A friend asked me the other day where I learned to ‘storyboard’ or if I taught myself. For a second I was confused, because I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant. The term he used – storyboard – wasn’t one I’d thought of in connection to my own writing.
What he meant by that term was the simple act of planning and outlining a story. First of all, his conception of how I write is a bit more methodical than reality. I don’t sit and created an outline when I start.
Sometimes it’s a single scene that crystallizes in my mind. Other times a character or concept will engage me. I was walking on the boardwalk in Atlantic City and looked at one of the many psychic booths along the way. Two months later I had a 40K word story inspired by that simple walk.
I told my friend that the most important thing is to find the ending. I have to know what I’m writing towards. Without that goal to chase, a story flounders, the characters have no purpose and scenes don’t make sense.
That doesn’t mean I don’t outline or plan. Sometimes I’ll write first, just to get an idea of the characters or where I’m going. Then I’ll sit back and figure out where I’m going. It’s a little bit like asking for directions after the fact, but it works for me.
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