Well hello there, Reader.

On this day in 1992, me and my family went to the opening reception at the art museum in my hometown. Because you see, Reader, even though I was in the 2nd grade something I had created was being featured.

I was beyond excited that spring afternoon as we passed the 7-foot statute of a green horse. It was my favorite color at the time so I thought it was the coolest thing ever. And the collection of white pavilion tents dotting the courtyard garden between the redwoods like mushrooms made it seem like a festival.

But why were we here?

You see only a few weeks before this a letter had come in the mail from the superintendent of our school district and the museum director.

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I can remember nearly everything about that day, and I still have my award and the original letter from the superintendent and director. But for the life of me, I cannot remember what on earth I created to receive such an honor. Life’s funny like that sometimes.

Anyways, despite this early artistic triumph, I still went through 3 other majors in college before getting my BFA in Illustration and Design. (Some time traveler is probably responsible for this.)

But do you want to know the most valuable lesson I learned from my years of art training?

Don’t try to create your masterpiece in the first go. It will only lead you to frustration.

Instead, I brought what I learned from my 4 years of art school training and my years of working in the field into the way I approach story construction.

In short—I create stories like an artist creates a painting.

Artists aren’t like a printer—they don’t create a finished piece from top to bottom. They start with a thumbnail.

A thumbnail sketch is like a storyteller’s simple outline. It gives you that basic map of where your story is going so you don’t end up writing yourself into a wall or straight off a cliff.

Once they’ve got that nailed down, artists move on to their foundation sketch. For you, Reader, that’s your rough draft.

And it can be rough. I can be messy. You can have scenes stitched together with duct tape and post-its and placeholder names.

Because the only thing a rough draft isn’t supposed to be is perfect.

Next, that artist’s sketch becomes a drawing. And in your case, Reader, it’s becoming a refined draft.

You’ve started filling in all those plot holes in scenes and replaced all those placeholder names with the real ones. And if you’re like me and you write by scene instead of by chapter now’s when you start grouping those scenes together.

And just like an artist, this is when you’ll do pass after pass. Building layer upon layer until your story is all polished up nicely and complete.

Working in this Layer Method allows me to churn out the weekly 500-900 word episodes of They Come at Night, have 5K word days, and routinely conquer 50K for NaNoWriMo with far less stress.

So next time you sit down to create, try giving this method a try.

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Speaking of, Camp NaNoWriMo is kicking off on April 1st. (No joke.)

What’s Camp NaNoWriMo?

Camp NaNoWriMo is your next great storytelling adventure. Tackle your own creative goal in the company of a global writing community.

There’s a little over a week left until Camp NaNoWriMo, Reader, so there’s still time to take my 5-Day Story Creation Mini-Course and craft your story foundation before camp kicks off on April 1st!

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Your cohort in storytelling,

Kat Vancil

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PS 👉 FUN FACT: Robert Morgan established the Triton Museum and named it after his beloved horse Triton.

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The Saga Quest

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