Visuals really are important! Create your own story board if it helps you write. It doesn’t matter if you can’t draw; cut and paste. After all, nobody is going to see it except you, right?
At this point, in my story, I had to see a visual. My illustrator would not be working on this part of the tale for weeks, so I created my own.
Excerpt from “Cheets Heads for Trouble-sville” ©
‘Cheets, the elf, swooped down and dove into the empty box. The carrot beaconed to him from the far end of the box. Cheets tipped-toed across the box, lightly stepping up on a silver platform.
SNAP! B.A.N.G! The door to the cage slammed shut. Cheets whirled around and ran back. Cheets grabbed the side of the door in the cage and shook it as hard as he could. Nothing. It wouldn’t open. He shook it and shook it. He was trapped. The big, juicy carrot didn’t look so good now.
Two large human hands clutched the sides of the box and lifted it down. A shadow fell over Cheets and he looked up. What appeared to be a huge, rough man stood over the cage and grinned at him.
“Got’cha!” He extolled. “Ya little varmint!” He turned away. “Hey, Simon. SIMON! Lookie what I got.”
Across the aisle, Simon turned and looked at his friend. “What? I’m busy, I’ll be there in a minute.”
“You’re gonna wanna see this! Hurry up!” Herman said.
“Okay, okay, keep your shirt on.” Simon yelled.
A moment later Simon was in front of Herman’s stall. “What’s the big to-do?”
“Ta-Da!” Herman whipped off a rag he’d put over the cage. He grinned at his friend. “Whad’ya think that is?”
“Holy smokes! Ya caught the little bugger!” He leaned over and peered closer, “What is it?”
“Don’t know. It ain’t a dragon-fly or a bat. I’m stumped.”
A crowd quickly formed when the news spread through the farmer’s market that Herman had caught something in a trap.
“Lemme see!”
“I can’t see!”
“What is that?”
“Does it bite?”
“I can’t see!”
“Whad’ya gonna do with it, Herman?”’
Postscript: My illustrator finally caught up with me and here is a sample of his delightful images. Jefferson O’Neal.
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