This is a little trick I came up with *all by myself!* 😁 This is a technique to use if you’re a pantser like me, and you might have a lot of key scenes already written down, but the flow of the story seems a little clunky overall.
Create or buy a set of blank note cards, and on each note card write out a breakdown of a scene. This could include a rough title for the scene followed by bullet points of each important note the scene is supposed to hit. Go ahead and number them in order if you’d like: this might make it easier further down the line if you change your mind or want to restart this process.
Now, shuffle them. Then, without looking at the numbers, try to put them back in order based on the key details of the scene. Notice which scenes seem to naturally fit back together, and which seem to stand out. Keep the ones that stand out to you in a separate pile, and bring your focus to the ones that seem to fit together. That is your story’s flow.
Remember, of course, that more scenes and details will be added as you write the story to completion—which means some of those outlying scenes will go back in later, and some may move to a completely opposite end of the story. And then there are those that may be “darlings” that you “kill.” Either way, you have a better example of the main structure of your story to work with.