Organizing *shivers*

OK, so I had a whole plot churned out, written on the back of my mind. It's still fresh there, but I realized it sucked because it had so many cliches. So I kept my characters and setting but changed things around. Now I have a bunch of stuff that has amazing potential. My only problem is fitting it into a storyline that makes sense. And for that i need a method of organization.

I've searched online for an outline worksheet, template, and pretty much any other way to phrase it. No luck. I was wondering if all you wonderful YWSers out there have any novel organization methods that they use that might help. Doesn't have to be fancy, but something that actually works.

Any advice is appreciated.

loveness, ultraviolet

I call it the cork wall. Well, called it the cork wall. I had to take it down unfortunately.

Anyways, the cork wall that was consisted of four pieces of cork attached to my bedroom wall. (Cork boards are really cheap by the way.) But I used to have them set up in a row so that they were long and narrow. Anyways, I mapped my stories out on the board with sticky notes and scraps of paper. It was mostly a very long, weird color organization system. But that’s what worked for me.

Really, getting organized is something that takes time. It means finding the way that your brain understands it. My brain likes to work under the idea of organized chaos. So the cluttered feel of the cork board that was worked well for me.

But it might not for you. So if you like things to be constructed in an orderly fashion, then try using folders in a nifty filing box. I tried it myself. It’s a box that you can put those filing cabinet folders into. I’m not sure what they’re called exactly. But you can label your folders and keep things organized.

There is no one way to organize. But I hope the suggestions were at least a little useful.

One thing I should mention: I have seven, maybe eight, notebooks. Every few pages is another little note or 1st draft of a scene or anything writing related--most of the time. I am not very organized. At all. That's kind of why I posted on here. *Bites nails hoping that sounded as sincere as she thought it and not sarcastic as is her second language* Anyways, thanks for the idea. I'm still open to more though.

Well, since you mentioned the notebooks, I may have another suggestion for you.

Three Ring Binder!

Well, a three ring binder and some dividers. You might have these random pages in your notebooks but you can always find a very loose form of organization with binders and dividers. That way, you can take what is disorganized in the notebooks and sort of organize it in the binder. Of course, how you separate and label your things are up to you but ten dollars would be more than enough to set yourself up for a simple way to organize.

For content organization, I just list what should happen out on a sheet of paper (or twenty). Though if you do that, remember to skip lines so you can add stuff in later.

I used index cards to keep a plot in order. I got a huge stack of 4x6 cards (but size doesn't mater. I just find that size fits well with my nature to describe scenes in my outline so I remember exact details) and a box to put them in. As I came up with scenes/bit I'd like to happen, I wrote them down (I recommend one scene per card, no mater how short, so you can more easily rearrange scenes). Once I'd gotten all scenes out of my head, I put them in order and looked for any thin spots, which I either filled in while writing (scenes such as "a party to introduce these characters" was one) or filled in with more scenes and more index cards (such as noticing a plot hole in the outline).

I like the method because it's so modular. You can delete cards, add cards, rearrange the order, with a tremendous amount of ease. I find it easier than a computer when it comes to outlining because any changes are so instantaneous. Way easier to find a scene in an index card stack (I find) than a document with a huge list of scenes. Considering my outlines can get pretty long, and I do minor rearrangements a lot (to the point I stop writing things down after a month, even with how easy that outline method is), a stack of very modular cards is appealing.

The only trick, really, is keeping them in order. Hence the box.

Thanks guys! The index card seems like my best bet considering I have to arrange my scenes. But thanks for all the tips!