Your Book Starts Here - Storyboarding for Writers

[@Trudloops]

There are so many needlessly negative comments. Get a crip people. She recorded the video years ago, when camera quality and sound were embryonic. The fact that she made a KZbin video was probably pioneering at the time. Kudos to Ms. Moore. This is excellent information for new writers. We can overlook the audio issues.

[@DonnaEliza77]

I am undertaking a diploma in novel writing and I am also working on my debut novel. I have read many books all offering different ways of outlining a novel and all of them have been very difficult to adapt to the physical process. Your storyboarding process has enlightened me and has perfectly pushed everything I have learnt into one final, excellend concept - which I will definitely be using. Thanks for teaching us Mary!

[@alanadonherr8642]

I just wanted to take a moment and thank you for posting this. I am just beginning my journey as a writer and I have always preferred to be a "fly by the seat of my pants" writer but I found it made staying on target with my novels difficult. I was looking for something that was simple to work with and didn't require a lot of effort to get the story laid out (I abhor outlining) and this seems like a wonderful technique. I will definitely give it a try.

[@hanimanawaz2829]

I don't know how to thank you. Within these 12 mins I was actually able to divide my whole book into the 3 acts... You are amazing and your students are lucky to have such an awesome teacher... Thank u...

[@admiral_m_10k35]

This video contained unbelievably helpful information for me. The "W Storyboard Structure" is an extensive, yet simple enough, way of showing me the structure to a story. Thank you~!

[@katherineflannerydering2902]

The middle section (act 2) of my book was dragging, and I went back and rewatched this video. I followed Mary's instructions, and I made up little post its for each scene or narrative section of that second act, and I looked for ways to order them to give rising and falling action, from point 2 to 3 and down to 4. I think it really helped, and my book reads much better now. As I go into final revisions, working on language and little tweaks, I am happier with how it reads. Thanks, Mary

[@junglejimboston]

This is exactly what I needed! Thank you for putting this out their for us new writers!

[@Wovey98]

I'm 14 and I'm writing a book too! This has really helped!

[@evisionaryloveslife]

I have been writing for awhile, taken courses, read LOTS of books, but this is the best explaination I have ever witnessed and put so many things in perspective for me. *Getting to work now!* thanks so much!

[@MasonWestWriting]

How useful. Your storyboarding technique takes my spotty archipelago of plotting ideas and solidifies them into a continent. Thanks.

[@kyliemarie1300]

Although the quality of this video was somewhat poor, this is the best information I have learned during my outlining phase! Thank you SO very much Mary!

[@elbazart]

This is the most helpful video regarding novel structuring I could find on KZbin. I was already familiar with this structure, but I have never seen it presented in such a coherent way. Thank you!

[@delt999]

im a freshman and my teacher assigned this video for homework. i was surprised at how helpful it was!

[@ContentScientist]

Mary Carroll Moore, you have dropped a gem in this video and hopefully, one day, you'll hire a developer and work on doing this as a writing app. Its visual appeal will cater to the younger generation and bring you back into the forefront of Story Development.

[@KindleAuthority]

This can be a fun process when shared but also be a frustrating process when significant gaps are discovered in the plot. It is a technique that improves with practice. I found that perseverance is the key to success with storyboarding.

[@ceafva]

I agree exactly what I needed right now. Bought 2 story boards. Should have watched until the end and bought 3. For the future for sure if the first two work. Thank you for doing this video!

[@SpikeLawliet]

You did a great job teaching a topic that tends to be too convoluted

[@daylight555]

This is great. I have never used a storyboard before. What I do to stretch myself is We Writes. It's where I collaborate with other writers, other styles, etc. on a single short story project. This helps me paint pictures in my mind of different ways to express my main plot line through the chronology of a book I am writing. I think I am going to try a storyboard on my next novel.

[@imaginationsink]

Thank you Mary for taking the time to do this for all of us. Very informative.

[@Avatarlatte]

WOW this is incredibly helpful. I used to write a book series back when I was in elementary school to a little bit into middle school. It was definatly a lot of fun, however I was just like what you said towards the end: My islands never formed into continents they were so far apart in fact, that I gave up on my story and never took it back up again. Now that I know a good way to set it up and It works even for far minded people like me, I'll make a new one and hope for the best! Thanks a lot!

