For me I’ve always had the conflict of writing every day to maintain discipline and planning out the story which makes it easier to write but puts a drain on writing that same day. Given this conflict I chose to focus on writing every day and chunking out the story like a slab of marble but through various attempts I’ve found some trends when it comes to writing without a solid storyboard.
My experience with incomplete or unsure storyboards is that when you start with an idea and commit to writing everyday, you run the risk of losing your story’s direction and if you keep forcing it you can lose your stories sense of self because you haven’t stopped to think about what it is that you wanted to write. Maybe you had that one scene from a book or an imagine you had ingrained in your mind that inspired you but you haven’t stopped to really think what emotion or thought that scene conveyed or what your thoughts on that scene are. Maybe you didn’t ponder how your view of it shifts as you plan out the storyboard but to find answers you have to stop and think. If you want to solidify what you want to write into a tangible scene a storyboard is your best bet to do it with as little stress and anxiety as possible. So for the sake of grasping the essence of what you want to write I’d highly suggest that young writers( myself included) take the time to create a storyboard and work toward answers to the things your unsure of and the things you just now realize. If you don’t know were the character came from try to at least get an idea of it. Is their relationship between two characters that’s vague? Don’t brush it away, take your time to think of the why’s and you’ll find that once you know them their that much easier to write and understand. I find it a bit sad that it took me two plus years of writing (Despite the first serious project I did being done from a storyboard) to realize that the key to efficient writing is a storyboard. Despite spending two years trying (and failing) to write daily I still see worth in maintaining a disciplined writing schedule, especially if it involves the thoughtful use of writing prompts.
Now for starters I hate writing prompts (kinda). What’s in the closet, to me is overdone but worst of all encourages an action into action writing style I.e there is no character to it. Of course there are bound to be good prompts that illicit more than a skin deep writing but I in my newly-wed situation with prompts prefer to create my own.
Here’s three I used while writing a scene that was meant to reflect a sibling watching over another sibling but being slightly irritated by it.
Joined at the hip, Slightly younger sister, Aliens.
These prompts served as a visual reminder and an inspiration for what I wanted to do with the scene. They gave me a sense of direction and an emotion I wanted to tap into, that is, watching over but irritated.
I had some prompts that I wanted to write, aliens, joined at the hip. And one that helped me narrow down on the characters relationship, slightly younger sister. I think there’s more worth in writing prompts if you’re thinking out what you write and are discovering or remembering emotions or situations that are very human and then practice and experiment with how you can convey these feelings in the written word. My idea being that yo’re not just writing what’s behind the door but actively trying to figure out the human character.
Now of course not all writers are strictly into the human character but I think the principle can still apply, narrow down what you want to write and search for how to convey it. This should work with human emotions, sword fights, or the terror of the unknown. I’m by no means a master of writing but I hope my mistakes and blundering in writing can be of some help. Ransom.
Mad Man's House 