lisakothari42 at 2013-07-18 14:20:09:
I have not used index cards yet, but I want to. As noted in a comment earlier, I write a vomit first draft very quickly. From there, I create an essence only outline using a simple Word document. It's composed of 1-2 sentences of what is taking place in the scene. During the rewrite process, I am constantly updating the outline document in Word.
One of the things that scares me about using index cards is when something gets redone or thrown away or updated, you're sitting there having to recreate another index card and slot it in. I find it easier to simply delete on the doc and quickly type in the update.
Still, most professional writers swear by the technique of writing the outline using the index card method. What appeals to me about the method includes the ideas of carrying them with me and as I have ideas - jotting them down and quickly slotting them in to place and shuffling them up to see different variations on the scene order. That is very intriguing to me. As I set out to write my next spec, I want to discipline myself to use index cards to see how the process works for me.
Great topic, Scott!