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Scramble and Sort

Scramble and Sort

by | Apr 2, 2019

Scramble and Sort

After collecting feedback, scramble and sort it into new categories so the group can help the writer choose a starting place for a revision.

Style

Collaborator

Skill

Applying Feedback

Time

15 minutes

THE CAFE:

Scramble and Sort

If you’re a Collaborator, you’ll love gathering with a group of friends for a feedback session. Start there, and ask each person to write their own thoughts on post-it notes so that none get lost through the process.

To begin, read a short selection aloud. Then, listeners should capture three sets of feedback:

  • What they know
  • What they think they know
  • What they wonder

Then, move on to the scramble and sort activity below. With your group, decide how many of your pieces you’ll consider in one meeting, and whether to gather again to finish. If you choose to consider everyone’s in one sit-down, keep each round short, and make sure to bring snacks to keep everyone’s energy up!

 

Materials

How to Play

  • Timer

  • Paper

  • Pencil
  • Computer (optional)

1. Use a blank wall or large pieces of paper labeled, “Know,” “Think,” and “Wonder.

2. Each listener should put their post-its up in the correct category for all to see.

3. Each listener should review what’s up on the wall, and add any additional notes that the post-it’s spark.

4. Then, review looking for categories of questions and ideas. Work together to sort the post-its into new categories.

5. Once you have agreed on the new sort, title each of the new categories. Have fun with the titling process so that you end up with creative names.

6. Then, have a conversation about which area feels like the starting domino. Where would it be most helpful for the writer to focus first?

7. If time allows, after all the writers who will present for the night have finished the above steps, give each writer the floor for a few more minutes. If they’d like additional help, they should ask the group a “How many ways can we think of to …?” question that will help them begin to take steps forward with that starting domino. The goal is a large quantity of ideas to kickstart their thinking.

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Pin the Heart on the Problem

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List the issues raised and then use “Why …?” to narrow in on the heart of the problem.

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The Question Queue

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Line up your questions and address them one by one in this structured revision approach.

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And Down the Stretch they Come

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Choose the frontrunner issues and tackle them head-on with a quick-listing exercise.

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The Question Queue

The Question Queue

by | Apr 2, 2019

The Question Queue

Line up your questions and address them one by one.

Style

Architect

Skill

Applying Feedback

Time

15 minutes

THE CAFE:

The Question Queue

 

Your keen eye for detail can be an obstacle when finding solutions to story problems. Each change rattles loose a flurry of other changes, and before long, you’re lost in a landslide of questions.

The “But what about …?” monster shuts down creative problem solving sessions. Head that monster off at the pass by breaking the thinking process into steps. First, list all of the problems without coming up with any solutions. Then, put those problems in order. The biggest ones should be tackled first, because often by solving the big ones, the little ones disappear. Then, tackle them one at a time. If new problems come up as you solve, add those new problems to the list wherever they belong in the line-up.

 

Materials

How to Play

  • Feedback
  • Blank Sheet of Paper
  • Pen
  • Index Cards (optional)

NOTE: Once you receive feedback, you may choose to process it with a collaborator, or to take it to a quiet place where you can think it through. Both approaches can be effective as part of your Cafe toolbox.

 

1. Review the feedback you received. You may have your own notes, written thoughts from someone else, or you might be quickly jotting down feedback you just heard.

2. On a clean piece of paper, list the issues the feedback points out. Write them in whatever order they pop into your head.

3. If you aren’t sure what issue a particular note or question points out, add getting to the bottom of the mystery as a problem on your list.  

4. Once your list is complete, go through and rank the items based on which question is biggest. If you have a long list and are having trouble ranking, put each issue on an index card and sort them that way.

5. Keep in mind there is no perfect ranking. Do the best you can, and remember that the ranking process is there to help save you time. You don’t want to solve irrelevant questions that won’t exist once you solve the bigger problems.

6. No matter how unruly each of those problems may seem, insist that they stay in a single file line. Tackle them one by one.

7. In many cases, you might want to ask yourself, “How might I …” and explore the various ways you might solve a problem before settling on a solution. Often the best solution will pop up after you think up some wild, unexpected answers.

8. On the other hand, some problems will have an immediate, easy solution. When that happens, no need to overcomplicate matters.

9. Wrap up your feedback session by creating a plan for how you’ll tackle the issues in an orderly way.

Try On Other Creative Styles

Pin the Heart on the Problem

FOR INVENTORS

List the issues raised and then use “Why …?” to narrow in on the heart of the problem.

Try This

And Down the Stretch they Come

FOR SPECIAL AGENTS

Choose the frontrunner issues and tackle them head-on with a quick-listing exercise.

Try This

Scramble and Sort

FOR COLLABORATORS

After collecting feedback, scramble and sort it into new categories so the group can help the writer choose a starting place for a revision.

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Storyboard like an Animator

Storyboard like an Animator

by | Apr 2, 2019

Storyboard like an Animator

Use the Hero’s Journey to structure your storyboard discussion with a collaborator.

