3x5 Card Plotting - Questions and Inspiration!

Over the 20 years of writing I've done, I've tried a lot of different methods for writing a book and trying to organize the brainwork it takes before I actually sit down to DRAFT from start to finish.

Things like:

Chapter by Chapter Outlining.
Spiral notebooks. Computer Word Files. Pads of paper. Loose-leaf notebooks
Templates
Lengthy Character Sketches
Seat-of-the-pants drafting 
First Draft in 30 Days Method by Karen Weisner 

This last method, the "First Draft in 30 Days" was actually fun to do. The author includes all the charts and templates and specific instructions on how it works at the back of the book - and it *does* work. But, alas, I only used it once, on my ancient Egypt novel. The Egyptian thriller had so many plot points and characters and it was 100,000 words so it helped to organize the story for me. But I got bogged down at times in so much detail and so many templates to flip through. BUT for those of you who are first starting to write or need some fun structure, or you're getting bogged down trying to organize your thoughts and plan out a whole book for the first time this IS a really great method to try so check out the book!

 I find the 3x5 card method easiest for me. And I do want to emphasize that it's NOT a detailed outline. The time I used to spend on detailed outlines was time, I realized, that I could have been actually drafting the real thing. Most of my 3x5 cards only have 1-2 sentences on them. Sometimes just phrases to remind me of my ideas. Or a short, brief list of ideas or character traits. It's really a brainstorming method. Ideas can come out of order and then be put in order in your stack after you've got 20-50 cards and lay them out to organize them.

It also makes the actual drafting from Page 1 - Page 200+ nowhere near as daunting because you're not having to thumb through pages and pages of notes in several locations, either hard copy or in Word documents and files and notebooks. The jumping around can become very confusing and jumbly in my mind.

And once you've finished your 3x5 card brainstorming, the whole book is sitting in only ONE small stack of cards. And you can always add more or take away. All you have to do is focus on the top card each day when you sit down to draft. Or more cards if the writing is going well and you want to write more. I find that this method takes away the fear of the first draft in spades.

A week ago I got an email from Joan Stradling that made my day. Here's what she said after trying the 3x5 card method for the first time:

"I got an idea for a new MG and have been using your 3x5 index card plotting method. You've explained it before, but when I watched your vlog at WriteOnCon, it finally clicked! Sometimes I'm a slow learner, I guess.

"Anyway, I've been madly writing on the 3x5 cards since yesterday (the ideas have just been flowing as I write them out on the cards)! Usually I start by writing ideas down in a notebook as they come to me, but this time I went directly for the index cards. I have to tell you, I'm really loving it!! I can already see how this will benefit me as I go to write the book. In my notebook method, I get lost and have to flip through pages to find what I'm looking for, and if an idea isn't something I want, I have to scribble it out or rewrite the whole notebook page without it (cause I hate seeing the scribble on the page).

"But with the index cards, if I don't like an idea I've written down, I just take it out of the pile! YAY!! And I can rearrange my index cards to the order I want them so I don't have to flip through pages of a notebook. You're a genius!!!

"So, I just wanted to let you know that I'm a new 3x5 index card convert!" 

Here's what I wrote back to Joan:

"I'm so excited that you're cookin' MAGIC with those 3x5 cards. There's something about the tangible cards and the chance to shuffle and just write bunches of notes to yourself. It really IS a type of personal brainstorming. I often brainstorm with my long-time crit friend, Carolee Dean when I'm first thinking about a new book idea just to make sure it doesn't stink or won't work, but when it comes down to scene by scene planning and getting the arc of the plot in place the brainstorming happens with my cards. Even more than when I write the synopsis for my editor. The nuts and bolts are in the 2-3 page synopsis, but the play-by-play action (even in just a sentence or two) happens when I sit there and just start writing stuff down from my computer file. It's amazing the new ideas or plot twists that will start racing through my mind and sometimes I can't write fast enough." 

Joan's follow-up:

"I can't believe how much easier it is to plot and plan with the flexibility of the cards. I plotted the whole thing in the last few days. I'm all ready to start writing now, and I can't believe it! I haven't even touched the notebook. I guess I'll use that for the synopsis and query planning when I'm ready for that step."

