To start, here is tool number 1 and where I got the idea:
The book is "Your First Novel" by Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb (order here: http://tinyurl.com/36lw984). The tool I use are index cards. I jot down a story element on an index card, like "Blake finds a body." Then jot down another story element on another card, "Blake's vineyard is robbed." If you look at the top card, I even fill in a few details about the element -- in this case it's a list of who his debtors are.
Once I do a few cards (don't get too hung up on whether your story is complete or not), I shuffle them around:
By doing this, I decided to start the story with Blake finding a body, because that's way more exciting than just being in debt (yawn). Laying out these index cards is a great tool, it demonstrates holes in your story you didn't know you had, and it lets you move parts of the story around.
When I see a hole in my story, I write another index card. Usually the hole is pretty apparent, so what goes on the card is obvious. "Blake's vineyard is robbed" might be the missing link between Blake finding a body, and Blake's creditors being hot after him.
From there it's pretty easy to write your story and keep your momentum going. Just number and stack your cards, then write about each one, adding details and whatnot.
I like using index cards for outlining a story better than traditional outlining (even in a program like MS Word where you can cut/paste) because you have the entire story right there in front of you (no scrolling). It's a lot like doing a jigsaw puzzle, so that makes it fun too.
There you have it -- a great book about novel writing, and a Tool I Use for novel-writing: index cards.
What are your tools?
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