organization | The Sprint Shack

When it comes down to preparation, writers often like to divide themselves into two categories: Plotters and Pantsers (or outliners and discovery writers, respectively). Rarely, though, do we see people identifying themselves as somewhere in-between. Do many of us really go to such extremes—planning out each scene of our novel in a rigorous outline, versus sitting down without a single word planned past “Chapter One”—or do we realistically fall somewhere on the scale? Is there a way to prepare for NaNoWriMo that doesn’t either pigeonhole you into one corner, thus stifling the creativity that the challenge is created for, or leave you without a sense of direction on day one?

I, personally, have always landed somewhere in-between. It’s a hard thing to admit when everyone seems to identify with one end of the spectrum, but I really can’t see myself as strictly an outliner or discovery writer. Instead, I often find myself planning my stories in more of a free-writing discovery exercise that allows my creativity to mold and bend as needed, but helps keep me on track when I’m knee-deep in plot holes and have to dig my way out.

If you’re preparing for NaNoWriMo and need a compromise between these two methods as well, try this out! I’ll call it the “Rundown Method,” since the basic idea is to briefly tell the story as if you were giving someone the rundown of a movie you’d just seen. Here’s how the Rundown Method differs from traditional outlining:

Traditional Outlining

Chapter One – Chapter Name – Boy meets girl
1. Boy goes into café, sees girl sitting at a window seat with a cup of tea. They spark conversation.
2. Girl seems hesitant to speak to boy for reasons the reader and boy do not yet understand.
  1. Girl has had bad experiences with abuse in the past.
3. Boy attempts to strike up conversation.

Forgive me for the banal example… but you get the drift. Now here’s how The Rundown Method would handle the beginning to the same story.

The Rundown Method

Chapter one starts on a quiet suburban street, where the protagonist enters a café. He sees a girl he is attracted to and tries to come up with a few ways to spark conversation while he orders his drink. He then goes over and asks if the seat is taken, and tries to start up a conversation with her. She’s clearly uncomfortable and hesitant to speak with him. He presses further, though she isn’t being responsive, and begins to wonder if maybe he’s doing something wrong.

The thing I like about the Rundown Method is that it leaves more room to include details. Think of it as chapter summaries for your novel. Sure, you can include as much or as little as you want in an outline, but I’ve always felt this method allows you to go further into detail—such as how the characters are feeling, what they’re doing, and even what they’re saying—with greater ease. Getting a more in-depth visual of the situation allows you to plan out the logistics of the story while also getting a feel for its tone, which is something I know I’ve always had a hard time doing with outlines.

In using this method, I’ve come up with ideas, quotes, and major plots and themes I otherwise wouldn’t have through outlining. Likewise, I’ve sometimes gotten so immersed in describing an event in the story that my freewriting phased from story description to writing the actual word-for-word scene, then back to planning.

This may not work for everyone and may in fact allow for more diversions from the main plot line than intended; everyone writes differently, and this definitely isn’t the way most do it. But strike the right balance between creative freedom and self control, and you could find yourself with a solid plan come November First!

How do you plan your NaNoWriMo novels (if at all)? Are you working on your preparations yet? Let us know!

Let’s face it: writers are creative types. And with our creativity comes the stigma that we’re helplessly, unavoidably disorganized.

I typically try to steer clear of stereotypes; I’m sure there are plenty of writers out there who are impressive organizational fiends (cough, Faye, cough). But for me and many writers I know, that’s not the case. In fact, many of us have learned to embrace our messiness as both cause and effect of our creativity: we’re messy because we’re creative, and we’re creative because we’re messy. It’s part of who we are. Some may even find it endearing!

However, we tend to run into a problem with this. Disorganization can often lead to confusion and wasted time, especially when your precious writing time is being spent getting re-organized again… and again… and again. How many times have you been elbow-deep in a project, only to have to stop your creative flow to go searching for a long-lost piece of research? How many hours have you spent organizing computer files to get all your writing categorized and accounted for? And, most threateningly to your productivity, how many times have you put off working on your project indefinitely and foregone it for yet another session of sorting papers and labeling documents?

I know I, personally, have postponed many a writing session in hopes of overhauling my entire filing cabinet, laptop, and external hard drive. Every time, I manage to convince myself that this will be The Big Overhaul that will leave my writing forever organized and allow my creative mind the freedom it needs, now that the obsessive-compulsive part of my brain is happy that all my writing, notes, and to-do lists are accounted for.

So how do you break this habit? I’m still learning, myself, but here are the steps I’ve been taking that seem to help:

Download an organizational program like Evernote. The great thing about these tools is that they sync up to your desktop, laptop, and mobile device, as well as a general cloud that can be accessed on the web from any location. You can make notes and compile them into notebooks, store all kinds of research and information searchable by keyword, and create tasks and to-do lists that you can actively tick off as you complete them. My personal favorite tool in Evernote is the web clipper, which allows you to save web pages as documents with one click. This is an especially efficient and speedy way for authors to “clip” research articles, or for bloggers to save downloadable copies of their online content!
Buy a small notebook and bring it everywhere. Yes, I mean everywhere. No exceptions. One of the reasons we get so disorganized is that, thanks to our sneaky unconscious minds always working in the background, we often have ideas on-the-go. If you’re anything like me, these ideas get fired off to your personal email inbox in random messages without subject titles and often get either lost or stored in a folder for another future organization project. This project usually doesn’t happen or isn’t extensive enough to include all your scattered notes-to-self, leaving a lot of gems overlooked at the bottom of your email food chain. But buying a small notebook to keep handy is great for keeping all your ideas in one place; while loading the Evernote app on your phone will also give you the capabilities of organizing your ideas anywhere, anytime, it’s handy to have a specifically designated writing notebook should any technical difficulties occur. Plus, sometimes it’s just exciting to write things down by hand in a fancy moleskine!
Set time goals and limits. Ultimately, you’re going to have to do a bit of organizing—it’s inevitable. By setting aside a certain block of time every week—or even every day, if you must—to transfer and sort your notes and do any other literary housekeeping, you can ensure you routinely maintain your writing materials without going overboard and losing hours in spreadsheets and yellow file folders. If you have exactly one hour of free time per night, for example, try setting aside only 10 or 15 minutes of that time tops for organizing. Once those minutes are through, it’s time to write!

How do you stay organized? Do you often find yourself getting lost in these enticing organizational projects? Let us know in the comments below!