The 'journey' I used to have, until recently, during my unstructured writing days, which I firmly believed was an exciting mystery trip has not been lost. It has been enhanced by the use of my beat sheet and story board.
I said all this already, in my previous post on this subject. However, I feel I must update my blog now that I am a little further down the line with my new project "Midnight at the Alhambra".
The feeling of waking up in the morning wandering what is going to happen next? in my story is stronger still. Why? Because I can see my scenes at a glance. Answers to what happens next are more evident now I do not have to backtrack though huge clumps of text. My creative momentum is maintained and does not drift off into limbo for days on end like it used to.
I have rewritten my beat sheet since the earlier post. Its no big deal. The beat sheet totals 6 pages, and yet it is the whole story for a 90 minute feature. The index cards are in place...all forty of them each representing a scene. If the scene does not arc and there is no emotional change then the scene will be taken out because there is no point to it.
My characters are now clearly defined. I feel like a concert pianist having shuffled my sheet music, I am poised at the keyboard ready to play my heart out.
FADE IN
Wish me luck x
Index cards - I used them to great effect when writing a fantasy novel a few years ago. I dreamt the story in the first place (or at least the opening scene) so it was naturally written as a series of 'scenes'. I had these scenes blue-tacked to the wall above my desk each containing a summary of events and action and relationships relevant to that scene. When I later came to juggle the chapters around it came into its own.(I still think it'd make a great film).
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment on my blog which made me smile by the way.:-)Debbie