#(also to note would be that i have exactly zero occasion to wear a formal kimono to. i just am rotating it in my mind)

[bolithesenate]

things no one prepares you for: how absolutely devastatingly difficult it is to find an obi in switzerland

[fanfiction-builds-character]

KEEPING TRACK OF IT ALL - OUTLINES & ADMIN

I had a question about how I keep my notes organized and if I use pen and paper or if I use a computer, and what makes sense for me to be able to reference them as needed.  Easiest way is to show you!

To start, there is no "correct" way to do this, there is only a correct way FOR YOU.  

I suggest asking a few different writers (if you can) to see if there is a new idea you haven't tried yet, and it may take a lot of experimenting to really zero in on this process to find the optimal way your creative brain, logic brain, resources and work space all work together.  I know that I am very lucky to have a whole separate room for my creative endeavors, but you can probably adapt a lot of what I'm doing to a small space!  I have done it before in dorm rooms and when I shared an apartment with four other friends.  It's possible!

I keep my ideas and very early iterations in an idea notebook.  Often referred to in the writing world as a "writer's notebook."  This is where nothing matters, nothing is right or wrong, ideas can get started or I can just collect thoughts I don't want to forget.  I like to use composition notebooks or journal style notebooks for this phase, because short of some real aggressive brainstorming, the pages don't fall out and they stay in order.

My current idea book:

Inside, the pages don't have structure.  I date them when I can remember because it helps me find stuff to go back to, and I just like to know.  Here's an old page as an example:

"You Can do this.

You need to make mood boards and playlists.  Make this something you can FEEL.

6-30-2020

Make the settings hard to deny.  Make this thing almost feel like a cartoon in all the right ways."

These were notes to hype myself up about a project I'm still in the early stages of six months later.  Sometimes it takes a while!  But I know exactly what this means, and now I have the start of a plan.

Quality Ingredients was in this little pink book:

You can see that a lot of this isn't true anymore (if you can read it), but this is the space where you just get things out of you and sort them out later.  Let it flow.  No one needs to see these but you.

Once I have an idea that is ready to be developed, I start formally bringing it to life and I still prefer to do that by hand.  My mind wanders better when I don't have margins and limits predetermined by technology.  During this stage, I use loose leaf or blank paper and I keep them in a binder or a folder.  I like to be able to lay it all out and see the whole story at the same time and move things around.  I typically keep things that go together bound with a paper clip (certain characters and their backstories, habits and research on their jobs for example).  

When it comes time to outline the whole thing, I make each event it's own piece of paper and I lay them out like a story board.  They don't always necessarily break down to be the beats where chapters get broken up, but they are clumps of events that make sense together.  Sometimes the chapters decide for themselves as I'm writing the actual story.  Don't tell yourself where the chapters are every time.  Sometimes they will tell you.  Tell yourself where the events are, and where the beats are, and cooperate with the story to see what happens.

Here is Might As Well's outline laid out on my desk as an example:

Once I have the overhead beats written out "They go on a date" or "They flirt at the engagement party" I go in and add notes for myself to the events.  What kind of flirting?  What are they wearing?  Who else is there?  How do they feel about each other?  How do they feel about the party itself?  Are they excited about the wedding?  What did they do all day to get ready?  What is the lighting like? Are they sweaty?  I brainstorm all of the stuff that is going to go into each scene before I write it.  It sounds like a lot more work than it is.  Remember, these don't even have to be full sentences.  Sometimes I write down something like "It's still hot and the light is yellow" and I know what that means.

Practice this step if you don't already.  You will be amazed at how much richer your work becomes!

After I have the beats of the story and I have a good idea of who the people are and the vibe of the whole thing, and I've collected some music that makes sense and some images that give me the right headspace, NOW I go to the computer and I type up a loose, no-thought-for-formality outline.