So, dear friends, I hope this post helps a bit more!

Happy Friday!

~Kimberley

P.S. Questions? Please ask away! Maybe I'll even get brave and show you some of my actual, scribbled cards in a blog - let me know if you want to take a peek! 

More 3x5 Card Plotting is Here!!!

For all of my new followers (or "older" ones, too!) here is my original post on 3x5 Card Plotting from about a year ago: http://kimberleygriffithslittle.blogspot.com/2011/03/3x5-card-plotting-method.html

And here is the video about it from WriteOnCon from three weeks ago:

I promised more tips and details so here we go!

As you'll see,this is definitely part of The Hero's Journey Method of getting ideas for your novel, defining your characters, the ARC of the story, as well as high and low points. Once you get your 3x5 card plotting done, you'll see all/most of these elements in your cards/scenes.

Going over this checklist can be a great way to make sure you don't have holes - or to identify where you might have holes in your cards. They do NOT have to all be *carded* and filled in and identified when you start drafting because ideas will continue to come to you as you begin writing and the characters take off and come to life. 

**In fact, just yesterday as I was gathering my cards to start drafting my new book, an epiphany came to me as to how I could make a plot element become extra motivation to solve the mystery/problem for my main character as well as make it part of her inner, emotional element. I'd been wondering if I even needed that particular plot & character element for my MC's mother (she's 6 months pregnant), but now it's going to work even better in the story's mystery and plot as well as a much needed element for that elusive emotional residue. It's not just a peripheral, "I'll throw this in just because it might be kinda cool, or I need to flesh out the Mother character". Now that element is NEEDED to make the story work on so many more levels. Cool, eh? I was pretty excited. And all because I'd had my cards spread out on the rug and was picking them up in order. Our subconsciousness (The Muse) keeps on working and figuring things out.

- Opening image

- Meet the hero or heroine
- Hero/ine’s inner and outer desire.

- Hero/ine's past wounds, problems
- Hero/ine’s arc
-
- Inciting Incident/Call to Adventure
- Meet the antagonist (and/or introduce a mystery, which is what you do when you’re going to keep your antagonist hidden to reveal at the end)

- State the theme/what’s the story about?

- Allies

- Mentor
 (possibly. May not have one or may be revealed later in the story).
- Love interest 
 (may or may not work for MG books, of course!)
- Plant/Reveal (or: Set ups and Payoffs)

- Hope/Fear (and Stakes)

- Time Clock (possibly. May not have one or may be revealed later in the story)

- Central Story Question
 or Problem 

- Crossing the Threshold/ Into the Special World
- Threshold Guardian (maybe)
- Hero/ine’s Plan
- Antagonist’s Plan
- Training Sequence
- Series of Tests
- Picking up new Allies
- Assembling the Team
- Attacks by the Antagonist (whether or not the Hero/ine recognizes these as being from the antagonist)
- In a detective story, questioning witnesses, lining up and eliminating suspects, following clues.

THE MIDPOINT –

- Completely changes the game
- Locks the hero/ine into a situation or action
- Can be a huge revelation
- Can be a huge defeat
- Can be a “now it’s personal” loss

- Recalibrating – after the shock or defeat of the game-changer in the Midpoint, the hero/ine must Revamp The Plan and try a New Mode of Attack.
- Escalating Actions/ Obsessive Drive
- Hard Choices and Crossing The Line (immoral actions by the main character to get what s/he wants)
- Loss of Key Allies (possibly because of the hero/ine’s obsessive actions, possibly through death or injury by the antagonist).
- A Ticking Clock (can happen anywhere in the story)
- Reversals and Revelations/Twists
- The Long Dark Night of the Soul and/or Visit to Death (aka All Is Lost)
- Often can be a final revelation before the end game: the knowledge of who the opponent really is. 

