https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/writing/i-have-an-idea/w/outlining-your-story/2096/structuring-your-story---articleen-USTelligent Community 10https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/writing/i-have-an-idea/w/outlining-your-story/2096/structuring-your-story---articleSun, 19 Feb 2017 13:40:51 GMT809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:4dac2425-d2e4-47d8-8822-bde1eeecfaaeBob Martinhttps://www.authorlearningcenter.com/writing/i-have-an-idea/w/outlining-your-story/2096/structuring-your-story---article#commentsCurrent Revision posted to Outlining Your Story by Bob Martin on 2/19/2017 1:40:51 PM<br /> <p>At some point, you have to think about how to handle your story&rsquo;s structure. The way I did that was to use an index card software program that allowed me to create index cards for important events and move them around on a timeline. I was already using index cards for my characters, but doing it on a computer screen made it much more efficient. The specific program isn&rsquo;t important&mdash;I think the one I used was called Story Lines&mdash;but it is important to have some way of keeping track of how events in your story come together. I had seven story lines in my book, so I had seven timelines on which to put my index cards.</p> <p>Of course, I also had to find a way to connect them up somehow. So I spent time thinking about what could happen and how I could create a world where a police captain comes into contact with a lawyer who comes into contact with a gangster and so on.</p> <p>My personal way of figuring these things out is to lie on my bed and look at the ceiling and think until a solution comes to me all of a sudden. Figuring out how to connect different story lines was actually what finally got me to sit down and start writing. I had the idea for the story in my head, but I needed a way to bring together some very different characters&mdash;some were Christian, some were Muslim, some were Jewish, and they were from different social classes. I was stuck and hadn&rsquo;t even put pen to paper. Then I turned right on 125th Street in New York and came to a multicultural neighborhood on the East River where there were low-income projects right next to million-dollar condominiums. I said, &ldquo;This is my setting,&rdquo; and I went home and wrote my first word that night.</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> <div style="font-size: 90%;">Tags: article, fiction, Nonfiction</div> https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/writing/i-have-an-idea/w/outlining-your-story/2096/structuring-your-story---article/revision/1Wed, 14 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:4dac2425-d2e4-47d8-8822-bde1eeecfaaeBob Martinhttps://www.authorlearningcenter.com/writing/i-have-an-idea/w/outlining-your-story/2096/structuring-your-story---article#commentsRevision 1 posted to Outlining Your Story by Bob Martin on 12/14/2016 12:00:00 AM<br /> <p>At some point, you have to think about how to handle your story’s structure. The way I did that was to use an index card software program that allowed me to create index cards for important events and move them around on a timeline. I was already using index cards for my characters, but doing it on a computer screen made it much more efficient. The specific program isn’t important—I think the one I used was called Story Lines—but it is important to have some way of keeping track of how events in your story come together. I had seven story lines in my book, so I had seven timelines on which to put my index cards. </p> <p>Of course, I also had to find a way to connect them up somehow. So I spent time thinking about what could happen and how I could create a world where a police captain comes into contact with a lawyer who comes into contact with a gangster and so on.</p> <p>My personal way of figuring these things out is to lie on my bed and look at the ceiling and think until a solution comes to me all of a sudden. Figuring out how to connect different story lines was actually what finally got me to sit down and start writing. I had the idea for the story in my head, but I needed a way to bring together some very different characters—some were Christian, some were Muslim, some were Jewish, and they were from different social classes. I was stuck and hadn’t even put pen to paper. Then I turned right on 125th Street in New York and came to a multicultural neighborhood on the East River where there were low-income projects right next to million-dollar condominiums. I said, “This is my setting,” and I went home and wrote my first word that night.</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> <div style="font-size: 90%;">Tags: article, fiction, Nonfiction</div>