This is what I look like when I write.
Seriously. I am black and white. I have several pencils, as well as hands. My tongue sticks out and I perspire like crazy!
One of my favorite little tricks when brainstorming and plotting is the Provost Sentence. I first came across it in Rubie's How to Tell a Story. It helps me with my structure. It helps me to make sure that I have a story worth fleshing out.
Here she blows:
* * * * *
Once upon a time, something happened to someone, and he decided that he would pursue goal. So he devised a plan of action, and even though there were forces trying to stop him, he moved forward because there was a lot at stake. And just as things seemed as bad as they could get, he learned an important lesson, and when offered the prize he had sought so strenuously, he head to decide whether or not to take it, and in making that decision he satisfied a need that had been created by something in his past.
* * * * *
Jim Butcher has his own sentence (I think he stole from a class at some time) which creates a story question.
*WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENS*, *YOUR PROTAGONIST* *PURSUES A GOAL*. But will he succeed when *ANTAGONIST PROVIDES OPPOSITION*?
You just fill in the plot of your story into these sentences.
If I can figure out my plot well enough to write these sentences (succinctly and with some intriguing) then I know I'm on my way to a good story. And when it comes to that point is novel writing that I have to write summaries and queries I feel one step ahead.
Hope this helps :)
P.S. Butcher's Dresden Files are free on Hulu right now. I love these. Purely food for the imagination.
