Since I’ve posted that photo of my glompfest notes, I’ve been asked several times about how I organise my fics. (Also, this is totally my writing journal, most people probably know who I am anyway. I'm only really trying to keep the two journals apart, if there's any confusion, don't hesitate to ask.)
Getting started
I got my notebook, my pens (several colours and highlighters), two kinds of post-its, one for time lines and outlines the other for additions and comments. My notebook is full of
little notes and more post-its that I just put in there if/when I have an idea that doesn't fit into the story I'm currently working on. It's also
rather thick because I tend to carry printouts of the plotoutline, in case I haven't done it by hand or the text I've written to far, with me so I can edit without having a computer handy.
This will most likely contain spoilers for my
hp_zombiefest trilogy, not in writing, however the photos are clear enough to be able to read what it says.
I tend to start by brainstorming and putting that into a doc. If I write for a fest, I copy the prompt I got assigned to into the file and then once I’ve collected some ideas, print the lot and put that in my notebook so I can take it everywhere with me. I then start to jot out notes about plotoutline ideas, phrasing I might want to use, try to figure out POV and the like.
It’s usually around this time that I start writing, out of some idea that won’t leave me alone, or because I want to get a feel for the story.
Once I’ve got a bit of it out of the way, the plot usually opens up in front of me and I start by making a complete outline, either in my notebook or on my computer, which contains mostly: "who’s involved in the story, how old are they, where does the story begin and where does it end, what has to happen in between to make it work."
Part of my outline, now already with comments on turning the idea into a trilogy, if you see the note at top, also working on part 4 now.
More notes, comments on outline.
Next is all the threads/ideas I need to tie up, work out or explain. Some of these I've figured when I start writing, others I figure out during the process. On the righthandside you see where I tried figuring out how old people should be etc. but decided to drop it later, because it doesn't really matter and got too complicated too quickly. Under that is an attempt at a chronology of the outbreak and question concerning that and the room. There's also a note of an abbreviation I came up with so I'd always know where to find it.
This is all my timelines, for the past, the present and the future, this is not the outline, this is just so I know what happened when and what had to happen before. This also helps trying to figure out which part to tell when and whether some things can be ignored or need explaining. On the righthandside is part of me trying to figure out the numerology and the chamber and at the bottom you get your first look at
my editing technique, including notes in the text and post-its.
This is mostly outlines of the scenes I needed to figure out and tell and then notes on what I wasn't supposed to forget to include. Like, I was writing something, figuring something out, had an idea and just jotted it down so I could continue working on what I was doing and come back to the idea/expression later when it was needed.
My plotoutlines with notes for the sequel pinned to it. A list of scenes I needed to write for the prequel (had 6 gaps in the framework fic that needed to be filled and had to figure out which events to tell in what order), also more editing of the first part, documentation of my ww progress and who is where during what scene, ie. whom do I have to get rid of still, ie. kill.
The good part about working with post-its (you can already see I also tend to just grab whatever is nearest and write on that) is that you can just stick them where they matter, you can throw the ones out that don't make sense anymore or have become redundant AND you can basically stick them all over your outline if you need to figure out a time line.
I like taking a lot of notes, because that way I can always continue somewhere, be it by plotting out a scene or figuring out more of the lore of my story etc. Even when I'm too tired to write the actual story, it helps trying to figure it out because once I'm not tired anymore, it means I know exactly where to start writing.
Thanks for reading and I hope this gave some insight into my working process.
I sincerely appologise to the mods if I didn't tag this properly, I honestly don't know how to tag this post.