How do you turn scattered notes into a first draft?
Stop trying to write it in order. If you have already collected the material, the work in front of you is sequencing rather than composition — put each piece on a card, arrange the cards until the order is right, and then combine them into a document you can edit.
Why the blank page is the wrong starting point
A blank page asks you to do two jobs at once: decide what comes next, and write it well. When the raw material already exists in your notes, the first job is a sorting problem, and it is much easier to solve by moving things around than by writing linearly and hoping the structure appears.
Doing it in Yarnboard
- Create a storyboard and search your notes to pull in the relevant ones.
- Drag the cards into the order you want to read them in. Move them freely — nothing is committed until you combine them.
- Combine the storyboard into a document. Every card becomes its own paragraph or set of paragraphs, in the order you arranged.
- Edit in the document editor, which handles headings, lists, spacing, and screenplay elements, and exports to PDF, Word, RTF, or HTML.
What this does not do
Combining notes gives you a structured draft, not finished prose. The seams between cards will show and the transitions are yours to write. What it removes is the part that stalls people — facing an empty document with the material scattered across months of notes.
Common questions
Does combining notes delete them?
No. The document takes a copy, and the original notes stay in place.
Can I reorder after combining?
Yes, the result is an ordinary document you can edit however you like. You can also rearrange the storyboard and combine it again.
Can I export the draft?
Yes, documents export to PDF, Word (.docx), rich text, and HTML.