[@winkingowl1913]

Thank you so much for the video!!!! I now have a plan to follow to get my ebook written.

[@jonstein6868]

thanks Mary, have just watched the video twice (and made notes), and am going to play with the storyboard idea for my own novel-on-progress!

[@EV-oc6pd]

You are great....thanks, i had some blocks in my book , they are now easy to explain..........i LOVE you.

[@migdaliatorres1172]

Thanks for the advice. I just went thru my Outline and now it makes sense.

[@shingaimu8471]

Thank you so much. I have an incredible story to tell, and all my life I have been very creative at telling stories and writing assignments, but never have the structure to map out. Now you have made it like just filling out a frame, which i can certainly do and it changes one huge daunting cloudy challenge to specific tasks. When I make the Book Of The Month, I will certainly credit you.

[@olisa633]

Thanks MCM. I am not very disciplined abut my writing. I usually write what comes to my head first, in absolutely no order. Out there somewhere, I know how the entire story will come together. However, I also found out that it takes a longer time to finish my work - sometimes just collating the chapters takes weeks. And forces reviews and edits. Your storyboard sounds very useful. Now, I have to find a way to convince my head that this is the better way to go. Old habits...

[@blueberry4346]

What a very informative presentation. Thank you very much. This was very helpful.

[@atary5044]

Extremely helpful tool . This makes everything more clear.

[@shantimindproductions5585]

So helpful, thank you! Concise & clear explanation.

[@cindylynnsawyer7243]

Anxious to try this. I am all over the place when I write. Thank you!

[@ericevans9981]

This video was very helpful in giving me a framework to use as I begin plotting my writing. I believe this simple structure will prove to be invaluable to me as I write! Thanks very much for sharing.

[@VTLille]

Thank you! I can finally start writing that novel that I've been putting off....

[@GuamHurao]

Thank you. Just finished using your W storyboard for my story.

[@Moraveck10]

Thank you for taking the time to share your insights. Very good information.

[@paulsmith1450]

Can't thank you enugh for this video, I've been using it for years!!!!!

[@stephanie-dy3wp]

omgggg!! ur soo smart!! this has helped me soooo much!! i started the idea for my fiction novels years ago...started it 1 year ago and have just wrote little snipets of it and wasnt sure where to go...this has helps me soo much! and it even helped unblock how to make things connect. thank u!

[@shridhar468]

Simple.Direct.Beautiful. Too good mary..Thank you..

[@cbrentner70]

I think this is a very useful and informative guide to properly structure a storyline. It reminds the potential author that events have to go this way and not that at a given point in their story.

[@miguelpazos2334]

Succinct and crystal clear. Thank you!

[@187nata]

the corners of my mouth are turned up..i enjoyed your lesson

[@Meettheauthor1]

Thank you Mary this information was very helpful. I'm going use it in my memoir and share it with my writers circle.

[@joeya62]

I keep coming back to this video because this one makes the most sense. I have a lot that I need to write so I'm thinking of putting it into separate stories within a book. I really like this video tutorial :) Thank you!

[@SarahAllen]

Yes, story boarding is a very practical, helpful idea. Great video! -Sarah (Writer, Blogger, Writing Tutorial Maker)

[@faegoodies]

Very good video, A little hard to follow the graph since we can't see it, but I got the general idea

[@kylekester8993]

This was a great video Mary! Thanks for you help! I was starting to bog down but this has helped immensely!

[@patrickvonjanicke658]

Let's see if this works for my book. Thank You!

[@galaxygaming6508]

@ Mary Carroll Moore, I am writing a book about a daring life from a wolf's perspective. They can communicate with each other and I have the whole thing planned out in my head. I started writing, then I thought I should add speech. Then I worried about having too much speech, and the whole idea has come to a halt. I very much appreciate if you could advise me to put not much speech in, a little bit of speech, or quite a bit of speech. Please reply, kind regards, Will.

[@alamographics]

This is a grand rethinking of the traditionally taught "Plot Diagram", with its all too simplistic rising action, climax & unwinding action.I always thought it was too simplistic, given the action movie mindset of most students who expect a lot more story after the supposed climax in schoolbook literature. I'm going to try to find out if other educators have re-thought that diagram, particularly in light of such intriguing writing maps such as yours here. Thank you so much.

