Anthea Carson's Blog - Posts Tagged "pikes-peak-writers-group"
The Joys of Storyboarding
I have discovered the joys of storyboarding! While attending a workshop of Pikes Peak Writer's group, which I am lucky enough to live near (because I live in Colorado Springs) I learned that there are two kinds of writers; plotters and pantsers. Plotters plot their story out to the last detail. They love outlines, index cards, big white boards and markers, and above all, story boarding. Pantsers go by the seat of their pants, just like the name says. They just start writing and the creativity burns within them as the flow in the moment, pouring their soul onto the page. That used to be me.
I couldn't stand the idea of storyboarding. I thought it would completely destroy this flame within me that burns and burns and makes me want to write. But I took a chance. I decided to go down to my local Walgreens and purchase a box of index cards, some notebooks, colored markers, and whiteboards. I started thinking differently. Instead of letting my story pour forth on the page, I thought about my scenes before I wrote them. I asked myself, "What does this scene need to accomplish in the overall picture of what my story is, and where it is going. Then I started putting down what my husband (also a writer, but a screenwriter--definitely a fan of storyboards) calls beats. A beat is simply something that happens.
One problem I used to have with my writing was the endless describing. I was very good at putting you there, as the reader, wherever 'there' was, be it a farm, an island, a store, or a small party town like Oshkosh, Wisconsin. But once I got you there, I didn't have any real reason for you to be there. You would just sort of stand around going, "Wow, I'm here on the farm in Ainsworth, Nebraska, looking at the horses. I really feel like I'm here. I don't know why I'm here, but I'm here."
This problem was solved instantly once I started story boarding. It is impossible to create endless descriptions with no plot if you are storyboarding. It forces you to think differently. If forces you to create a story.
Look, even a bad story is better than no story, in a book. I didn't used to think so, but now I realize that even the books that seemed so esoteric, that I loved so much, like James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," or William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury," had a story taking place.
In chess we say even a bad plan is better than no plan at all. Before I got good, I used to just move pieces for no reason, just because I felt like it. After a while, and after being asked by other chess players (always men, only men, endless men--why don't women play, grr) "Why did you move there? What was the reason?" it began to sink in. Every move needs to have a function within a plan. This is also true with scenes.
Unless you are writing stream of consciousness, every scene needs to have a purpose. Storyboarding helps create and clarify that purpose. I highly recommend it as a useful tool for writers. Plus, buying the colored index cards and markers at Walgreens is fun.
I couldn't stand the idea of storyboarding. I thought it would completely destroy this flame within me that burns and burns and makes me want to write. But I took a chance. I decided to go down to my local Walgreens and purchase a box of index cards, some notebooks, colored markers, and whiteboards. I started thinking differently. Instead of letting my story pour forth on the page, I thought about my scenes before I wrote them. I asked myself, "What does this scene need to accomplish in the overall picture of what my story is, and where it is going. Then I started putting down what my husband (also a writer, but a screenwriter--definitely a fan of storyboards) calls beats. A beat is simply something that happens.
One problem I used to have with my writing was the endless describing. I was very good at putting you there, as the reader, wherever 'there' was, be it a farm, an island, a store, or a small party town like Oshkosh, Wisconsin. But once I got you there, I didn't have any real reason for you to be there. You would just sort of stand around going, "Wow, I'm here on the farm in Ainsworth, Nebraska, looking at the horses. I really feel like I'm here. I don't know why I'm here, but I'm here."
This problem was solved instantly once I started story boarding. It is impossible to create endless descriptions with no plot if you are storyboarding. It forces you to think differently. If forces you to create a story.
Look, even a bad story is better than no story, in a book. I didn't used to think so, but now I realize that even the books that seemed so esoteric, that I loved so much, like James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," or William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury," had a story taking place.
In chess we say even a bad plan is better than no plan at all. Before I got good, I used to just move pieces for no reason, just because I felt like it. After a while, and after being asked by other chess players (always men, only men, endless men--why don't women play, grr) "Why did you move there? What was the reason?" it began to sink in. Every move needs to have a function within a plan. This is also true with scenes.
Unless you are writing stream of consciousness, every scene needs to have a purpose. Storyboarding helps create and clarify that purpose. I highly recommend it as a useful tool for writers. Plus, buying the colored index cards and markers at Walgreens is fun.
