Did that help, Joe? I can try and explain it better, if you want.

No, I got it. I did something similar plotting a movie with a comedy group I worked with in L.A.

I just don't have a corkboard.

I'ma try this Snowflake thing and see if that helps.

I didn't use a corkboard. I used, um, the floor.

Oh.

Well, between the Punk and the World's Stupidest Dog, I don't think the floor would work so well for me.

"Where's Chapter Twelve? Why is Chapter Twelve covered in brown marker and dog drool? What was it doing in the DVD player?

I NEED MY OWN OFFICE!"

I've got brain damage. I couldn't do that either. Unless I want the floor to look like my brain.

I always did it one fell swoop, though, and cleaned it up, rather than leaving it out.

A corkboard (a big one) would definitely be better.

I can't remember why I haven't tried the snowflake thing. I should read the description again.

I could SO not do that method. I'm one of the seat-of-the-pants writers he describes as shrieking at the thought of doing a Snowflake document. I'm not a pure pantser--I do know where this thing is going, just not precisely how I'm going to get there. And that's part of the fun, discovering the path between where I am now and that mountaintop of finished story on the horizon. In particular, I'd hate doing character descriptions and charts. I just can't imagine doing something so mechanical. At the risk of sounding all woo-woo about this, my characters are people. I don't build them, I know them.

Obviously, you do whatever works for you. As Jenny Crusie says, there are many roads to Oz. That one is just the polar opposite of the one I've been paving for myself.

OK, so I just finished the first of Conn Iggulden's GENGHIS series and went and found his website so I could check his backlist and so on.

He's my age! Dammit.

OK, I'm 37, so it's not all that surprising that there are people my age with books on the shelves. But...he has eight books out already, and I have a big fat zero. So I'm all irrationally jealous.

we all do that, Susan.

I'm jealous of you, Susan, for being so much more motivated than I am and for having such an intimate relationship with your characters.