[@Cybertommy2009]

+rob dizo ----------- said: This is a grand rethinking of the traditionally taught "Plot Diagram", with its all too simplistic rising action, climax & unwinding action. Right. Feralt's Triangle: www.baenebooks.com/chapters/9781614751755/9781614751755___7.htm So antiquated but still a favorite of our pal, Dave Farland. That's because of the plot DEVICE that he adds to it --- the "Try Fail Cycle." (Also a favorite of Robert McKee and Dan Wells.) It seems to me that Feralt's Triangle is wholly suited just for that plot device --- or one even more simplistic. Google it and --- by all indications, Feralt and Freytag were the same guy. (They're not.) Freytag's Pyramid --- another antiquated paradigm (circa 1864). By the time Freytag published that paper...Jane Austen had already been successful with the "W" structure, soon to be followed by Lew Wallace (Ben Hur), Robert Lewis Stevenson (Treasure Island), Henry Haggard (She) and in the 20th Century, Edith Wharton (The Age of Innocence).

[@redmeat73]

Thank you so much for posting this. I feel rather optimistic as I've been really struggling with a complex story idea for a number of years now and I'm hoping the story board idea will stop me tensing up whenever I think about it. Without knowing how to construct a book, I've only been making things more complicated and no sooner had you started explaining the process, I realised I've two or three books worth of ideas and not one. I'm hoping that this will ease my anxiety. Many regards, Matt.

[@francois-xaviereloundou5718]

Definitely useful. Thank you. Now let's start.

[@MegaYenthe]

OMG . hello , i'am 15 jears old and i live in belgium. i just started to write my first book , i alrady got 2000 words and now i was watching some vids . when i saw your vid i saw i was using the w storyboard alrady in my mind , so i was alrady using this techniek whitout nowing it is a real techniek . i am now at the middle of te first slide down , and you helpt me a bit whit thinking of the rest of the story , thank you .

[@pattimoose1]

Thank you for sharing your secrets and knowledge with us. I write little (what I called) snippets of my story and then merge them...now I know they are little islands that connect into continents! Thank you! :D

[@irmagedden]

Thanks for this. It's very digestible and immediately applicable

[@AC-he8ln]

Recommended 10 years later.

[@sanrisa1]

Love this idea! Thanks for sharing. This method definitely appeals to me and my writing process.

[@MaryCarrollMoore]

Thanks so much for all the great comments. Feel free to access the W storyboard from my book Your Book Starts Here. It has a sample diagram that you can photocopy and enlarge.

[@anishawoods8443]

Thank you for this very informative and helpful video! I have hundreds of islands and characters and settings in my 'book' but I need to make them connect and was totally lost about how to do that. This gives me enough structure that I think I can pull it together. Wow, that's scary… :O

[@fuzzyrican6253]

this is very helpful, thank you! The center of the W is labeled "Back Story" but it's not covered.

[@jancheema6776]

Got it. THANKS

[@curtmclane5183]

My desire is to be a published author of a novel. This has been very helpful!

[@catmagic2226]

Thank you!!! Just what I was looking for! I really like your sweater & scarf u look very nice in that color.

[@AuntyEv]

Thanks, Mary! You make it seem so possible.

[@pinehillart]

I recently purchased Plottr and saw your template. I've been looking at most of them because I had already started my novel and was about 26 chapters in. I've been trying to find a template that would help me structure what I have already written and that my loose structure would fit with. Your "w" structure is perfect. I'll need to do some tweaking to my islands, but it looks like I've already followed this basic idea already. Thanks!

[@Soul_wildcraft]

This was very informative, Thank you very much.

[@MermaidsAreNice]

I really appreciate you putting this video up. Thanks!

[@JamesIsHereBro]

This is going to help a big deal! Thanks, my fantasy novel will have better story thanks to this... hopefully.

[@KnoSoWavy]

super helpful I can see a clear path in my novel now thanks

[@maryjohoffman8895]

Hi Mary- Looking forward to storyboarding with you at the Loft in Minneapolis in March. Mary Jo Hoffman

[@MalachiFrazee222]

I've done this since I was a kid. This is how I was taught, but I have different terms like hook, inciting incident, plot point 1/2 and I call mine a "dramatic arc."

[@DixieLive]

this was incredibly helpful..... THANK YOU very much....

