A stick figure sample storyboard.

Storyboards are illustrations placed in sequence to help visualize a scene or narrative. Used for 80 years or more in film and animation studios, they have a lot to offer writers. While some storyboards for movies are regarded as works of art in and of themselves, drawing ability is not necessary to use storyboards. Stick figures are characters too.

I tend to use storyboards when I am writing complex actions. It’s easy to get caught up in the words and have the actions lose their gravity. By sketching the scene, even in the most basic form, I can track movements and consequences. It grounds the action, making it more believable. The reader can follow the action without backtracking to figure out what’s happening to who, where and when.

Storyboards can help writers with pacing. A quick sketch of the basics of each scene can show slow spots. Five consecutive scenes of two talking heads smoking cigarettes in coffee shops? Might be exactly what you’re after. Or it might be worth revisiting…

Storyboarding on Post-it notes is an effective way to play with your narrative sequence. Seeing your whole story in a single glance helps you build coherence. It’s wonderfully easy to explore options as you move scenes around. Doing this with pictures, rather than written notes, gives the process immediacy. You can see more of your story with one look and you can evaluate options faster.

For writers, storyboarding is a thinking-and-doing tool, not a work of art. Don’t stress about your artistic ability.

If you are interested in learning more about using visual tools please consider attending my Graphic Facilitation Workshop Saturday April 28, 2012, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Handmade in America offices in downtown Asheville.

On 
Sunday, 
March 
25,
the 
Flatiron 
Writers 
sponsored
 a 
three‐hour 
workshop 
by
 Lynne Barrett
 on
 Plot 
followed
 by 
a 
reading
 from
 her 
latest work, 
Magpies.
 Lynne
 is
 an
 incredibly
 talented
 teacher 
and
 an 
acute reader 
of fiction, 
and
 three 
of 
our
 Flatiron members
 are
 lucky enough
 to have studied 
with her.


For her presentation, she
 took
 apart the
 structure 
of
 the 
Hansel 
and 
Gretel fairy
tale,
 mapping
 it 
out
 visually
 to
 show
 the various elements
 that
 are used, 
such
 as the
 basics
 of 
the
 plot; the 
catalyst
 that 
activates 
the plot,
 which 
must 
be 
resolved; the
 power
 various 
characters 
have 
or 
haven’t;
 the 
boundaries and
 thresholds
 of the
 story;
 the
bright
 and
 dark
 spots
 in
 the narrative;
 strategies 
used
 by
 the
 characters 
to
 achieve 
their goals; 
and
 so on.

The rendering 
of 
the
 fairy 
tale
 into its 
various 
parts was 
Awesome
 (to use 
our
 grandson’s favorite word).
 But
 what 
was 
most
 significant
 for 
me
 was
 her
 discussion
 of
 the
 power
 structure
 in
 the 
piece.
 I
 have 
been stuck
 in 
a
 short story for 
a 
month.
 It
 took
 me
 five
 tries 
to 
find
 the right 
opening 
and, 
usually, once 
I 
have 
that, 
the
 rest 
of
 the 
story
 flows.
 Not
 this 
time. 
The 
story was 
flat 
and I 
couldn’t 
figure
 out the
 problem 
until
 I saw Lynne’s 
mapping 
of 
the power structure
 of 
the
 characters.
 There
 it
 was
 in front 
of 
me.
 I
 had 
no 
power structure
 in the 
piece, therefore
 no 
one
 character
 dominated.
 There 
was 
no 
one 
to 
fight
 against and 
overcome,
 because by
 the
 end 
of 
a
 story,
 the
 power 
structure
 must reverse.
 The
 example
 in 
Hansel and
 Gretel:
 at
 the 
beginning,
 the
 stepmother
 has 
the
 power
 and 
is 
at 
the 
top, 
while 
Gretel
 is
 powerless 
at
 the 
bottom; 
at 
the 
end,
 Gretel 
has 
the 
power 
and
 is 
at
 the
 top,
and
 the
 stepmother
 is 
dead.

There 
was my
 solution. 
As
 soon
 as 
I
 sign 
off, I’m
 going back
 to
 that 
story and
 figure
 out
 the
 power
 structure 
I 
need
 to 
successfully
 complete the
 story.


UPDATE: This workshop is completely full! Thanks to everyone who signed up, we look forward to seeing you on Sunday. Everyone is still welcome to come to the reading at 6:00 p.m.

The Flatiron Writers are delighted to announce that author Lynne Barrett will teach a workshop: Plot: The Map of Your Story, and read from her new book Magpies, winner of the Florida Book Awards Gold Medal in General Fiction, on March 25th in Asheville.

WHEN: Sunday, March 25, 2012: Workshop 2-5 PM, 5-6 PM Social Hour, Signing & Mingling, 6 PM Reading.

WHERE: Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar, Asheville, NC, Grove Arcade (1 Page Ave.), Asheville, NC 28801.

COST: Workshop $30 Preregistration/$35 at Event. Reading at 6 PM is FREE and open to the public.

HOW TO PRE-REGISTER: Email Barrett@fiu.edu to be sent pre-payment information & confirmation.

ABOUT LYNNE BARRETT

Lynne Barrett’s book Magpies has just been awarded the Gold Medal for General Fiction in the Florida Book Awards. Her other story collections are The Secret Names of Women, and The Land of Go and she co-edited Birth, A Literary Companion and The James M. Cain Cookbook. Barrett has received the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe award for best mystery story and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. Her work has been published in Blue Christmas, Delta Blues, Miami Noir, One Year to a Writing Life, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Written Wardrobe, The Southern Women’s Review, and many other anthologies and magazines. She lives in Miami, where she is a professor in the M.F.A. program at Florida International University. You can learn more at www.LynneBarrett.com

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP: PLOT: THE MAP OF YOUR STORY

Writers are often daunted by plot, but understanding it can help you find the core of your story. This workshop will cover the fundamentals of plot and structure with an emphasis on revision strategies, scene, significant action, the roles of characters, complication, movement, and satisfying resolution. The concepts apply to all forms of fiction and are useful for narrative nonfiction and memoir.

PRAISE FOR MAGPIES

“Sentence for sentence, Barrett is a superb writer…But what separates her from many contemporary short fiction writers is her consummate storytelling ability.”
—The Rumpus

“As eerie as it is richly imagined.”
—Publishers Weekly

On February 11, the Flatiron Writers and Papershine co-sponsored their first workshop: Creating Your Writing Life. Despite the snowy weather, twenty brave souls joined us at the Unitarian church in Asheville for the daylong workshop. The seminar focused on helping people develop the commitments and habits necessary to realize their writing goals. It was a wonderful and productive day.

Heather Newton welcomed everyone and served as the moderator for the entire day. Margie Klein discussed the importance of your writing space and environment. A.K. Benninghofen spoke about the rituals and routines that support the writing life. Maggie Marshall then talked about the writing process and ways to approach new projects or those that have stalled. Heather filled in for Geneve, who was feeling under the weather, and led a conversation about the importance of a supportive writing community. Marc Archambault graphically recorded the entire workshop on a gigantic poster. At the end, we all gathered in small groups to identify things we’d like to change in each of these areas and committed to making these things happen. After the workshop was done, everyone enjoyed wine and cheese and hopefully connected with other writers who will be able to support their writing goals.

Special thanks to Jeremy Bacon for all his help making the day happen.

Download a printable version of the graphic notes from the workshop. (2.3 MB)

Stay tuned for our next workshop!

As the Flatiron Writers group as been getting ready for next weekend’s workshop, we’ve all been exploring our own writing lives for insights. This is a look at my writing life, in pictures. Click the image for a larger view.