I confess: I don’t outline my stories and I doubt I ever will.
You see, I love the unfolding process that happens when I write, and I love realizing I know where the story is going as I write and get to know the character. Having to plan the story before I write takes away the joy of writing for me.
With that said, though, from more than one person I’ve heard so many good things about the Save the Cat! methods of writing. In fact, we’re doing another tour with them now! Right now, so many people are raving about how Save the Cat works for them, but as a non-outlining writer, I’ve wondered: how can they work for me?
That’s when I discovered the scene and story cards.
So, while I may not like to outline my stories, I have always wanted a better method to log down my ideas. When I discovered the Save the Cat! scene and story cards, I attempted to use them how everyone else might use them: plan and plot out my stories.
I confess that it didn’t work that way for me. So, I put them to the side, thinking I’d discover another use for them.
Then I got a story idea.
The Save the Cat! Scene Cards encourage you to write down the scenes by a few important points:
- Location
- Moment
- Emotional change of character
- Conflict, good guy, and obstacle.
With each story idea I get, I’m now logging them with these scene cards and my ideas are better than before. You see, what these scene cards do is encourage me to think beyond the initial scene in my mind. It’s different than outlining for me because I am trying to examine what I think is going on in a moment, and identifying conflict, which is often the lacking ingredient in my initial ideas.
Thanks to the initial stages of writing down my ideas with these scene cards, I’m working on a short story now that has way more potential and momentum thanks to the initial building blocks.
So, if you’ve never thought you’d be the type to really appreciate what Save the Cat! does, you’ll want to check out their scene cards. Using them to jot down my ideas has been a life-saver. Plus, their scene cards are very affordable. Right now you can buy a pack of 50 cards for just $10.95. Purchase now.
I received the Save the Cat! story and scene cards in exchange for my honest review.
A good way of getting it done!
This piqued my interest, Nicole. I don’t like to outline my work ahead of time either. There’s something exhilarating about discovering what a story is as you’re writing it. But this can lead to some unwieldy drafts to sort through. These story cards could prove useful.
Thanks for coming by Laura! Definitely – it can be tough to really get a story off the ground for me, so it helps to have an idea of where it might be going.