#The book is from 2001 so it's a weeeeeee bit dated

[hbosscreations]

I’ve seen a lot of posts recently about people having ideas but not knowing how to make a story, being unsure about how to organize their stories, or struggling to be inspired to write so I thought I’d share a method I’ve used since I was a kid.

I found this book back when I was in middle school, and while I can’t speak for the actual manga creation aspect of it, this book taught me one of the most simplest writing techniques I’ve ever learned.

The 5W1H method.

The example they give is pretty easy to understand, but I like to take it a step further. I write everything out on 3x5 index cards. They’re cheap, easy to get, and very portable at this size.

I've rearranged the pieces a little to fit how my brain works better, but it is essentially the same. Who, Does What, Where, When, Why, How did it go.

3x5 cards allow enough space to get a general idea without you being able to write anything too significant, which is important with this part. These are just ideas, brainstorming, in this case you want quantity and vibe more than quality.

I've included some quick and dirty examples below.

You don’t have to fill every section out, maybe you don’t know where the scene takes place or who’s in it, maybe you just know who’s there and why, maybe you don’t really know how things go in the end but you know you want the lead-up. That’s all valid. If you’ve got enough to fill a line, you can put it on a card.

As ideas get more complicated, I like to have a card dedicated to characters, reoccurring locations, themes, etc., to keep track of things that pop up most often, and eventually color code them. This enables you to look at the cards from a distance and see how often certain characters show up or if your themes are present.

The big benefit to the cards is that they are able to float around. I personally like to use a pin board to organize them, but you can just as easily lay them out on a table and store them in order in a card box or wrap them in a rubber band or a hair tie and tuck them away when you don't want to mess with them.

The cards can easily be arranged and rearranged as you work through your ideas and by looking at them this way, you can actually develop a plot-line or several smaller arcs.

Scenes that you don’t have a place for you can just remove and save for the future, you never know when you’re going to need them!