**Now we're coming up on the Final 25-30% of the book:

-Answers the Central Question
-Final Battle and Resolution. It can often be one continuous sequence – the chase and confrontation, or confrontation and chase. There may be a final preparation for battle, or it might be done on the fly.
-The hero will make a new, FINAL PLAN, based on the new information and revelations.
-Final showdown between protagonist and antagonist. It is often divided into two sequences:

1- Getting there (Storming the castle)
2- The final battle itself

- Thematic Location - often a visual and literal representation of the Hero/ine’s Greatest Nightmare
- The protagonist’s character change
- The antagonist’s character change (if any)
- Possibly allies’ character changes and/or gaining of desire

- There could also be one last huge reveal or twist, or series of reveals and twists, or series of final payoffs you've been saving (as in BACK TO THE FUTURE or IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE).

**I've got one of these twists in my book CIRCLE OF SECRETS and my upcoming  WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES CAME. I've got one planned in this new book, too, which will be a final scene or an Epilogue.

- RESOLUTION: A glimpse into the New Way of Life that the heroine will be living after this whole ordeal and all she’s learned from it.


Hope this outline helps in your own plotting or 3x5 card scribbling, throw them on the floor, and pick them up again adventure!

Final Installment (at least for now) on 3x5 Card Plotting tomorrow!

Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? Fire away!!!

Wrestling with Life and My Plotting Cards

I had my darling son (and all-around fabulous critiquer and brainstormer and savvy reader) home from college all week and therefore I did not blog as promised about all my further tips with 3x5 card plotting.

I promise I am going to. I promise, cross my heart!

I did get to see and hear the lovely and terrific Shannon Hale speak at Alamosa Books though! And took son and hubby along after we went to the movies and saw the exciting The Bourne Legacy and had dinner. I dragged them! And then they laughed and had a wonderful time and we all bought lots of books!

It was a great crowd (forgot my camera - dang it!) and fun times joking around with Shannon as she signed Jared's copy of Princess Academy and the topic of boys reading "girl" books came up. She challenged Jared to read her books - which is not much of a hardship since he will read just about anything. She's blogged about this very topic right here - AND scroll down to see all of her very cute pictures of boys and men reading Princess Academy! Fun stuff: http://oinks.squeetus.com/

So my son is now gone and I'm missing him and wrestling with my own 3x5 card plotting for the book I sold a few weeks ago to Scholastic on proposal. My synopsis and cards and brainstorming was done way back in June so I'm trying to figure out what I have and where all the holes are now that I have a few weeks to draft this book (Scholastic wants the book in October! I kid you not so I'm actually scrambling). This was yesterday:

I spread them on my beautiful rug (after I vacuumed it!) and tried to put them in order (because they'd dropped way back when I last worked on them in June and I just stuffed them into a drawer) and yes, I have holes in my plot. I also think that some event sequences may likely change after I get a few chapters into the drafting. I also need a few more specific scenes during a certain time of the plot (and yes, I'm being very mysterious about what that is . . . )

The cards at the top of my picture are notes on my Main Character. I've known in the back of my mind these past many weeks as I've been working on the Very Hard Revision That Blew My Brains Out On My Sexy Young Adult Novel for Harpercollins - that I didn't know my MC very well yet. I  didn't know enough about her quirks, her habits, her hobbies, her deep desires, and that I needed to work on that before I could continue drafting. (I only have one chapter written that needs some fleshing out).

So I spent a little bit of time with my daughter and we talked on the way home from church last Sunday and miraculously, in just a few minutes, I was already bursting with ideas. So I wrote those ideas down on several cards and placed them up at the top of my sequence since they're not plot points or scenes.

Of course, the new character cards went missing on Monday when I went to retrieve them! They just walked off my desk in my bedroom, the nerve of them!

Then I discovered them in the kitchen with purple scribble all over from the Very Cute Toddlers who live with me. At least they're still readable.

There are some clues to a mystery in my book that I still need to nail down more specifically. I need to know what the clues say and when they will occur in the story timeline, but I may need to just start drafting a little bit blindly and see what inspires me when the characters start acting more on their own and I get to know them better.

Sometimes writing is taking one step into the darkness until the candlelight follows and lights the way more clearly . . . but the answers usually come somehow, some way.

