writing project

Organizing Tactics

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Hello everyone,

Just wanted to write a quick post about how my organization has improved, and how those of you who are architects versus gardeners might be able to improve your writing.

So, for those of you who are uncertain what I mean by architects versus gardeners, I mean that there is a spectrum for how much writers plan their stories. Architects like to plan every detail whereas Gardeners write from ideas in their head and let it grow organically. There is no correct way to write, but either way works better for some people. And, as is usual with false binary systems, people are usually a mix of both.

So, someone who plans and outlines less is more of a Gardener, and someone who tends to plan more and outline lots is more of an Architect.

Personally, I tend to be more of an Architect, and the better I become at organization, the more I lean towards planning everything out. I am more of a chaotic person, so organization is certainly not my strong suit, but I learned how to be more organized.

So, what kinds of methods have I picked up?

Some people work well with a digital outline or something similar. I’ve used a few different programs which help with that such as Trello and Scrivener. But I find that for someone like me, I tend to need to do something physically for it to make sense. So, what is my solution?

Coloured cue-cards.

It’s simple, just add different scenes onto your cue cards and arrange them in whatever order you think they should appear. Sometimes you can colour code them, too, for different themes and secondary storylines. If something weird happens when you’re actually writing, which does sometimes occur (those pesky characters developing minds of their own!) then you can move your cue card to a different location OR take it out of your deck. 

Usually, I still save research and ideas even if I don’t use them, because they could end up in a different project.

That means that as you write, you can move your ideas around just in case something changes. It works wonders for my projects, let me tell you.

Anyone have tips on how organization works? Comment below!

Writer’s Block

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All writers commence groaning.

Writer’s block: a sort of strange and terrible phenomenon in which all creativity and motivation abandon the writer’s brain and leave for parts unknown.

How do we beat it? There are tons of different suggestions out there. Some of them work, and some of them don’t. Sometimes, it just seems best to sit down and do something else other than writing because of this problem.

I have a secret for you: being a good writer doesn’t come from momentary inspiration.

As much as you may doubt yourself and your writing ability when you don’t feel the writing vibe, you don’t just start being a terrible writer just because you aren’t feeling it right at that moment. Sometimes, you just have to push on through and keep writing, even though you don’t want to. Some of us don’t really have a choice, thanks to looming deadlines.

The thing is, your writing is still going to be good, even if you think that it’s boring when you’re writing. Sometimes, you don’t know what you’re going to write next, and that’s where the block is coming from. This is where you actually have to think about the mechanics of your work, and not just about the creative juices. I did mention in a past post that some people outline and some people don’t, and either is fine. But that doesn’t mean that you garden-growers out there can stop thinking about where your story is going and what kind of message you want to send. That means that in order to move your story along, you need to figure out where it goes next, and what kind of scene will take it there.

For outliners, this is the easy bit. What did you plan to write next? Do it now.

Now for the hard part. Write it. Whatever scene you’ve decided you need, get it down on paper, or on your computer, or wherever you write. Because the thing is, even if you don’t think it’s going to work, or is boring, or that it’s bad, it’s actually not. Once you’re done, set it aside for a bit and come back to it later, or add onto it again, when you’re thinking creatively again. I can almost guarantee you that if you look at your work later, you can’t tell the difference between scenes you wrote while feeling creative and inspired and scenes you wrote while feeling bored and stuck in a rut.

The problem? Most writer’s block stems from being bored. Well guess what? Writing is actually work sometimes, and sometimes work can be boring. Suck it up and get writing. After all, the only thing that suffers from you slacking off is you and your story.

Now that we’re done with that semi-inspiring speech, I’ve got some work to do on my own projects.