Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Q: How can I most effectively organize this style of writing?

This is topic Q: How can I most effectively organize this style of writing? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by marcusunlimited (Member # 1819) on :

Hello,

My scenes come to me all the time but often out of order. For instance I just finished an AWESOME ending to this huge epic story I'm on. I've got parts done for it in the middle, near the top but not the top, left side, right side, etc. etc.

Do any of you work like this? What methods for final organization do you or would you use to compile a story written like this?

I don't like to rely on the computer to just drop in and out text and such, I like to physically print out sections (for super safety) and plus it never really seems real, as in actually finished unless that section is actually on ye' olde' pulp.

Thank you,
-Marcus

Posted by James Maxey (Member # 1335) on :

I also have the problem of thinking of scenes that are nowhere near the scenes that come next in the sequence of scenes I need to write. My solution is note cards. I don't need to write elaborate notes when I think of a scene. Usually I jot down a key dialogue exchange, or even just a single word to remind me of what I need to convey in a scene. That way I don't lose the idea. When I get stuck, I take out my notecards and arrange them into the logical chronological sequence that they need to occur in. This give me a kind of constantly evolving outline. If I'm really stuck on a scene, I skip it and go onto the next scene, but only after writing a placeholder in the manuscript telling what I know needs to happen here. When I wrote Nobody Gets the Girl, I hit a chapter called "The Great Big Final Smackdown" where I knew I wanted to have a complex fight scene involving six different characters. At the time I reached the chapter, I was really excited about the chapters that followed, and the idea of working out the choreography for the fight scene just seemed tedious. So, I just wrote the chapter as, "And then everybody fights," and moved on. I came back when I reached the end of the novel and wrote that and a few other skipped scenes. I think they were better because I wasn't rushing through them to get to the chapters I really wanted to write.

Hope this helps,
James Maxey

Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :

I'm going to assume you are a member of the "outline? What's that club?" of which I am a long standing member.

I write scenes all over the place. I start in one spot then often add scenes before that crucial moment. I write out scenes that never make it to the final draft but end up being back story.

There is no one way to write--you have to find your way.

As to how I keep all that organized--well I print out chapters, those scenes I have written and then put them together the way they seem to flow--my mind seems to know where it wants them when I am done.

I also do things the way James suggested--get to a place and put in--scene at the car lot. Then I go on because my characters are not ready to tell me what happened at the car lot yet--even though they are ready to tell me what happened after they left it.

It works. I've now managed to train myself out of it in the interest of speed--but it does work.

And you should note that even if you were to write it cover to cover--things still get moved around. Editors and Agents and you yourself will see that a scene has more impact in a different place in the story.

Shawn

Posted by Kolona (Member # 1438) on :

I'm a hard copy addict, too, Marcus. It gets especially challenging when I make changes, because it would be ridiculous, time-consuming, and expensive to reprint everything for each change. So I always have my hard copy open in a large ringed binder and I pencil in minor changes as I make them on the computer. For more extensive changes, and pages I can no longer easily read due to an abundance of minor pencilled-in edits, I reprint only the pertinent pages and trim the before and after hard copy pages to fit.

My hard copy eventually becomes a bunch of pages and half-pages and any fraction thereof. At certain points I'll reprint either whole chapters or the whole thing, depending on what suffers from the least ease of reading. I'm on my fifth full reprint of my project now and planning on the next to be the last, even while knowing the best-laid plans of mice and men....

Posted by umo1171 (Member # 1820) on :

Hey thanks for the solid replies, there are some cool solid answers there.

I'll respond to several of the key points here.

1. Actually I do outline, in fact I recommend the heck out of this to those who can never seem to finish big stories. Discovering super simplified outlines has been a godsend for me.

Q: About those binders, what if you have a ton of stories going at the same time? Wouldn't the house or apartment be overrun with fat binders bulging everywhere ?

I just started something like that with folders and it AINT gonna work, filled up one to the point of bursting just by filling it with all the one page at a time efforts, note cards etc that are already done., Binders may be the solution.

After having a day job as a computer tech years ago, I can tell you NEVER put all your reliance on comps. I was called into big companies where backups failed or worse corrupted and garbled data,

And on my own once I had an entire HD filled with all kinds of serious stuff music, writings, etc. BAM! For absolutely no reason, took a total dive to hell.

This is why I don't even feel like I'm writing unless I end up with something physical.

I think after your responses, I leaning towards,

. 1-3 pages a day
. write then print out
. when I overview and realize the whole thing is pretty much done sit at comp and do serious, ready for print version or hire someone who likes to retype that which has been created after I of course figure out a way to copyright the ugly version.

Cool! Look forward to other ideas as well.

-UMO

Let me add to this, I often have several stories going at once in my mind,

Posted by Kolona (Member # 1438) on :

Just a quick follow-up: I always have the final copy-of-the-moment on disk, and several back-ups of that, so no final major typing is needed. I also have a hard and soft copy off property in case my house burns or something, though these are not as up-to-date. Still, they'd be better than starting from scratch.

Posted by Enders Star (Member # 1578) on :

Shawn is right. Sometimes events for my novel come to me, I write them down and keep them in my notebook. I refer to them when I can use them. However I try to write in order of time. No one way to write.