This is either a stupid idea, or a good one; I’m not sure. Either way, I really wanted to ‘see’ a story on a piece of paper; in its entirety. I’m a visual learner, and I know about using post-it notes, or cue-cards to plan out a story to a three art structure, but I needed something else. Post-its aren’t portable; cue-cards can get out of order. I needed something which shows multiple character timelines, shows action, and internal motivations over time (past and present) and complements the arcs of all the other main characters in a story.

This is what I came up with: the story fan. 1 piece of A4 paper folded into a fan, and using each of the peaks to note key stages of each character across an entire story. This video is rough, but it’s a start, and if anyone gets it, enjoys it, and wants to hear more – let me know. In time, I’ll update this video and copy, but you promoting me will kick my ass!