by Jackie King
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The amount of time it took me to write
my second Grace Cassidy mystery, THE CORPSE WHO WALKED IN THE DOOR, was
downright embarrassing. To avoid this on my third in the series, I researched
storyboarding
and plotting. Then I told anyone who would listen that I would block out each
and every scene before I typed one word in my third Grace Cassidy mystery.
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| 2nd Grace Cassidy Mystery |
Well, I lied!
Sorry about that.
My intentions, as always, were pristine.
(And, yes. I do know the name of the road that’s lined with good intentions. My
mother explained all of that to me when I was 13.)
But in my own defense, is it my fault
that the headlights of my brain only show me a tiny stretch of the road ahead?
(You can blame God, if you like, since he created me. But first you should know
that He and I have already agreed that He’s always going to be right, no matter
how good of an argument I manage to offer.)
I began my storyboard for my 3rd
Grace Cassidy mystery in good faith. I bought a bulletin board at Walmart for
ten bucks, came home with my purchase and marked it into four sections with
masking tape. Feeling very self-righteous and completely sure of my success in
this project, I started making plot points on index cards, as I’d always done.
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| 1st Grace Cassidy Mystery |
This grew old in a hurry. My fingers
started to cramp. (I am an old girl, after all.) Then it occurred to me that I
could type much faster than I could write in longhand. So I finished my notes
on Word. Then I changed the margins so I could cut each note in an index card
size. These I pinned to the board.
The first section was filled when
suddenly the characters came to life and started talking inside my head. The
problem was, they said what they wanted to say, not what I had planned. And
since I’m sort of a wishy-washy person, I didn’t argue with them, but just
followed blindly. (For some weird reason there seems to be a sort of magic
connection between my fingers and the story. I’d be a real bust at dictating).
I’m still convinced that storyboarding
is the right way to go and might save me a year of rewrites. Therefore my
storyboard for my 3rd Grace Cassidy mystery is still in progress. However, my
method evolved. (Some writers work with files and some work with piles. I’m a
pile person.) I now pin the plot progress on my board as I go. I’m a gal who
must write as she goes. I start with a premise, knowing only who has murder in
their hearts, and why and who. The rest I learn as I write.
I wish I could be a strict plotter, but
it seems I can't. I have to write "by the seat of my pants."
Oh well, it worked for the pilots in the
1920's maybe it will work for me too.
