More 3×5s.

So over at One Slack Martian he’s showing off his great index cards.

One of the best things about the index cards in Save the Catis that on his cards he has you write the two most vital things about a scene. Emotional arc and conflict. If there’s anything beginning writers need to learn, it’s that scenes need conflict, and that something in them must change. Generally it’s a story issue. Something happens in the scene that moves the story forward, so that between the beginning and end of the scene, something changed. Blake Snyder emphasizes the emotional change, and that’s not a bad thing.

But Martian has taken it farther. He’s added, What does the audience hope, and what does the audience fear? Room for a line of dialogue. The name of the main character.

I’m giving some thought to making some sort of scene cards to distribute in class, and I’m thinking I’ll put the basics on one side, and a series of optional things on the other. I don’t think you need to know every detail of every scene to write it, but sometimes details do come to you. A line of dialogue, a great setting. With cards you can jot down those things, and later fill them out, figure out exactly what the scene will be about, or how to use those details in another scene.

And I got my old oak card catalog yesterday — six drawers!

It’s on my desk now, and I love it.

And my Jane Austen Action Figure, my mouse rug and USB Christmas tree make such a nice tableau. How twee!

I think I shall buy Jane a boyfriend..