, I come up with something soon.

Besides my issues with Lesson Five I am still in love with this course. There is so much helpful material I am going through. I know I will be using many of these tools for my other writing projects. And I know that because of this course my writing is maturing.

Talking to other students in the forums has turned out to be incredibly helpful. When I have gone off track they are there to point me in the right direction. They give my examples of how they went through the lesson.

One piece of advice I can give is to never neglect your characters, the conflicts, twists and the setting in the planning stages of writing. If you don't you may be setting yourself up for failure, like I did in the past.

That's it for today. Next time I'll be ranting about my next lesson I'm sure.

Well...

I have never blogged before. This is new and very weird for me, knowing that anyone can see my thoughts, see me.

I guess I should start by saying why I am here. I am here to talk about writing, about me, about anything I can think of really. I am here because I want a place just for me. And I think this is it. I want to share my ideas, my fears and my dreams with people. I want to give and recieve advice. This is why I am here.

Hmmm...what should I say next? I graduated from high school in 2008 and then married. I have a job that I hate and think every day about quitting. Why? Because, more than anything, I want to be a writer. I have wanted it as long as I can remember. I don't want fame, I just want someone to read my stories and love them as much as I do. I want to write something that matters.

I haven't done much in my quest to become a writer. Sure, I have written stories...but I have never had the courage to send them out. It is hard to stick to one thing, I have so many ideas in my head. My brain goes blank when I think of revision. I realized pretty quickly that I needed some kind of help.

Luckily, I had been reading the blog of a full-time Novelist and saw that she had a writing course unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was called Thinking Sideways. At first, I had my doubts. How much could it really help me? Nothing else had. I did some reseach, read the reviews and saw that a lot of people got something great out of her course. So I decided to try it out. And you know what? I love it so far. I am already so much closer to my Muse. I can feel the ideas brewing and I know they won't stop anytime soon. I have a long ways to go in the course, but I can tell it is already worth the money. This course will help me, it will give me what I need. The tools to write the best novel I have in me.

Ok, so I guess that is all you really need to know about me, for now at least. I am just another writer in search of making my dreams a reality.

Tomorrow I will talk about my next Lesson and let you all know how I did, what problems I faced, ect.