Might As Well's was a little over four pages:

I write this in the style that I speak, almost the way you would tell a story to a friend.  Something like "Clarke and Lexa sit down to talk details while they're friends whisper in the background" is it's own chapter description, but it summarizes things for me.

I have the luxury of printing things out, and that works for me because by now you have probably gathered that I am a visual person.  I'm 36, so I had been writing for a while before it became commonplace to have a computer at home.  I took my first typing class when I was 14 or 15 and took my first writing classes when I was 8, so I never really broke away from the physical process.  If you feel like this would help you, you can typically get a black & white only printer relatively inexpensively.  

Now, I do the digital version of "each event gets it's own piece of paper":

And now....I go and write!  

I have the binder or folder of loose sheets that are organized and clipped together if I ever need to reference something like how long someone has worked at their job, how far they live from their friends, what their childhood was like, and I also have a full outline if I need to see WTF order things happen in, and I have the outline with how everyone is feeling and what the air smells like.  I prefer having all of that on the desk next to my computer, but I know it works just as well for different brains to have all of these things organized digitally.

I also have the messy notebook where it all began.  If/when I'm feeling stuck, sometimes I page back through that to see if I was secretly a genius about something and maybe I forgot.  It happens!  There have been occasions where I find the silliest little sentence that didn't feel important at the time, but comes back to save the day.  

Because writing is so solitary and it's easy to forget something if you're the only person you told, I like to have different sets of notes to also organize when I was thinking about something, if that makes sense.

Then I go into multiple drafts which is a whole other post.  

I hope this gives you some ideas on how you can organize your notes and keep all of your references close at hand in a way that works for you!

Thank you for asking!  Have fun, and try a few things out until you nail the process for yourself so it becomes second nature.

[clouds-of-wings]

I’m enjoying this season of GoT, all in all, but the latest episode was a mess. It was so obvious that the writers just wrote whatever needed to happen to get the plot to where it needed to go, regardless of whether the steps in-between made any sense.

Why did Sansa send Brienne to King’s Landing? Brienne is a great fighter but too straightforward to be good diplomat. What exactly is she supposed to accomplish there? Plus Sansa seemed confident that it’s a trap - why would she send anyone, much less her most trusted guard? Brienne will either get killed/imprisoned or do a not-so-great job at making politics. (Or, probably, she will somehow influence Jamie to be reasonable and honourable, but there’s no reason why Sansa would assume that or care - again, the writers are just getting the plot to where it needs to go. The plot needs Brienne in KL, so thw writers make Sansa send her there for some bullshit reason.) What, does Sansa suddenly trust Littlefinger for no reason after stressing for more than a season how absolutely not at all she trusts him? Does she trust him enough to send her most loyal knight away because of something he said? I didn’t even quite understand what Littlefinger was trying to get at when he talked about Brienne. Was he trying to lead Sansa to believe that Brienne might try to kill her on Arya’s behalf? That’s absolutely ridiculous and Sansa should be too smart to believe it. Also, how is Littlefinger not the obvious candidate for having “given” Arya that note?

Why did Jon and company not make absolutely sure the water doesn’t freeze over again? These are all battle-hardened men who are at home in the wilderness, who have honed survival instincts, multiple ones of them have experience with planning and leading people. They had a giant hammer, a guy with fire powers and nothing but time. “Punching the ice” should have been their obvious top priority and in fact watching it I just assumed they made sure they always had a comfortable gulf of water between them and the walkers. There was literally nothing to do except watching the water freeze. How do you miss that happening for hours?

How did they manage to sleep in a windy place at below zero temperatures without food, sleeping bags, without even wearing hats and not die of hypothermia? How is it in character for stoic, formal Jon of all people to call Daenerys “Dany”, while expressing sympathy for her dragon’s death no less, something that would be an especially formal occasion? What is Arya even trying to accomplish by taunting Sansa? And WHY was there “no time” for Benjen to get on that horse?! The walkers were at least 50m away and they’re not even that fast compared to a horse. They could have gotten away easily.