A Scene Chart

At nearly 60,000 words, Losing Penny is a rough first draft and a tangled mess. My personal life is much the same. To restore order to Losing Penny, I dug out a handout from a long ago UCI (University of California Irvine) novel writing class taught by Louella Nelson. The handout is called Scene Setup and Editing Chart and I’ve made forty copies—approximately one for each scene. It looks like this:

 Scene # 1 Goal: Penny’s self image problem
Opening hook: Penny trying to fit into a bridesmaid’s dress
Time: morning
Mood: frustration
Weather: cloudy
Setting: fitting room and gym
POV (point of view): Penny
POV’s goal: to lose weight
Expressed emotions:
Sensory details:
 Sight- mirrors
Sound- add sewing machines, people giggling—at gym, sounds of clanking weight machines, people grunting Smell—fabric?
sweat Taste—of last night’s cake
Touch—the feel of the dress, sweat
ESP
Characters: Penny, Rose, dressmaker
 Closing hook: Penny running

 My writing goal for today is to fill out this chart for at least three scenes of Losing Penny. For a peek at how I’m going to put a little order and sanity into my personal life, please visit my blog, http://losingpennyandpounds.blogspot.com/