Ted Flanagan's use of index cards for storytelling

Writer Ted Flanagan makes an appearance on I’m a Writer, But… that’s well worth a listen for many reasons (as is the podcast!). Among them is some interesting process discussion touching upon one way to get to a fully formed novel.

At about 18 minutes in, the crew discusses Flanagan’s use of index cards in mapping out his novel. It’s worth a listen to get his particular flavor of process, but the big picture notes are:

• Write a bunch of chapters of the book

• At a certain point, stop and get out some index cards, assigning one card per chapter and filling out with a chapter summary

• Lay out all of these index cards and evaluate what’s there and what isn’t, arranging and re-arranging based upon what would keep the reader engaged along the way

• Make new index cards for chapters to add

• Write new chapters and carry on

I love the idea of writing a bunch, then stopping to reevaluate how you can maximize what you’ve written and what you will still write through the lens of the reader’s interest. I often feel that the mechanics of storytelling are under-discussed. I’ve never delved much myself. This is somehow different from simply outlining your story ahead of time. Flanagan rather uses the cards at a point in the game after which, perhaps, the adrenaline of creation has waned a bit and the new perspective adds more fuel to the fire.