Story boarding

[inexperiencedinker]

Good morning all!
I haven't perused through the boards as much as i would have liked to, so if this has already been covered I apologize.
While searching out good writing tips I found two that struck me as being very helpful, and I have been putting them to good use.
The first was to write mini-bios about your characters on index cards, everything from their birthdate, appearance, to their likes and dislikes. I have even been adding a history about schools, boyfriends/girlfriends, and things like that. It has really helped me think of my characters in a 3-D way, and not considerer them just some happenstance folk in the story. I feel like I am doing much better at writing the characters, and the story happening TO them.
The other was index card related, and it was to storyboard your plot. Have you ever watched the makings of an animation movie, and seen the large wall with all the little drawings of different scenes? Well this is very similar.
The tip (and I am sorry I can not attribute these two ideas, but I can't remember the sites. As soon as I find them I will post) said to write down scenes that were floating in your head. Something brief, to remind you of the great idea, and that way they didn't get lost while trying to write everything chronologically.When you write out all these scenes you can then shuffle them into the general order you imagine, and you have a great outline. This really helps me because while writing the prologue of my WIP I suddenly get great flashes for the ending, or some symbology I want to incorporate through the entire story, or the confrontation between my protaginish and the antagonists betrayer. Sometimes I will imagine a coversation and come up with some REALLY great dialogue, but I will have four chapters before it will be needed. I write more and reshuffle every once in a while and find that one scene might be useless, but another one soon takes it's place.
So my question is whether or not anyone else has used these tactics, or thinks they might be useful. Have a great day all.

[Niesta]

Heh. I thought you were going to advocate drawing scenes from the book, which IS something I do. I also write/illustrate comic books, so that's my excuse for being eccentric -- although, truthfully, drawing a picture turns on my imagination in ways that words just can't sometimes.

[storygirl]

The character index cards, I already do, except it's all in pages in my notebook.

But I like the storyboard idea. I write mystery and suspense and ideas are always popping in my head, but I can't use them where I'm writing, so I scribble it on a kid's tardy slip, a bill, or a napkin...but then I always lose it. I may have to try this out, at least have a story-box for me, where I have index cards with my ideas, that way I can just toss them in there and pull them out when I'm ready.

Thanks for the suggestion. Hope you like AW so far.

[Danger Jane]

I story-board my characters pretty extensively, even to writing scenes just to know them better, not intending it to go in the actual story.

But I can't storyboard my plot. I mentally plan it for months, and don't forget the details, because for some reason I have an astoundingly good memory. The majoy events will be clear, but fuzzy enough for hearty revision and fleshing-out.

[inexperiencedinker]

I found the tip for storyboarding here (http://www.steampunk.com/sfch/writing/ckilian/)
It is a really good article called
Advice on Novel Writing by Crawford Kilian
The link wasn't working, but if you search for it on Google you can use the "cached" button and read the who article anyways. Gotta give props where props are due.

Anyways,
Nancy: I am jealous about the memory. I am the most scatter brained individual in the entire world. I think that is why this is helpful.
Story girl: His article explains it more clearly than I could ever hope, so read his version for more tips while story boarding.
Niesta: I am also jealous of artistic abilities. If I could draw, I could see it being a good way to give life to a scene. Unfortunately, stick figures do little to inspire anyone, including myself.

[Bufty]

Interesting. I can understand a pile of Index cards if you are writing a massive trilogy with a host of characters but for a novel it would bore me stiff. And I never scribble ideas down - if an idea's not good enough to stick in my memory it's probably best forgotten.

[ChunkyC]

I do something similar, but with files on my computer. I keep an outline file for each novel where I put ideas for scenes and cut-&-paste to shuffle them around until they're in the proper sequence.

I also keep a bio file with enough vital statistics on each character to keep any CIA profiler happy. I use a prompt sheet Elizabeth George put in her very good book, Write Away (http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060560444/qid=1123792612/sr=1-22/ref=sr_1_2_22/702-4633412-1252826).

Then I have a file where I chronicle the general history of the world I'm writing about (I write sci/fi & fantasy). I have a timeline covering a thousand years of important events in the history of the world I'm currently writing about.

Then there's a glossary file of place and plant and animal names, another delineating the inner workings of the various political and religious organizations....

It's amazing I actually get around to writing the story itself....

[Danger Jane]

It's incredibly helpful to have a great memory, especially with writing :P

I've tried using prompt sheets, but have never really found one to suit my needs/tastes, so I just write down everything I can conjure up about them, lose the paper, do it thirty more times, &c.

[Sharon Mock]

I used note cards to generate an outline when it came time to expand my zero draft into a working draft. I found that technique very useful -- easy to shuffle scenes around and arrange them properly, and when it came time to write, I just pulled the note card for the current scene and took it to the keyboard.

I doubt I'd want such a detailed outline if I were just starting out on the rough draft, though. But if you're a more structured writer than I am, I'd recommend giving it a try.