[@zareenamalik8283]

Marry you are an excellent teacher in writing a nonfiction book, in such short time you have explained so well how to start with W. It is an amazing, I would like to know if you offer any course how to write a book. Thanks.

[@SarahAllen]

Agreed. I love getting advice from other writers. It's very inspiring! -Sarah (Writer, Blogger, Writing Tutorial Maker)

[@RCSuperPowers]

Clear and to the point! Thank you!

[@LuvEnlightens]

That was absolutely excellent!

[@LoyalMJfan]

indeed, a storyboard is very useful and gives a clear vision of the 'flow' of your book... That was a awesome video ;)

[@diosdado0711]

Thank you very much for sharing your experience.

[@WilliamBurchnell]

i think the series I'm trying to make might be awesome. but I'm lazy so i don't know, i guess i don't really want it if I'm lazy. hell if i get lazy i'll just send a little story of how many more of my stories are in my head for tv shows and such.

[@nahum67]

Thanks Mary. Thanks, for letting me learn, from you.

[@Slynell1]

this makes sense and is very helpful, thanks

[@thefictionxwelive]

This was wonderful, thank you! Do you/anyone have any videos or recommendations about theme, voice, pacing, inner/outer story, and dilemma that you mentioned at the end?

[@BazColne]

Great explanation. Thank you.

[@rewardmorrisonnangi7623]

"This is as inspiring as that novel you wrote in the mid-90s, M. C. Moore." --Reward Morrison Nangi from Barcelona, Spain.

[@allie6733]

This was really helpful thanks

[@whitneymyer]

Thanks for sharing the helpful information!

[@keithgell8913]

If I have more than one protagonist, would each protagonist have their own W shaped story?

[@CaliforniasGoldCoast]

Thanks Great job in helping us that need it. you are awesome

[@gipsyjan]

Awesome! So informative and clear! Thank you so much!

[@DrMaryAnnDiorio]

Excellent tool. Thank you!

[@moki031698]

Thanks, now I can develop my game's story better.

[@cassandrageorgesturges9065]

Thank you very much. Very informative. You did an awesome job!

[@Videogenius7]

Very helpful! I've never seen a storyboard done this way before! =)

[@jc3777]

Thank you so much for sharing your hard earned secrets. Many writers are better because of you. Bravo :)

[@heatherthompson91]

You are very interesting to me! This is my first time watching you!

[@hariprasad1994]

Very useful!!!. Please make the sound a little more clear in the video. thank you very much

[@sportsmoon985]

1000&1 Astonishing Random Facts released on Kindle last night. Thnx

[@dunkinking]

thank you sooo much for this... it's been a great help.

[@BuddhaL0rd]

Thank you, this is very helpful to a beginner.

[@jackw8838]

Go on Amazon and read Creepy Little Things by Parrish Gore. His stories are really suspenseful. I've only found one book by him so I think he is just starting out as well.

[@BuddhaL0rd]

Jack W you've inspired me to head on over to Amazon to read the product description. These short stories look right up my street so I've taken the plunge and bought it :) . Thank you.

[@BuddhaL0rd]

I have now read the 3 short stories and totally agree about the suspense, especially the last one called The Undying Murder Victim which has a real sting in the tail ending. Again thanks.

[@jackw8838]

I thought so too. Kind of leaves one hanging in a way. I'm waiting on some more of his stuff, that's the only book I have seen so far.

[@galaxygaming6508]

Jack W It's sounds awesome. I'll try and have a look, but I can't guarantee it. Suspense isn't really my thing, I preffer fantasy. But, I smiled at the fact you 'inspired' a person to read this author's books. ;)

[@tutors2473]

Thank you for posting these tips!

[@Wrenhollow-arts]

I believe whatever helps you understand and discover you story and characters is the best method. So do what helps YOU

[@sarahdean1954]

Thank you for sharing this.

[@RedDressMarketing]

Thank you for the video. I found it very helpful!!

[@ZomBradical]

"...a change inside herself". ...something tells me this is what happens in most of your fiction books :P ....no, but seriously, this was helpful. I have all these ideas, but I can never organize them (...plus, I get distracted by ideas that spark other stories lol).

[@trevorlampton]

Brilliant work!

[@ijphotostudio]

Very helpful, clear advice. Thank you!