I have written two mysteries, which are sitting in about a half dozen notebooks and about a dozen Google Docs. Scenes are scattered about my life. I think one of them, especially, has potential, but I need to get it together, so I was totally thrilled when I came across Scene Lists.
I found this idea on a blog called thewritepractice.com. The blog suggests that you use an Excel document, but I honestly hate Excel. My brain doesn’t work in an Excel kind of way. So I took out a new composition book and made headings across the top. I picked and chose from among the examples I found there to create categories that would help me organize my mess. here are the categories I used:
Scene Number (this is NOT the same as the chapter number)
POV (point of view)
Scene Summary
Chapter Number
Day of Week
Day of Novel (how many days in this takes place)
As I said, I’ve found this invaluable, as have some of my Creative Writing students. If you find this useful, let me know how you use it.
Nancy Lee Dunn 