Storyboarding Approaches for the Non-Artistic
TLDR: Tips and Tricks for storyboarding a novel? For someone who can't draw well enough to do the "Draw and describe method"
Hello, having read the "Storyboard a Novel?" as well as some sources online and numerous failed attempts to write a cohesive novel (I have a great idea too long for a short story). I have decided to ask for help!
A lot of the methods I have read about require basic drawing skills - skills which I lack, I can hardly draw a stick man let alone two in the same space. Are there tools or apps or "old-school" approaches that would work for someone like myself. I know where I want my story to go, I just don't know how to get it on paper?
Also, this is my first question on this page. Please feel free to let me know a) if this is off topic or b) you require more information or details to help me out.
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If what you really want is a visual reference:
Use a web-based image-gathering tool like Pinterest to collect images of all the things you want to include in a scene. Interior stock photos and landscapes will probably be great for getting settings down, and you can collect images of props, period costumes, hairstyles, food, or whatever else you want to include. Just going this far is good advice for anyone trying to make a scene more vivid, even if you don't storyboard it-- make yourself a shorthand list of elements to be included in a given scene, and just refer back to those images to prompt descriptions. (Don't limit yourself to objects you've found in the top Google search results, however!)
If you want to make storyboard panels, treat your scenes like paper dolls. Instead of drawing them, you can make Photoshop/free software mockups of your panels just by cutting and pasting details. It may be crude, but you won't have to draw a single thing.
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First thing I just have to address "I have a great idea too long for a short story" you do realise there are lengths that fall between a typical short story and a full blown novel right? I'm a fan of the novella myself.
Do a written storyboard, storyboards are, in my experience, for getting ideas in the right order and keeping them there. Rather than try to draw your ideas, it sounds like you'd have no better luck with that that I do, write down the key scenes on different sheets of paper/card put down the main aspects of those scenes, the who, where, what and how of each scene. Then you can stack them up, see at a glance where you need to do more work and what writes itself and play with the order until you're satisfied then bind them into that order ready to work from.
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What you're looking for is a non-traditional outline.
Now a regular outline is very linear and has headings and subheadings and may either:
- Bring on terrifying flashbacks of high school English.
- Just be too linear for what you need in this particular moment.
But an outline doesn't have to be so formal. A storyboard is a type of outline. So what may work for you is the storyboard format but with text, not pictures.
My spouse writes actual comic books (he's not an artist by any stretch of the imagination) so he's laying things out into panels so the artist knows what to draw where. But he also has to keep track of multiple storylines.
He's a huge fan of index cards. This way he can take the elements of each story thread and move them around as needed.
Index cards don't work for me (I tried). But I do have a wall covered with character information (keeping track of my characters is much harder than my plot, not because it's harder in general but because I have so many characters).
If you're trying to map out plot, index cards or full/half sheets of paper might be worthwhile. There are plenty of computer versions of this but sometimes you have to manipulate things physically to get it all to work. So I'd recommend using paper to start, then transferring it on to a computer if you prefer.
Don't draw a thing (if you feel an urge to, then do it anyway). Just use character names, locations, and the main plot beats.
Do this on the dining room table, floor, wall, or wherever works for you. A roll of painter's tape is a must-buy here, especially for the wall, but even elsewhere.
- Write or print out the big stuff. ("Marta and Lester have first kiss" or "Earthquake!" or "Sally starts kindergarten," etc.)
- Lay it out in a line or grid or even some other configuration if things are happening simultaneously.
- Move things around to get the order right.
- Add blank pieces of paper where there are gaps.
- Fill in gaps with handwritten cards, or printed as things get established.
- Go through the events and add characters. Who is where when?
- Go through character actions and add locations and events. Where are they and what is also happening?
Once you have at least a good first draft layout, photograph it (do not neglect this part! Even if you live alone with no pets and never open the windows). Repeat periodically.
You don't have to have it perfect to start writing. If you have the first third of the story mapped out to your satisfaction, put out some chapters. You may find the plot shifts as you begin to write anyway. And that's okay.
If there's a particular chapter calling to you, write it. The first chapter I wrote for my novel is about 3/5th of the way into the book. Because it wouldn't leave me alone! I've written two more out of order.
Your outline is your tool, not your master. Make it easy to change but also easy to follow.
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