Planning+and+Plotting

Story Planning
The following activities are designed to help you think through and plan your writing.

**Create a Story Wheel**
Story wheels are often used to create new work or to analyse an existing story. To make a story wheel for your story:
 * 1) Make a circle and put your title in the middle.
 * 2) Section the circle off into six wedges.
 * 3) Label the sections //characters//, //theme//, //action,// //motive//, //conflict//, //resolution//. Or you can make up your own labels.
 * 4) Write into the different sections all you know about each aspect of the novel.

A story wheel can help you look at the plot from all angles, analyse story components and put them into balance.

**Tip:** Be creative – a story wheel can be made for each individual character by placing the character’s name in the middle of the wheel and giving the sections such labels as //description//, //personality//, //major problems//, //conflict//, //action//, //resolution//.



** Create a Storyboard **
Filmmakers and cartoonists often make use of a storyboard to plan their work and a writer can also benefit by this technique. You don’t have to be a great artist to use this technique—stick figures will do. Some writers create elaborate storyboards and others keep to simple ones. To create a storyboard the major scenes of the novel are labeled and drawn or sketched out in frames in the order they occur so that they can be visualized, just as if you were making a comic book. Many authors use a chalkboard or something erasable for their sketches so they can change the order of the events. Many good books on storyboarding can be found in the library or purchased at Amazon or other online or local bookstores.