Write a one-sentence description for each of these scenes, or beats. Now that you’ve outlined your eight key absolutely amazing scenes, noodle out the 52 other scenes that weave those Big scenes together- that lead up to and out of each of those key scenes.

Next, “fill in the blanks” (i.e., add one-sentence descriptions of the remaining 50+ scenes that will make your eight “Wow” scenes flow together beautifully.)A typical novel has about 60 scenes of 4 to 5 pages in length, on average.

Movies are planned this way – around eight or so key scenes.

Start by creating eight one-sentence descriptions of your story’s eight key scenes (or, story “beats”).These are the Wow! scenes in your novel – when something spectacular/interesting/emotionally wrenching/gripping (well, you get the idea) happens.

Here are a few additional tips for taking a storyboard approach to writing your novel: But the value add for the writer is that you now have a visual element to work with. A writer can make stick figure thumbnail sketches, as shown. 3) The police chief wants to close the beach, but is opposed by the mayor who doesn’t want the town to lose tourist dollars.įor purposes of plotting a novel, you don’t need any particular skill as an artist. The scenes include: 1) A swimmer is attacked by a shark. Three key scenes (also known as “beats”) from the beginning of the novel Jaws are storyboarded. What is storyboarding? It’s combining sketches of key action scenes with a brief description of what is going on in the action scene. Here’s one approach that can help break a creative logjam – storyboard your plot. Are you struggling with plotting your novel?

Storyboard for writers