As a writer, having a great idea is just the beginning. The real challenge is putting those ideas into words and creating a story that engages and captivates your readers. However, before you start typing away, it’s important to think about how you will organize your work. Having a system for being an organized author helps you stay focused, be more efficient with your time, and, ultimately, improves your storytelling.
Think of organizing your writing as you would organize your office or kitchen. A tidy space helps you find what you need quickly, just as a well-structured writing process makes your work more manageable. There are various ways to organize your writing, such as outlines, character sketches, or timelines. The beauty is that you can choose the method that best suits your style and genre, letting you take control of your writing process.
For instance, a timeline can help you track your plot and characters’ actions if you’re writing a mystery novel or a suspenseful thriller.
Most stories have several moving parts—characters, plots, settings, timelines, etc. By setting up a system in the beginning, you’ll save yourself time later on and avoid inconsistencies.
For example, if you say your character has blue eyes, you may remember that info in Chapter 1, but by the time you’re writing Chapter 15 and have introduced other characters, you might suddenly give them green eyes. Yikes! Your readers will pick up on that if your editor doesn’t find it first. Names can be another area where things get confusing. One of my characters in Book 2 of the Michelle Kilpatrick Mystery series is named Suzie, but if I’m not careful, I might refer to her as Susie later.
Similarly, if you’re writing a nonfiction book, use an outline to help structure your work and ensure you cover all the essential points.
Experimenting is the key to finding a system that suits your style and genre. Don’t be afraid to try different systems until you find the one that works for you. By finding your organizational style now, you can save time, be more productive later, and, most importantly, feel confident in your writing process.
For my first book in the series, The Peculiar Case of the Petersburg Professor, I had some notes on a Word Doc, others on yellow sticky notes attached to my desk, and still more written on random pieces of paper. In the beginning, my menagerie of notes was easy to work with, but the more info I added, the more I realized I needed a better system. Being organized would not only keep my facts consistent but also save me time by not having to remember which piece of paper I was looking for. I needed a system that was easy to use.
Okay, we’ve established having an organizational system is good, but what needs to be organized and how? Perhaps the simplest way to start is with Word Docs.
WORD DOCS
FOLDERS
Arrange all of your writing-related documents into folders that you need, such as
- Character Names and Descriptions—I like to have a working list of all my characters’ names with their descriptions. For example, Michelle Kilpatrick b. 1955, wears glasses, journalism major, favorite foods-pizza and cheesecake.
- Outlines—if you like to outline your book first, this is where it goes.
- NOTE: I work on a manuscript as a whole, not in sections. However, if you prefer to separate your chapters, name your files BOOK TITLE/CHAPTER NUMBER.
- Resources—Since my mysteries are set in the mid-70s, I keep a list of slang terms, music, fashion, current events, T.V. shows, movies, etc. You might need weather conditions, architecture in a particular city, seaside pictures, etc. Whatever you need to make your story authentic goes here.
- Style Sheet—I like to use a Style Sheet to keep consistency with the spelling of words that I could write a couple of ways, such as back room vs. backroom or T.V. vs. TV.
- Timelines—handy for keeping events in chronological order.
- Thoughts—a folder for ideas for current and future projects.
- Work in Progress—after a day of writing, I name the file with the date and drop it in my WIP folder. If you have an external hard drive, consider saving it there as well, just in case your computer crashes. I also email myself a copy. A few different backups can save the day.
- NOTE:I save all my WIP. You never know when something goes missing after a revision, or you decide you like the original version you wrote better than the one you revised.
- Writing Smile Bringers—jokes, quotes, anything that makes the writing journey more enjoyable. Whenever you need a smile, you know where to look.
- Writing Tips—this is where I put articles with, you guessed it, writing tips. The internet is filled with articles to improve your writing skills.
SOFTWARE
I like Plottr for tracking characters and places, and I am trying Scrivener, which seems to have a steep learning curve, so I’ll keep you posted. Other options are Airtable, Google Docs, or Google Workspace. I have never used these, but some writers find them useful.
OLD SCHOOL
Of course, for some people, using notecards and keeping them in a file box works, and that’s okay.
There is no right or wrong way to stay organized. The key is to find a system that works for you and use it consistently.