Style

Collaborator

Skill

Structuring Ideas

Time

15 – 45 mins

THE WORKSHOP:

Storyboard like an Animator

You may not work at your favorite animation studio, but that doesn’t mean you can’t approach your next storyboarding session with a playful attitude. Simply working with a collaborator will start you off on the right foot. Together, you can act out scenes, play with possibilities, and crack jokes. Use colorful tools and sketches, too, to keep the process fun. To structure and focus your conversation, start with a simple Hero’s Journey framework and elaborate from there.

When should you storyboard your manuscript? There are a number of times in the writing process where working with a storyboard can be useful.

After idea generation, storyboarding will help you structure energetic brainstorming into a solid plan for your story. For me, the right moment is after I’ve done some full-plot brainstorming, and after I’ve drafted at least two or three scenes.

When drafting, storyboarding is an excellent get-unstuck tool. You might play a game or two to shake up your ideas and then use a storyboard to help you plug your new ideas into the plot. If you’ve already created a storyboard, you can play around with the variables to see if a change here or there might unstick your stuck moment. If not, a storyboard will give you increased clarity.

When revising, storyboarding is a powerful shortcut to help you see the effect of changes. Rather than trying to hold your entire plot in your mind while you experiment with possibilities, swap elements into and out of your storyboard to see how each change will impact your plot. Using this simplified view, you’ll be able to problem-solve with greater perspective and speed.

Materials

How to Play

  • Timer
  • Paper
  • Colored Pencils
  • Index Cards
  • Post-Its
  • Posterboard, a White Board, or a Large Open Space (such as a wall, a tabletop, or the floor)

1. Decide whether you’ll work on one of your stories, or if you’ll split the time in two and work on each of your stories for half of your time. Adjust your timing accordingly.

2. Set a timer for five minutes.

3. In that short time, capture the main points in your story using a Hero’s Journey frame. Here are the stages as I often plan through them:

  • Ordinary Life – What are your main character’s circumstances? How do we see their strengths and weaknesses in action?
  • Call to Adventure – How does the story’s challenge or opportunity show up?
  • Crossing the Threshold – What happens as soon as the character says yes to the adventure? Or, what happens when they’re forced into it against their will?
  • Belly of the Whale – What are the stakes, now that the adventure has begun? How might you show the stakes in a scene?
  • A Wise Advisor – Who shows up to provide aid, information, or training for your character? (This stage can happen here, or sometimes it happens before the character crosses the threshold.)
  • Three Trials – Your story will have the amount of trials that makes the most sense to you. I start by breaking the trials into three sections, each driven by a specific objective that my main character pursues. From there, I identify what doesn’t fit and experiment.
  • Wrestling the Dragon – What about the climax is inevitable? What surprises your main character?
  • The Boon – What physical or intangible boon(s) does your character take away from the encounter with the dragon?
  • The Journey Home – What situation tests your main character’s newfound skill and/or treasure?
  • Home Again – How does “real life” begin again for your character? How might you use circumstances to show how they’ve changed? How does their growth impact their community?

4. Once the time is up, it’s time to storyboard. Grab a stack of index cards. Decide how long you want to spend on the storyboard today. Save three-five minutes at the end of your work session to capture any thinking you haven’t captured on the board and don’t want to forget. Set your timer accordingly.

5. If this is your first draft of the storyboard, use your Hero’s Journey to spark ideas for the scenes you need. Some elements will play out in one scene. Others will require more than one. Create an interesting title for each scene, and (if you like) sketch key images. Each index card should represent only one scene.

6. If you’ve already created a storyboard for this project, compare your Hero’s Journey to the cards on your board. Write new scenes on cards and add them to the board, pulling off cards that are no longer relevant.

7. When you reach problem spots, or gaps between one major scene and another, bounce ideas off one another. Try acting moments out, tossing possibilities back and forth, or sketch options on your own and then compare and decide.

8. Depending on how much time you’ve allotted for this activity, you can spend time now playing around with options, or push yourself to keep moving. If you’re speeding through, capture the givens for each important scene. You can play with possibilities later when it’s time to draft.

9. Wrap up your storyboarding session by capturing any outstanding issues. Grab a stack of post-its, and write “How might I … ” questions on each. As you post each thought on the wall, your collaborator’s questions should enrich your thinking. Snap a photo of your post-its before taking them down.

Don’t forget! If you can’t store your storyboard as is, number your cards (in pencil) so it will be easy to lay them out in this same order again.

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Storyboard Like a Detective

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Define the scenario, collect clues, and ultimately, resolve your questions. Capture your thinking on your storyboard.

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Storyboard Like a Reporter

FOR ARCHITECTS

Structure your thinking about a project with a reporter’s questions. Use your discoveries to shape your storyboard.

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Storyboard Like a Coach

FOR SPECIAL AGENTS

Run a few quick scenarios for your idea and then choose a game plan for your storyboard.

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Improvised Storytelling

Improvised Storytelling

by | Mar 21, 2019

Improvised Storytelling

Create a collaborative scene with a partner, using their questions to help you better understand your main character’s point of view.

