Wattpad Block Party - Winter Edition III

sbrobinson Presents: Even a Pantser needs a Storyboard

Even a Pantser needs a Storyboard

By Sbrobinson

Hello, Wattpad Block Party readers! Thanks Kelly for hosting such a wonderful event. I'm super excited to share with you "Even a Pantser needs a Storyboard (Series Bible). Whatever you like to call it, it's the most important and useful tool a writer can have when creating a novel. Whether it be a series or a standalone novel, it's essential.

When I started my novel Embrace the Light, I sat down and started writing. (The EPIC Pantser way) The words flowed (seamlessly I thought) in beautiful harmony. I knew my characters and built a story. I went through the grueling editing phase and shared my story with my dearest beta-readers. Those amazingly sought after rarities that will tell you how amazing your story is and then they tell you when you accidently had someone step out of the shower twice. (The helpful things.)

The words continued to flow, and I got the second book down, and everything was going perfectly without a care in the world... until it wasn't. My beautifully scripted world hit a roadblock. I had created an enormous plothole. (The dreaded awful thing popped up one night when I was explaining something to my husband, and it smacked me right in the face.)

As much as a Pantser works best by sitting down and allowing the story to flow, we still should have a Storyboard that allows us to avoid these dreaded issues. Now my first two books in the Darkness Novels have hit a re-write phase. I'm completely okay with this because the story is beautiful and one I'm happy to spend the time making perfect. And this time I come ready with details to make sure I don't change someone's eyes from green to brown, or make someone walk halfway across the world in five minutes... (I've done all of those things as well.)

I'm going to share with you how I use Scrivener to create a storyboard and turned this fantastic application into something more. I'm going to share screenshots and give some helpful tips. I know the application seems rather daunting, but give it a chance this more simplified way and you'll create a very helpful tool that will keep you organized during such a large project. It's also useful after when creating things like a synopsis, quotes, marketing, and the querying process.

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I'm sharing with you screenshots from my personal storyboard. I'm that sweet, but I really want you to see the value behind such a useful tool.

First, you'll want to decide if Scrivener is for you, I say try the trial version first. It has other features that allow you to even create and export your novel that allows for self-publishing.

Next, open a new document and chose the fiction story. The format story wise isn't important because we will focus more on the binder aspect on the left side.

As you can see, I've broken my binder down into categories. Manuscripts (which holds chapter notecards like the one viewed on my corkboard), Characters (Where I've developed detailed outlines of characteristics, physical descriptions, etc.), Places (inspirations, locations, and I even created a map to ensure I wouldn't walk halfway around the world in five minutes again.), and then my research. The research section (as you can see that it's selected with the corkboard view. You can "pin" as many of these notecards and photos to go to anytime you need a quick inspiration.