Organization: The Importance of an Outline

I want to give a big shout out to the facebook and IM friends that sent me their input on this! You guys are great. Now, before I bloat your ego’s too much, let’s get on with the post!

I noticed quite a few questions stemmed from organization, so that is what I will touch upon first. I had a few good conversations with people who find that, when it comes to actually sitting down and writing, they feel overwhelmed. They don’t know exactly where to start, or what part to attack first. At the same time, there were others that were starting right away and then slowly started to run out of steam after a few chapters. Both of these issues stem from a lack of organization. Perhaps one of the most important things that can aid with these issues is the creation of an outline. In The Art of Nonfiction by Ayn Rand, she states that

 “Most writing problems –the psychological barriers, setbacks, discouragements- come from the absence of a proper outline.”

I couldn’t agree more with this statement. From writing an essay to working on a story, I believe that, without an outline, you will find yourself lost and searching for the things that you want to include or things that are needed. In addition to this, you can clearly see what you have and what you need. Say that you know, in your story, that you have your main character who (taking one of mine for example) just happens to be a vampire who decides he needs to seek mental help. You also know that the poor psychiatrist that he chooses will, somewhere along the way, find out and be unable to get away from their sessions under threat of death and other horrible things. Then, you know that the characters will strike an odd accord that leads to your wonderfully ironic ending (yes, I think I can be wonderful ironic). That’s great! You know your whole premise, what you want to have happen, and how it will end. That is the easy part. What comes in between and how that story plays out is the real key. For this, you need to map out your entire story just as you would if you were writing one of those annoying college papers.

Perhaps the best way of creating an outline is to start with what you already know. Sit down and write down every event and transition that you already have in mind. You will probably have those three parts I mentioned above, though you might have other information such as a scene that you are really set on having in there. Figure out where in your story it goes and write it in. Then, start filling in other key things you want to have happen. You should start to know that, in between these key ideas, you can add in others that aid the story along, or ones that help transition from each idea. It should be like a puzzle. You know the big picture, you’ve got that outer rim all there, and now you just need to figure out where all the pieces are and where they go. All of those little tidbits are in your mind, you just have to sort them out and get them where they need to be.

This is one of those things that people like to say ‘it’s easier said than done’ about, but I think that is completely wrong. I believe that once you have your idea you are going to be able to start putting that puzzle together at a very satisfying rate.

Well, this was the first of this series. If this isn’t your issue, be sure to come back tomorrow and check out what else I am talking about. If you are really needing help with something, feel free to post in the comments and I will add it to this little series of posts!

Extended Deadline

Since the weekend has been so awesome, the deadline for the questions has been extended until tomorrow morning at 6am central time! 

In the meantime, I leave you with this quip.

If, by the end of the day you are not:

so physically exhausted that you are craving sleep,

so taken by the events of a day that a smile is tugging at your lips,

so moved by what you've learned that you have to write it down,

and so excited for the next day to come that you want to hurry off to sleep,

then you are doing something very, very wrong. 

Reevaluate your life. 

Laying A Solid Foundation

So, we've talked about the importance of establishing your own space, and how it is equally important to have others accept this. Now, we are going to be moving on to talk about laying the foundation for your work by setting personal boundaries, goals, and we will also touch a little on organization and the key role it plays in being able to work soundly. I hope to touch on things that might spark a little light bulb in your mind, especially for those of you who are finding trouble in actually setting down and starting, or even with continuing and finishing a piece of work. So, with that being said, I also want to open this up to questions. What do you feel you are having trouble with when you actually sit down to write? What has kept you from writing, or been blocking your progress? Your answers will shape the post! Tonight at midnight central will mark the closing of the question period to insure I have enough time to answer all of the questions.

 

Oh, how rude of me!

 I clean forgot to introduce myself. Well, since pictures speak a thousand words, with no more text, I introduce myself to you: 

(For the confused, please see the previous post.)

Creating Your Space (and keeping everyone out of it)!

Perhaps one of the most important things for me is having my own personal space in which I can write. Now, by space, I mean both time and space (aka nice alone time in my own zone). Without having my own area and little slice of peace, I find that my writing starts to suffer the consequences of becoming distracted. To sum this up, I need my peace in order to write at my best. To insure this, I have set times in which I write that my phone remains off for, and I have a few different areas of my house that are all tailored to my comfort. Depending on my mood, I can sit and watch the birds out the window while clacking away on the keys of my mini HP, or I can tuck myself away in the confines of my adapted closet in my ‘blue room’ when I am feeling more reclusive. In addition to all of this, I have a loving partner who understands that, sometimes, I need to be left alone (less he have to suffer the consequences of my raging ‘annoyed writer’ syndrome).  All of these things combined allow me to be at my best when the mood strikes, or when I have to force ‘the squirms’ out of my way to get to writing.

