Is there a writing technique you've tried that you thought would work for you but didn't? (With Lorie Langdon!)

I'm delighted that this week our guest is another one of my fellow Blink/HarperCollins authors, Lorie Langdon!

Lorie is one half of the author team that writes the best-selling Doon series, a young adult reimagining of the musical Brigadoon. She has been interviewed on Entertainment Weekly.com and several NPR radio programs, including Lisa Loeb’s national Kid Lit show. The Doon series has been featured on such high profile sites as USAToday.com, Hypable.com, and BroadwayWorld.com. Lorie’s solo books include, Gilt Hollow, a YA romantic thriller, and Olivia Twist, a historical YA romantic suspense.

We're honored to have her! Our first panel question with Lorie is:

Is there a writing technique/tool you've tried (Scrivener, outlining, scene cards, etc.) that you thought was going to work but didn't, or that you didn't think would work but did? 

Lorie: I am a born Pantser (i.e. I would rather write without an outline and discover the story as I go), but I’ve learned the hard way, through multiple rounds of rewrites on my first novel, that some plotting is necessary. When I began writing OLIVIA TWIST, a writer friend suggested that I try the Story Board plotting method. It looks a lot like a calendar, but each square is a chapter where you record the major conflicts and every fifth chapter is a major turning point. The squares are small, so I gave it a try.

I found that I couldn’t fill in the whole thing upfront, but I was able to fill in over half of the squares, including the Black Moment and the Resolution at the end. It gave me something to write towards and kept the pacing tight. I use story boarding for every novel I write now!

Shan:   I’ve tried many things--some worked for a time and then refused to cooperate for the next book and were retired. Anything that requires me to learn how to use it, is usually quickly jettisoned. I do not want to spend my limited writing time learning how to navigate Scrivener, so unless things change, that one’s not for me. Scene cards worked for my Angel Eyes trilogy, but were less helpful my last two go ‘rounds. Each story might require different tools, and I have to acknowledge that I’m still young in this. My process isn’t quite solidified.

Jill: Scrivener never worked for me for outlining or writing my books. It was too different from how I’ve trained myself to use Microsoft Word. I do use Scrivener to create ebooks, though, and I like the program for that purpose. On the other hand, I didn’t storyboard my books when I first started out. The first time I tried storyboarding was with the Safe Lands, and I think that’s because of the multiple points of view. I needed to try something new to keep track of all those parts. Writing the scenes for each character on a different colored index card allowed me not only to see the plan for the entire book at once, it allowed me to identify at a glance where each POV character’s scenes were and if there was a hole. I’m such a visual person, storyboarding has been a great tool for me to write faster with fewer changes.

Stephanie: I’ve tried scene cards a few time, both physical and digital. I love the idea of them, but they just haven’t worked for me.

We love hearing from those in our community of writers! What's a writing technique or tool that you thought would work for you but didn't?