How Do I Remember 300+ Pages of Plot?

[Cathy]

Listening to Janet Evanovich'sHow I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author, shhe gave an excellent idea for keeping track of plot:

She says she using the "storyboarding" technique like they do for movie productions. She has a giant dry-erase board above where she writes in her office (or somewhere nearby) and she fills in the plot points she knows as she goes along so that she never forgets where she's going or how she plans to get there.

One of the very first things she thinks about before writing is what the mystery will be (or the main conflict), who the bad guy will be, how the story will end, and in general what leads up to that point. If you listen to Janet's chapter on this, it gets even more detailed by the story's end).

[Cathy]

If anyone has any thoughts on this technique or strategies of their own related to plot in anyway, plese post them here!

[Alicia]

I saw a great video by Rebecca Skloot The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks who also used note cards and storyboarding. She wrote scenes on index cards and taped them to a wall, rearranging them until they made sense. She was inspired by the movie The Hurricane (and actually storyboarded the entire movie!), which had the same structure as her book ended up having.