The reason for sharing that little look into my life is so that I can explain to you the importance of creating our own space. I think that this is perhaps the most important thing that can help or hinder a mood when your muse come calling. Now, I understand that not everybody is the same. Some people enjoy their own seat in a coffee shop as their own space. Also, everyone defines their own space and what they fill it with. If you are a minimalist who enjoys blank walls, then you need blank walls.  If you enjoy being surrounded by your collection of plates that feature cute kittens, then you need those kittens just as much as the other guy needs his blank walls.

 I understand that this sounds like a simple concept, but I have talked to countless people who have never taken the time to evaluate or even create their own space. What I have gathered from talks with other connoisseurs of creativity is that you need to both define and accept your space, almost more so than others need to. With that being said, find where you are most comfortable in your house; it can range from your porch to a basement or even from a kitchen corner to a closet. Wherever you are most comfortable, find it and claim it! Yes, that is right. Stick a gigantic ol’ flag there and defend it with your honor and even your life. You need to consciously and physically make that your very own space.

Next, make it more conducive to writing as you pimp your new place. Add things that you like, such as your favorite piece of art, or your collection of crazy eyed pens while being sure to have a comfortable place to put your notepad or laptop. Ensure that you get yourself a good comfortable chair or padded corner when you can spend long spells typing or writing away. This may all take some trying out coupled with stealing chairs and pillows from various parts of the house, but this is a battle that you must win! Also, don’t be afraid to change it around every now and then if you need to. Keeping a fresh environment often helps the mind.

Now, once you have all of your Elvis and Backstreet Boys memorabilia placed correctly about your new room or space, the hardest part is to come: you need to get everyone else to accept that space as your own. Setting your limits is going to be key if you want to remain interrupted through your moments of literary genius. Now, this might be harder if you have small children, but it is not impossible. Explaining to your loved ones how important this is to you is something that can be done if it is presented in a logical manner. My tactic? Tell them to shove off or you will cease buying food, forcing them to forage for their own. Strong threats always seem to work better than positive reinforcement; just check history for the validity of this statement.

By setting aside general times for your writing, you should be able to foster a zone of calm and peace that will allow your creative juices to flow. Now, I understand completely that setting certain times does not always work. This is why I said GENERAL times, aka early morning, late evening, lunch, etc. For those of you not blessed with time completely alone in the house, I think this will benefit you greatly as it is not saying “leave me alone 24/7”, but rather ‘just give me my little, much need space’. This, along with keeping your phone and email closed while connecting with your muse, should give you a little more leeway to breathe freely as you draft away the day.

(Killing Trees and Wasting Ink takes no responsibility from fist fights, duels, and divorices that come as a consequence of fervent writers laying claim to random plots of land and space.)

To Whom It May Concern

The title to this blog is a chronicle of my life. Sitting, mostly shoved away in random storage containers and various places about my house, are millions of what (I am sure of) use to be parts of the rain forest. Splashed upon these pulped and pressed carcasses are liters upon liters of black, red, and even blue ink. All of this is, of course, bound and contained within notebooks of various size and shape; all filled to the brim with doodles and hastily scrawled ideas that use to plague my brain until they were vomited up onto those unsuspecting pages. From ideas on how to save the world to blue prints of ray-guns for destroying it, my ideas began to pile up over the eighteen or so years of my writing into heinous heaps of decaying journals.

In an attempt to end my contribution to the slaughter of this worlds precious air-giving foliage, I tried converting to only typing my words on a computer. However, I found that it can never compare to the readily available Moleskine, as you neither have to log onto, nor start up a notebook…and then attempt to run over the phrase in your head while furiously over clicking to try and bring up the program you need to write within, only to have the ‘notebook’ freeze up and lead to you loosing both your thought, and your temper all at the same time. Needless to say, my stab at going green went right down the drain.  With that little failure, I went right back to square one (which happened to be a lovely little pressed flower covered journal with recycled pages that was mostly chosen out of guilt).

However, after several weeks of trying to convince myself that I could try again, I finally realized this: I don’t care. That is right, I don’t. Not for the worlds depleting forests, and not for the overwhelming ink shortages that are going on around the world; I am left deaf to their cries. Call me a cold hearted, no good soul, call me a wrathful writer, or any variation of all those names, but I’ll turn my back on your condemning eyes. Why, you may ask? How could I possibly be this self-centered? Because most of the paper I use happens to already be recycled. The little triangle symbols in the corners apparently mean that.

Yes, I think I might have felt better had I realized this a few years ago, myself…but oh well, hind-sight is 20/20. In light of all this, I bring you this blog that will chronicle my adventures as a writer, and my fight against consuming the world in  my wake all while passing helpful little tid-bits your way.

Killing trees and wasting ink,

Ripley