Organization Old-School Style

Don't get me wrong... I love my technology. Sometimes too much I think. Though I suppose when you're drafting web content, pen and paper doesn't always make much sense.

For my entry back into the world of fiction, I've decided to change things up a bit. Notebooks and manual writing for the initial draft, then I'll revise as I enter it into Scrivener or Liquid Story Binder (Haven't decided which yet) and go from there.

It seemed pretty straight-forward at first. Buy journal, write in it, profit! Then I got it and realized that I couldn't just charge in writing willy-nilly. When I write on the PC, I'm a bit like Conan the Librarian. I come screaming in, toss words at anything that moves and then pick up the pieces and bandage the wounded when I'm done. The notebook was nice and deserved more than that. Not to mention the headaches and craziness that could cause come digitizing time.

So a few hours of thinking later, here is the organization method I'll be trying for Project H :)

It is all pretty basic, expandable and easy to adapt. Using cheap 3 x 5-inch index cards, I created a few categories by running a stripe of color down one side of the index card. So far there are:

• Characters: For notes about character traits, relationships, etc.
• Background: For important background information about people, places, events, etc that might not make it directly into the story in a scene of their own.
• Plot/Scenes: For scene ideas and inspirations that I'll be incorporating but not writing currently.

I expect there will be more categories added before this is all finished. But when adding a category is as simple as finding a new color of marker and adding it to the key, it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

These index cards then store handily in the rear pocket of the current notebook. I can pull them out, find the color of the category I'm looking for and get to work. I can arrange them on the table, desk or cork board for brainstorming and reference as well. No flipping back and forth or searching through files.

So far, I really like it. We'll see how it holds up as things progress on Project H. It's only about 1000 words along at this point. I'm hoping that this new system will help streamline things and allow me to put pen to paper a bit more often.

Do you have a favorite organziation system? Any optimizations you'd make to this one? Drop me a comment below!