So stay tuned for more Juicy and Very Helpful details about 3x5 Card Plotting after the holiday weekend!

~Kimberley

P.S. If you haven't already please find me on Facebook and Twitter!

P.P.S. Anybody going anywhere fun for the holiday weekend? I'd love to run away but I need to draft three chapters . . . some chocolate chip cookies may very well Be In My Future in Order To Sustain Drafting Mode . . . 

Revisions FINISHED and other GOOD stuff!

The last 10 days has been, let's say, interesting? Mind-numbing? Frantic? Exhausting? Mind-stretching? 

I've been working 12 hour days. Right smack in the middle of it all, my computer started crackling and zapping and popping and then went black.

Fried the mother board - while doing revisions for my Harpercollins editor on my sexy YA novel (Fall 2013 lead title - I'm slightly excited, but you probably can't tell!! Nope, I'm cool, calm and collected).

Took a day to get up and running again with another old laptop sitting under my bed, but yes I . . .Finally finished the kick-me-to-the-gutter revisions yesterday and TURNED THEM IN. Yes, I hit SEND on the email to my editor, then sweated a little, then ate 3 donuts (yes, indeedy!) and went to lunch with Caroline Starr Rose and Carolyn Kuehn. 

Last Wednesday I was a guest speaker at WRITE ON CON the biggest, most incredibly awesome free online writer's conference ever. I was really thrilled to be a part of it, but afraid that I looked dorky or nervous in front of the camera. AND I realized later there was so much more to say about 3x5 card plotting. Here is the video to begin your tutorial!

I will be here again - soon I promise! - to talk more about Plotting Your Novel Using 3x5 Cards. Some GOOD stuff so check back in a couple of days while I pull it all together right here on my blog.

Meanwhile I'm going to eat some bon bons and read a book (I have 40 in my stacks that have been waiting patiently for me - me not so patient!)

BUT DON'T LEAVE YET! Here are some links to articles that I really enjoyed the past week:

This Product Prevents Literary Wedgies. Good for Multiple Uses. At "Writer Unboxed" blog. A blog you really should be reading daily!

Social Media Suicide at "Writer Unboxed"

If I can't go in Reverse, I'll go in Verse by Caroline Rose Starr

Magical Realism: Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary! With a book giveaway that doesn't end until September 5th so get over there, what are you waiting for!

"Does Publishing Kill our Love of Writing?" by Kiersten White

Enjoy!

~Kimberley

3x5 Card Plotting Method

I've been racking my brain trying to remember where or when I first heard about the 3x5 card plotting method - and I just can't! Probably some conference somewhere - or maybe a book about writing - I've gone to so many conferences and read dozens of books about writing over the last two decades that I am blank, but I've been doing this handy little technique for years though.

The very first book I tried it out on was The Last Snake Runner, Knopf 2002, written during the years of 1999-2000. I also used it with The Healing Spell, Murder in the House of Embalming (An ancient Egyptian thriller, unsold yet), and now my current WIP, Memoirs of a Girl.

But I've got lots of manuscripts that I haven't done the 3x5 card plotting with. For instance, my new YA Victorian Paranormal, Essence. I have about 12 cards done for it, but I haven't finished by card plotting for it yet, even though I've got 100 pages drafted. For the last 6 months I've been doing character sketches and plotting and note taking and synopsis writing for Essence in Microsoft One Note Program. I think it's similar to Scrivener for Macs. One Note is like an online 3-ring binder with Tabs and sections all in one place. I don't have to keep switching between Word documents because it's all in one place. You can also add links and images and audio recordings right into your One Note Notebook. Which is great for keeping your research together. I love One Note!

I did not do the 3x5 card plotting  for Circle of Secrets which comes out in October from Scholastic. Circle of Secrets is the manuscript I wrote on the Armageddon Book Deadline. When my editor asked if I could write a new book in six weeks, I brainstormed with a friend to flesh out my ideas and just plunged into the first draft - which I wrote in two and a half weeks. Then I spent about 4 weeks revising and adding another 18,000 words before I sent it to my editor. Whew!

