Auditions and Storyboards

Well, I was going to go to Six Flags today, but it's raining here. I'm pretty disappointed, it was going to be my first time going. But this just leaves me time to reflect and blog on a book I've started reading, Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks.

As the title says, this is a guide to writing YA and eventually getting it published. I finished Chapter 5 last night. In Chapter 3, "Meeting Your Characters" Brooks suggested something for discovering your protagonist that I found interesting: hold "auditions" for your protagonist, as if it were for a reality show. Find the one that suits your story. I think for the most part, I'll be doing this for secondary characters, because I feel I often have trouble evolving them when I'm not as focused on their thoughts and motives as I am the character(s) who's story I'm telling. It's pretty easy for me to figure out what a character is like when the story is centered around them. However, one of my protagonists is causing me some trouble. I've started writing this one character's story, but she's not quite right yet. Among other problems with the plot, I'm scrapping that one and starting over. And I think I will begin with auditions for my main girl.

Also, in the last chapter I read, "Building Your Plot" Brooks suggests storyboarding, writing out events on index cards an arranging them. I think that I'm going to use this tool as well. In the past I've had ideas in my head but never really wrote them down in any order. In general, I'm not much of a outline on paper person, I just keep it in my head. But I might as well start practicing different methods to improve.