Mind to note to page: storyboarding your book outline
This is a permitted re-share of Stephanie Chandler’s post at the Nonfiction Authors Association.
When I wrote my second book, I had a rough outline in my head and added to the chapters I had in mind as my contributor stories and case studies came in. I know others like a more visual rather than linear process with learning, so similar to mind-mapping, storyboarding can be a useful exercise. I’m already considering using the Storyboard Method when I finally get to really writing my memoir.
Enjoy!
For the last two decades, I have used a powerful process to outline my book manuscripts, presentations, courses, and articles. The Storyboard Method was originally developed at Walt Disney Studios in the 1930s to organize images and create storylines for movies.
The process has since evolved and continues to be utilized by all kinds of writers and creatives. The Storyboard Method is an efficient way to help you get your ideas out of your head and onto paper so you can get organized and start writing your book.
Step One: Use the Storyboard Method to Outline Your Nonfiction Manuscript
To use the Storyboard Method, take a stack of 3×5 cards or sticky notes and capture all your content ideas on individual notes. Content ideas for a nonfiction manuscript may include:
- Narrative stories you plan to tell, each listed on its own notecard
- Key points you want to make (prescriptive nonfiction)
- Real-world examples
- Hypothetical examples
- Case studies
- Statistics you want to cite
- Lessons learned
- People you want to interview
- Excerpts or quotations you want to share
- Exercises for the reader to complete, if applicable
- Articles, blog posts, reports or podcast episodes you want to repurpose into book content
If you’re like me and you jot down notes and ideas in a variety of places (I have them on my phone, on scraps of paper on my desk, and in documents on my computer!), then you will need to round those up and transfer your ideas to individual cards. This process may take you several days or a week or more, depending on how you feel about the amount of content you have for your project.
Step Two: Organize Your Notecards or Sticky Notes
Once you feel you’ve captured at least 85% of your content ideas, the next step is to organize the individual notes. I do this by spreading them out on my living room floor. The goal here is to start developing your chapters by putting the notes in a logical order.
Create chapter headings on cards to develop columns, such as Chapters 1 through 10, and place those side by side. Next, begin placing each of your notes under a chapter heading, moving and organizing them as you go to create a logical flow and order for your information.
By the time you have placed all your notes, you should have a solid visual representation of your book outline.
Step Three: Modify Notes Until Complete
Once your notes are organized into chapter columns, you will likely notice that some chapters are too short and need to be bulked up, while others are too long and need to be separated into other chapters. Move the cards around and adjust as needed until your chapters look balanced. Ideally, your chapters should be roughly the same length throughout.
If you find you need to expand content for any chapters that look light, you could add more case studies, statistics, interviews, narrative stories, etc.
Step 4: Transfer Your Notes to an Outline
Once all your note cards are in order and your chapters look balanced and complete, transfer those notes into a document that will become your book outline. An outline becomes your compass for writing your manuscript, helping you navigate through the writing process. But outlines aren’t permanent. Your outline will likely evolve and change as you write your manuscript.
I like to print out my outline and keep it in front of me while I write. Then I can tick off topics as I complete them, make notes about changes or additions I want to make, and draw arrows to move content around. If I make a lot of adjustments or notes, I update the original outline and print out a fresh version.
Step 5: Start Writing Your Nonfiction Manuscript
Working from an outline can make your writing process easier because the basic structure is determined. Some writers start at Chapter 1 and work through each chapter sequentially, but this isn’t a hard requirement. If you feel compelled to work on Chapter 8 one day, Chapter 2 the next, and Chapter 10 next week, that is perfectly fine. The goal is to find your flow and be as productive as possible.
Step 6: Get Your Manuscript Across the Finish Line
Writing an entire book manuscript can sound like a Herculean task, but when you break it down into bite-sized pieces, you might be surprised by how much progress you can make.
Consider this: Three typed pages equals about 1,000 words. If you set a goal to write three pages just three times each week, you would achieve 36,000 words in twelve weeks.
If you bumped that goal up to writing three typed pages five times each week, you would achieve 60,000 words in just twelve weeks.
You can do this!
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