I haven’t done any of these in a while but I thought I’d share my 2 favourite new things when it comes to developing my manuscript. I used these tools in the run up to Nanowrimo and they are now part of my normal outlining process.
Pinboards
I’m a very visual person and pin-boards are ideal for this. You don’t actually need a real pin-board. It can be a folder on your computer or something like scrivener, place to store all the things that inspire you for your story.
Despite having three pin-boards on my wall I still have a big OneNote document for each of my story ideas. I collect photos, phrases and words that inspire me, scenery, scraps of paper with ideas and as the story progresses these get shuffled around, replaced or binned.
Nearly always there will be one thing that is the centre of your idea – if you have a visual representation of that it’s a great thing to stare at when you’re in a writing slump.
Scene Cards
Despite resisting the planner whenever possible I have accepted that actually it can be really helpful and have started doing prep work for my writing projects. One thing that I find is brilliant is writing the various moments that pop into my head on cards.
That way I don’t forget them and I can put them in different orders until it clicks.
Do you have any tips you’d care to share?
