Visual Plotting

In my day job I work with a lot of visual elements designing online learning courses. I use videos, photographs, drawings, charts, and typography to help users learn. The power of image and stories are hard-coded in our DNA as a survival mechanism and make for great learning tools. Knowing that inspired me to look at ways to use visual elements to plot my books.

I’m certainly not the first to come up with this methodology. One of my best plotting efforts using images came from a workshop given by Jennifer Crusie. We collected images from magazines, found objects, basically anything that caused a visceral reaction relating to our works in progress. It was an exhilarating experience I’ve used many times. But that made me want to explore other visual ways to plot out my stories.

Steampunk Collage

Sketchnote from an eLearning conference

While I don’t have a deep hatred of synopsis writing like some authors, I feel like there must be a better way to uncover hidden elements in a more visual way. I’ve experimented with snippets of videos (think book trailers), mind maps using sketches (think Sketchnotes), collages (a la  Jenny Crusie), and even an infographic. 

What I’ve concluded is that any one of these methods may work for you on any given book—the catch is to pair the right method to a particular story idea—and be willing to experiment with different ideas when you don’t feel a connection to your chosen method.

Infographic of my romantic suspense novel, Jayhawk Down

Have you plotted out any stories using visual methods? What worked for you? Any colossal failures?