Organization

 Something that I've neglected to cover in previous posts is organization. This is because every writer has a system that works for them and no two people will have the same methods. I decided to share some information about how I organize my writing projects to hopefully offer some help.

I'm a planner. I plan and world-build and go into minute detail with things that will likely never be important in my projects. It's fun for me. I do go a bit overboard sometimes, though. 

Case in point, I have a three-inch three-ring binder for one idea. Granted, this idea is my science-fiction idea which I'm currently defining as a space opera and this binder contains information on alien races, planets, colonies, space habitats/stations, the various militaries, technology, and characters, but still, it seems a bit extreme to have such a large binder for one idea. This is to say nothing of the Word document or the Notepad file on my computer that connect to this idea. 

The binder is divided (with the use of color-coded dividers) into sections with the heading of the different planets with subheadings of the alien race(s) that live there; a section for the colony planets, headings of the colony planets with subheadings for the colonies there; a section for space habitats/stations with headings naming them; a section for characters; a section for the militaries and headings specifying them; a section for technology; and a section that is left blank for now because I know something will come up that I need to include. Getting into even more detail, each alien race culture is divided into smaller sections through the use of sticky notes (that are also color-coded). 

Does that mean that you need to go into this much detail to be a great writer? No. 

I don't even have this much detail for every idea of mine.

The Agency has a couple pages in a one-subject notebook and one Word document with some information about the support teams, divisions, and ideas. The couple pages in the notebook are just character concepts and a couple details for me to keep in mind for intertwining the entries. 

Other ideas of mine usually get put into their own five-subject notebooks, preferably the ones that have pockets on the dividers so I can store loose-leaf things such as maps. 

One of my newest ideas is sharing one such notebook with other ideas, though it had its beginnings as a Notepad file of character concepts. I transferred those into the notebook, then began expanding the details of the setting and mythology whenever I was away from my computer. This included details about the demonic hierarchy (which also included supernatural creatures that operate in our world but weren't inherently demonic necessarily though they were associated with them) and the secret order that one of the characters belongs to.

Another idea that I've spoken about before vaguely in the post about writing exercises just recently got a notebook of its own. Before, it lived in a notebook that houses a couple of my Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting details that didn't get made into their own Word documents, because I didn't know what I was doing with it. Now that I've figured out that I am indeed going to try to do something with it as the idea has shown that it is developing into more than just a few writing exercises, the information is being transferred to its own notebook. There is also a Notepad file with world-building questions that are being answered then added to the notebook. Some of the information is written in a short paragraph while some is written in more of an outline style.

Do you have to use notebooks to be a good writer? No. 

Like I said, this is just what I do that works for me and, as you can tell from the way my organization and level of detail varies between projects, I'm not even following one style of organization. I do whatever works for the idea I'm working on at the time. If the idea requires more detail and organization, such as the science fiction one, I go overboard with the organization. If the idea doesn't require full world-building, just a bit of dropping unusual things into our world such as with The Agency, then a small notebook or Word document is all I'll use before diving into the project. If the idea is based in our world but requires a bit of explanation and detail, then it gets a larger notebook and a loose bit of organization with characters and the differences between the real world and the one presented in the idea. If the idea is a completely different world but one where I'm still working on the concept, it gets a larger notebook with more world-building information and less about characters.

Sometimes my method of organization is just to write down an outline of the idea and other times my organization just involves a Word document that has scenes that have been in my head. Other times, I use a three-ring binder and divide it into characters, settings, artifacts, and dangers, though this isn't usually for one specific idea and more just for concepts and ideas that just don't fit with anything else I'm currently working on, but that I want to have written down for future reference. 

My point is that different people have different styles of organization when it comes to their writing. You don't have to use one style or the other and sometimes one idea will require a different style of organization than others. Just because your idea doesn't have multiple notebooks dedicated to it doesn't mean the idea isn't valid or worthy of attention. Just because pieces of the idea may be scattered across multiple notebooks, binders, and Word documents or only written down on index cards or sticky notes doesn't mean it's not a valid idea deserving of attention. Organize your ideas in the way that works for you. You may find this changes from project to project and that's okay. Trying to shoehorn your idea into an organization style that doesn't work for it or you may make you unhappy with the idea and result in the idea being ignored undeservedly.