Style

Collaborator

Skill

Improvisation

Time

10 minutes

THE STUDIO:

Improvised Storytelling

While you certainly can improvise by yourself, improvising with a partner introduces the randomness that often sparks spontaneous insight. Before you begin, you’ll want to take on an experimental mindset. You’re not planning your scene with this game. If your partner heads off in a direction you truly don’t want the scene to go, never fear! You’ll draft the story as you wish to tell it later. For now, follow your collaborator into the unknown. You may discover that your main character’s resistance teaches you something new about them, or helps you to see what might happen in the scene in a new light.

No matter what, improvisation begins with saying yes. Say yes to the ideas your partner introduces, and then add your own ideas, and see where the moment leads.

Materials

Improvised Storytelling

  • Space to move
  • Paper
  • Pen

NOTE: This game can be played before you draft a scene to explore what you might write, or after you’ve drafted it to find a deeper connection to what’s happening in the scene.

1. Choose an authority figure with whom your main character might interact. In this game, your main character will retell a scene from your story to this authority character as though the scene has already taken place. Set up a scenario where that retelling makes sense. Maybe your character is in trouble for what happened, and has to speak to the principal about it. Maybe your character is upset about their day, and they tell a favorite aunt about what happened.

2. Give your partner a few details about their character, especially so they know the tone of the questions they should ask.

3. Choose a setting, and if appropriate, an action for your characters to be engaged in together. They may be baking cookies, or folding laundry, or eating dinner. As in all improv, the action makes use of imagined props. The goal of the action is to help you engage in the scene physically and emotionally.

4. Begin the action, and once you’re both engaged in the scene physically, begin your conversation. Even though your main character is telling about something that happened to them, the scene should flow back and forth. Your partner should have plenty of opportunities to ask questions and share their thoughts as part of the scene.

5. Once you finish playing through the scene, take time to jot down your notes. Also, make sure to ask your scene partner about any insights they had while playing. They see your scene from the outside, and are likely to have thoughts that will open up your thinking to new possibilities.

6. Ideally, your scene partner is a writer, too. If so, you can now swap roles, and be their collaborator for a scene they’re working on, too.

 

Try On Other Creative Styles

The Who, What, & Where Experiment

FOR ARCHITECTS

Use this structured improv game to experiment with options for your next scene.

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Step Into Your Character's Shoes

FOR INVENTORS

Take on your character’s mindset and play through a scene in a variety of ways in this improv game for writers.

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Improvise the Highlights

FOR SPECIAL AGENTS

Use this quick-thinking improv game to identify key moments in your scene and shortcut the experimentation process.

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Step Into Your Character’s Shoes

Step Into Your Character’s Shoes

by | Mar 21, 2019

Step Into Your Character’s Shoes

Take on your character’s mindset and play through a scene in a variety of ways.

Style

Inventor

Skill

Improvisation

Time

10 minutes

THE STUDIO:

Step Into Your Character’s Shoes

Many writers have the experience of “hearing” their characters speak once they settle into the flow of a drafting session. Improvisation can be another quick way to tap into this powerful emotional connection with our characters. For me, flow can be an elusive state to find when I’m writing, but improv allows me to tap into that mindset much more predictably.

In this game, you’ll take on your character physically and through that connection, tap into their emotions, perspective, and intuition.

Materials

Step Into Your Character’s Shoes

  • Space to move
  • Paper
  • Pen

1. Stand up and shake out your body. Loosen up and begin to walk around your open space.

2. Take on your character’s body layer by layer, starting with your feet. Imagine a typical day, and what your character might be wearing, how that clothing affects how they move, and what emotion they might feel.

2. As your character, imagine you’re walking to a location where you’ll talk with someone you trust. Be specific about that location, the person, and the timing of this moment. Choose a moment after the scene you’re about to write. Your character will tell the story of what happened to this trusted friend.

3. Using past tense, your character will explain what happened, and how they felt about it. Let your character be as animated as possible. Maybe they stand up while recounting this story, and tell it almost as though they’re reliving it. Choose a method of retelling that feels believable for your character, but make sure they engage emotionally, not just intellectually, in the retelling.

4. Once you finish the telling, pause, and consider the other character. What might they ask? Answer at least one question and note what you discover.

5. Now, it’s time to decide. Would you like to improvise the story again, taking it in a new direction? You may have felt some moments ringing true, while others felt a little off. Review those problem areas and consider what changes might help. Do you need to add a character, change the setting, or add an action? Did your character express an emotion you aren’t sure they’d actually feel? What shifts need to be made?

6. Either play through the scene again, or sit down with your fresh inspiration and write.

Try On Other Creative Styles

The Who, What, & Where Experiment

FOR ARCHITECTS

Use this structured improv game to experiment with options for your next scene.

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Improvise the Highlights

FOR SPECIAL AGENTS

Use this quick-thinking improv game to identify key moments in your scene and shortcut the experimentation process.

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Improvised Storytelling

FOR COLLABORATORS

Create a collaborative scene with a partner, using their questions to help you better understand your main character’s point of view.

Try This