Okay. When I first start getting whiffs of an idea, random thoughts, setting, characters, plot, I start throwing those random ideas into a notebook (a small one for my purse while I'm out and about and away from home) and then I transfer those ideas into a Word document or a new One Note File. I often spend a few weeks to a few months just throwing, throwing, throwing ideas, bits of character and plot and dialogue into files.

The story starts to take shape in my mind. The characters start becoming more defined. I know my setting usually very well because I'm a setting spring-boarder kind of writer - or I've been reading lots of books for research - and I get to the point that my brain is spilling out my ears. I have jumbled notes, jumbled thoughts inside my head and different plot ideas - or ideas for SCENES that are all mixed-up in my brain.

I need to start organizing those scenes and plot points. Here's where the 3x5 card Plotting Method comes in very handy!

I sit down one day and just start writing down those ideas as fast as I can on cards. ONE IDEA or ONE SCENE per card. No more! After I begin (checking my notebook or other documents to make sure I haven't forgotten anything) the plotting often start coming together more and more and I keep filling cards and more cards.

Usually the plot is out of order. Just a big jumble!

 

When I get somewhere between 30-50 cards I start laying them all out on a table. They are STILL out of order. But now I can *see* them all in front of me. The whole book is there! I just have to organize it.

I hover over my cards, contemplating and looking for the best place to start the story. Which card will make a great opening? Sometimes I already have this figured out, sometimes not. Sometimes I already have The First Line. I usually really like to have The First Line figured out before I start the actual drafting of Chapter One.

Then I start picking up the cards, one by one, in the order that makes sense and would be the most dramatic, building the plot, throwing in more conflict. Sometimes I'll have to grab my pen and add a few more cards. Then I look for the climax cards and put those in order. And last of all, is the denouement, or the scenes and emotional conclusion for the character. And often these cards are added to after I get through. 

 

 So then I end up with a stack of cards - voila!!!

All in order. 

 

My whole book is sitting right in front of me. Point by point. Scene by Scene. 

It's a great feeling. (The picture is cards for 4 books, published and un-published).

Now I just gotta write the book. 

And here is where the cards come in SO handy.

It's nervous time! 

I gotta start atually WRITING THIS BOOK! 

Oh, no! First drafts are so scary! What if I get stuck? What if I don't know where I'm going? 

Well, BOO! 

Your first draft is going to be a piece of cake. Relatively speaking. I mean, you gotta get your derriere into the chair very day and DO THE WORK. You gotta actually type in the words. But getting stuck rarely happens with your 3x5 cards sitting handily right beside you. Yes, those cards are going to be your best friend over the next few weeks or months while you draft. 

Because your book is now in order. It's sitting right beside you. 

You look at the first card - and only the first card. And you write that scene. 

Then you put the card at the bottom of the stack and write the scene or idea that's on the second card. 

After it's written, put it on the bottom of the stack and write what's on the third card. And so on and so on.

You always know what's coming next. Even if it's just a single line. Sometimes that's all I've written on a particular card. Sometimes I write a whole paragraph. Sometimes disjointed notes. They're YOUR cards. Write whatever works for you.

If you get stuck, just flip through your cards. Sometimes, after you've written a big chunk of your book you may realize that you have to re-order a few cards. You may end up adding a few cards because your characters that are now alive and breathing on the page and doing unexpected things. That's wonderful! Terrific! Because you have your basic book there. It takes away the scariness of that First Draft.

You never have to worry about sitting down and coming up with "what's next?" Or get stuck. Discouraged. Brain empty of ideas. Because you already have your book on those wonderful little 3x5 cards.

Try playing around with card plotting and let me know how it goes. Or if you've done this before, let me know! Or if you have some variations, I'd love to hear them 

Today, I'm putting my 3x5 cards for my new WIP back in order. Yes, the two toddlers in my household got hold of them and scattered them all over the house. And I hadn't numbered them yet. Bad me. For some reason toddlers love playing with the cards and lining them up down the hallway . . . off to play Pick Up The Cards!

Happy Weekend! 

Kimberley